How is this possible?

16 years ago

I was watching an episode of "My First Home" last night on TLC, and the couple they were profiling was from Indianapolis and preapproved for $120,000. They decided they needed to be preapproved for $150,000 and went to talk to their broker, who said that there was no way they could be preapproved for more because their credit score was 515. How on earth did anyone with a credit score of 515 get preapproved for a mortgage?

They said later on that they had to have a down payment of 3% that came from their church, and they ended up getting a custom home where the builder paid the closing costs. I just don't understand how anyone with a score of 515 and no actual assets of their own got approved for a mortgage even if the episode was a few years old. (I don't know how old it was, just saying that it's my understanding that it was easier to get a mortgage in 2005.)

Their broker gave them tips for raising their credit score and they did get approved for the $150,000. I didn't hear them say how much their credit score went up, but I can't imagine that it was hundreds of points.

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Comments (12)

mariend
16 years ago
That is one of the problems--people refuse to save and why should a church give them money. Sorry, they need to rent more.
bestalikat
16 years ago
Their new score was 650, and the 5k (or so) was a "love gift" for the couple from the congregation.

I was more upset by the nerve of the real estate folks asking for a donation from the congregation, even if it was their youth minister. As a parishioner I'd be turned off by that.

A
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ladybugbaby
16 years ago
here is a little more info than you have been given already. he is the pastor of the church, that is why the church took up money for them. they rent now, her childhome home. it is in a ghetto/slum area. drive by shooting happened recently and they were talking about the drug deals that could be seen in the area past their back yard. their score went to 650. they had managed to almost get their credit card debt paid off too. some time went by, so they had time to improve their score. their son had just recently been diagnosed with muscular distrophy and they needed a wheelchair accessible home. everything they had looked at was too small, or not wheelchair accessible. sometimes you have to see life through others eyes to understand the situation. i watched this less than 30 minutes ago. i had saved it on my dvr. i like the show a lot.
ladybugbaby
ladybugbaby
16 years ago
maybe i missed that he was the youth minister. i thought i had heard them say he was the minister.
ladybugbaby
stretchad
16 years ago
I live in Indianapolis - I'd be curious to know where in the city they bought. There aren't many "ghetto/slum" areas where drive bys happen. 150k will get you a ton in this city so it seems odd that they'd purchase something in such a location. My house, 20 mins from downtown, in a great school district was $155k and highly upgraded when we bought in '03 and we've seen little/zero price apprecation (point being, they probably could have bought something similar for less than 155). I'll be searching for that episode!
stretchad
16 years ago
sorry I'm an idiot. I didnt read the first post clearly...apparently they moved OUT of the nasty area. Makes more sense now!
ica171
Original Author
16 years ago
How much time passed between when the broker told them they couldn't get more because their score was so low and when their score got to 650? I know they said they'd been looking for two years, but I didn't think the show covered that span of time.

I also didn't understand how someone who'd been looking for a house for two years had absolutely nothing saved for a down payment or closing costs. I guess it probably went to medical bills or old collections or whatever.

I would have been put off by being asked to donate to a church member's (or a minister's) down payment fund, too. They did give the impression that they didn't ask the church for it, the church just did it for them.

I can understand why they wanted/needed to move, but I don't understand how they got the mortgage approval in the first place--they were preapproved with a score of 515, even if it did eventually go to 650. I wonder what their initial interest rate was.
bestalikat
16 years ago
The time span between 515 and 650 was four-five months. I remember four, but I could be wrong.

My own score went up 40 points in one month, so I can believe 135 points in four months with lots of effort.

The part I had a hard time with was if they spent so much effort paying off bills in that time frame, why couldn't they continue that effort, saving instead, and then in four months have the down payment?

In any case, I'm glad I found this show at this time since I"m just beginning my own search.

A
mfbenson
16 years ago
I wonder if they got a co-signer for the mortgage? It wouldn't be the first time an inconveinent fact got edited out of a "reality" show...
theroselvr
16 years ago
The show schedule says:
My First Home
Indianapolis, Indiana

Patrick Parson, a youth pastor, and Deanna, an elementary school teacher, are eager to move their family of six out of the crime-ridden neighborhood where they currently rent and into a home they can call their own.

I didn't see the show, now I'm curious and will look out for it. I don't know how many people survive with 4 kids, things are so expensive.
ladybugbaby
16 years ago
if i remember correctly, and i watched like four episodes of this show on sunday, there initial rate was double what their new rate was. i heard it and said to myself you have got to be kidding. if it wasn't this couple it was one of the four show couples i watched. either way, someone had a horrible interest rate.
ladybugbaby
ladynimue
16 years ago
I don't find it odd or off putting that the church members contributed a "love fund" for the pastor's down payment. Many pastors are given a home to live in free, as part of their salary as a pastor.