Old judgment and 609 middle score, working on fixing credit but how soon?

You should be able to find lenders that will accept a credit score of 600 and allow a 3.5% down payment they may require lower ratios. Most lenders will require a credit score of 620 and will most likely run your application through DU/LP and that will determine yuor ratios.

She should have a 620 score to qualify. FHA debt ratios are 29%/41%, meaning 21% of your gross income can go towards your house payment and 41% of your gross income can go towards your overall debt. As far as boosting her score, it will depend upon how long it takes the creditors to report the changes and for them to cycle through the beureaus. The other option for you is to pay off those accounts, get documentation they are paid and do a rapid rescore, which can get the new scores within a few days. Right now, rates are VERY low, and it may be owrth while for you to try to get something done sooner rather than later. Good luck, and let me know if we can be of help.Steve Sexton steve@1800valoans.com 877-376-0223

It sounds like your on the right track.FHA requires a minimum 580 score for 3.5% down but most ls have additional restrictions. A score of 620-640 would be required for the best financing terms and rates.Paying off an old debt will decrease your score temporarily since it brings an old history into the present. Since the credit repositories weigh a lot of different factors in calculating a credit score, it's difficult to tell how long it would take to see sufficient improvement. The best way to estimate that would be through a service such as CrediteXpert which allows "what-if" scenarios and pretty accurately estimates the impact of any action upon your credit score.Front end and back end ratios are set only when a "manual underwrite" is required. If you receive an "approve" grade from an automated underwriting system then your ratios have already been considered and are fine as-is.