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Ca I get a home equity loan with bad credit?

My wife and I own our home free and clear. We are in need of taking out a home equity loan but I have bad credit (mid to high 500's at best) my wife has a slightly higher score (low 600's) but has more debt (student loans) And is currently finishing school and not working. I work ful time and make a good income, but my credit score is definitely holding me back from obtaining a loan. I also have someone willing to co-sign who has great credit. Will I be able to find some place who will lend to me? I would prefer to do it without the cosigner but realize that's probably not possible, any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. (I also plan on cleaning up my credit with part of the funds) by Arvesv_179_329 from , . Jan 3rd 2013 Reply


William J Acres (William_Acres)
#74 ranked lender in Arizona - 8,728 contributions

Ok... so first, the co signer will not help... co signer's help if you have limited income, but not if you have bad credit... Keep in mind that the lenders are not in the home business, they are in the money business, so loans to borrowers with low Loan to Value (LTV) is not necessarily a huge compensating factor when the borrower also has poor credit.. Also, adding your wife to the loan wouldn't help either since she has no income but debt.. FHA would allow you to do a "cash out refinance" transaction where they will lend up to 85% of the value of the home, but you do have to qualify, and most lenders want to see 640 credit score or above.. There are lenders out there that will allow for lower scores.. Some as low as 500, but the guidelines are very strict and few actually qualify.. the best advice I can give you is to hire a professional and get your credit fixed... then go apply... a mid 500 credit score is not going to work... I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

Jan 3rd 2013
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Ron Aguilar (ronaguilar)
#67 ranked lender in Utah - 20 contributions

if you have a cosignor the lender will still require your scores to be acceptable. If your home is free and clear I suggest doing regular 1st mortgage not a home equity which is also more strict about your scores. What is affecting your credit scores to be lower?

Jan 3rd 2013
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Barb Lanis (BarbLanis)
#69 ranked lender in Illinois - 679 contributions

A co-signer will not help your situation. Lenders use the lowest score of all the borrowers applying for the loan. So, even if you added a high-scoring co-borrower/co-signer, your score will be the one used. I would recommend that you find out why your credit score is so low and take action to increase it. Also, why are you looking for a home equity loan rather than a regular 1st mortgage? You would have better luck with a 1st mortgage because there are very few (if any) lenders doing home equity lines with low credit scores.

Jan 3rd 2013
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David Gosselin (DavidGosselin)
#0 ranked lender in Florida - 4 contributions

You mentioned that you had "bad credit" but you need to find out what is on your credit report that is giving you a mid 500 credit score. I would work on this first because it will be a problem for you not only on applying for a mortgage but in other area's as well. If you have open collections try calling the collection agency and suggest settling with them and ask if they will "remove or delete" the collection in exchange for a payment. Finally, go to www.freecreditreport.com and get your credit report and look at each item on there and what you can do to fix it. For example if you had a "car repo" on there and there is a past due balance then paying off that past due balance will increase your credit score. I hope that this suggestion works for you.

Jan 3rd 2013
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Linda Wintersteen (Linda123)
#63 ranked lender in Arizona - 1,256 contributions

first, what state are you in?? linda yourloanpartnerforlife@live.com

Jan 3rd 2013
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I'm in Indiana. I was able to pull my equifax report. I have two medical collections ($136 and $478) and an old cable bill collection ($113) it's also showing a past car loan as "charged off" I'm not sure what that means. I fell behind a few times on it and then someone else bought the truck/took over the payments. I also noticed it isn't showing my auto loan before that one (from 2008) it would Be positive as I never missed a payment.

Jan 3rd 2013
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I'm in Indiana. I was able to pull my equifax credit report. I have two medical collections ($136 & $478) I also have an old cable bill collection ($113) it's also showing my past auto loan as "charged off account" I'mNot sure what that means. I fell behind a few times on it before eventually selling it/finding someone to take over the payments. So i have nothing but bad marks, my auto loan from before that one (around 2007/2008) isn't showing up at all, and I never missed a payment on it.

Jan 3rd 2013
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Jennifer Roblee (jennif_376_374)
#777 ranked lender in California - 5 contributions

Looking at the responses below, they are all correct. A co- signer will not help your situation on your home loan. My suggestion is to pull a credit report with a mortgage company (not a free online credit pull). Then you can work with a credit expert that will show you how to fix your credit and improve your score. The credit repair can take 45 days, 6 months or longer depending on what is causing your score to be low. Once you have a middle fico score of 640 you will be able to take advantage of the low rates on a regular 1st mortgage.

Jan 3rd 2013
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Phil Dumouchel (PhilDu)
#32 ranked lender in South Carolina - 2,249 contributions

Good advice and suggestions above, especially that you find a knowledgable local lender to check your credit and give you advice on what steps to take. The most flexible equity loans are often with a credit union. If not, the only immediate option is likely a finance company - which I generally don't recommend because that is essentially viewed as an act of desperation and might drive your score down for a while. Good luck

Jan 3rd 2013
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Before you do anything, I would suggest that you talk to someone who can advise you on your credit issues. Looking at your post, I see that you did pull a report from Equifax...that's a good start, but there are very likely things on Experian and Trans Union that are not reporting to Equifax. I would also caution you on paying the medical collections...you need more information, who was the original debt with, how old are they, who owns them, just to name a few. Paying off a 3rd party debt collector rarely helps your credit scores...feel free to email me or call with your questions about credit, credit repair or OMEGA. 214-733-8336...omegacreditrepair.com

Jan 3rd 2013
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Oct 10th 2014
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Christina Hayes (CreditRepairExpert)
#8 ranked lender in Tennessee - 68 contributions

This may not be what you want to hear, but you will need to bump your scores. Take a good look at your credit reports all 3. Experian, Equifax, & Trans Union. If you'd like some help on improving your scores, give me call. Good Luck.

Feb 20th 2015
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