Can my husband and I purchase a home at a decent rate with a 565 credit score?

The "key" to your queston was "decent rate" and the answer would be none that I am aware of. You would serve yourself much better by repairing your credit first. Get with a good local agent, and set up some goals. You maybe working on a part of your score, that means very little, and it may take a lot longer than if you know what part of your score is important. hope this helped

You can find a lender who will use that score, although, you cannot have any late payments on anything in the last 12 months. Please give me a call and I can discuss in detail, your options. This program would be FHA and the rate is very competitive.

Your question is not easy to answer in simple terms. It is highly unlikely that you will find a "decent rate" with a 565 credit score. You need to talk with a mortgage professional. The mortgage professional needs to know the dynamics of your financial situation and why your score is a 565. There may be easy solutions to increase your credit score but without knowing the specifics, it's hard to provide advice. With our mortgage market the way it is these days, you want your mortgage application to look as good as possible. This allows the underwriter to feel comfortable in approving your loan. When working with hard money lenders, you have to look at the fine print to ensure you can meet their guidelines and time constraints. Don't feel forced to buy when there is no reason to.

Even when there were decent programs for lower scores the rates were not favorable and getting an actual approval was tough because it's not just the score but the reason behind the score that matters. If most of your bad debt are medical collections then you might be better off than most. The key would be, as you surmised, to raise your score. I can help you with some ideas but results will take time - perhaps years.

It's not the rate - it's the payment you can afford with princpal, interest, taxes , and insurance. add all those together and multiply by three and that's the income you must have in the household from W-2's and 1040 taxes.Otherwise you can finance with private money with 15% down and have the seller carryback 25% at 9% interest only fixed for 5 years.