Can you request them to rerun your credit report? We do the same thing with charging a lot but pay off twice a month. For the past 6 months since we've been in the building process I've been paying them off weekly. Generally you want to keep the balance below 10% of the credit limit so if you're charging alot you just have to pay off more often.
Hope everything works out. We're in the final processes and going through underwriting right now.

Vonda, we're currently doing the finance dance as well. We also used credit cards to pre-purchase a lot of materials before the build and pay architect, subs before builder, etc. Thankfully our balance was at $0 at the time of the credit report. Can you just wait a month and get the credit report re-run? (Not that waiting a month is easy)

Also, can you not use your income tax from last year to prove your income? I know a lawyer buddy of mine is going to use that to prove he has the income necessary to qualify.

Good luck and sorry the credit card game didn't work out as well for you as it did for us. So well that we intend to use it to float some stuff between draws... which might get dicey.

See if they can run your credit again after your credit report is refreshed with the new lower balance on the credit cards.

It scares them to see a sudden increase in credit utilization.

The same thing happened to me (My partner used my credit card on a large purchase and the mortgage company happened to re-pull my credit report a couple weeks later). I discussed the situation with the mortgage company and they pulled a new credit report a few weeks later, at my expense of course.

It's OK, I just had my first mortgage last year so I know the feeling :). The most important thing they tell you is to not make any material changes to your credit (new CC purchases, a car, etc.) before your mortgage closes. A lot of people will go out and purchase new furniture, etc. and find out it really hurt them or even stopped the process.

When you enter into a large financial transaction you must always do your own due diligence using all the information available to you. Credit information changes often (credit cards didn't exist when I was in high school) but good information is easily found online.

Here is a link that might be useful: increasing credit score info

Vonda - Unless you have some special circumstance or just started self-employment, I don't understand why you can't verify income with your tax returns. I did that on our last house and would imagine there are lots of self-employed people who qualify for mortgages based on their income.

Macv - Thank you for all the great information/links you provide to this forum; I always learn something when you post!

I should also mention that you should never expect the other party in a transaction (or their lawyer) to provide you with all of the information you need. In order to effectively recognize conflicts of interest you must first know how the other party expects to profit from the transaction and then you need to learn what tactics they typically use to maximize that profit. They are pros; you are not, so you need to do your homework.

I tell my kids that if they don't know how a car dealer makes his living, don't walk into a show room.

Thanks spf, but half of the information I post is due to the ability (attributable to many years in a profession that demands due diligence and accuracy) to put the best key words into a Google search, so I often learn as much as anyone else.

My son bought a house last year and when he sold some investments to pay the downpayment, the lender raised his interest rate. It's a game where the rules are entirely self-serving. He went to another lender, got a better rate, and was able to close on time.

I didn't expect the bank to have told me that, macv, I just wish that the info was more readily available on how to manage all this stuff, and I guess I was trying to warn others who might not know. I had no idea it was a problem until yesterday and we're set to close on Tuesday. I knew not to make major purchases or finance furniture or whatever (which means we've been moved in for 3 weeks and still have no sofa)--I didn't know that using the credit I already had could be used against me.

As for using my tax return from last year--LOLOLOL Can't do that because excessive rains ruined our harvest in 2009 and I lost a lot of money. We're talking tens of thousands in the red and I couldn't pay off my crop loan. The only reason we were still able to go forward with the house as planned was because of our savings and my hubby's off-farm job.

V

Many people use this forum to vent their frustration and find sympathy rather than to find solutions to their problems so it is difficult to know what your goal is. But I can tell you from personal experience that the first step toward a solution is always to accept responsibility for your mistakes and venting only delays the process.

The second step is to gather better information. Read every word of the link I posted and take careful notes. As many here have tried to tell you, it may not be too late to repair your rating and/or salvage the loan.

The third step is to take swift dispassionate action.

Let us know how it turns out.

What a condescending curmudgeon you are, macv.

I don't remember indicating that I wished to abdicate responsibility for anything and I certainly didn't blame anyone else. This post was a vent and a warning to others.

As for repairing anything, the loan is still going through with our great rate (4.125%), it's just for a couple thousand less than we intended due to debt ratio. Small potatoes, but still annoying. I was just thinking that it could have been a lot worse and we had no idea we were hurting ourselves at the time.

As for everyone else, thank you for the advice and for letting me know I'm not the only dummy out there. ;-)

V

You had past self-employment losses and you think someone should have told you that running up credit card balances would hurt your credit rating?

You need to take responsibility for your own actions instead of whining about them and calling other people names.

V-Thanks for the information. One of the ways you can learn about these types of things is to hear other people's experiences. I appreciate it and I'm glad to hear that you were able to get the loan anyway.

Macv, seriously? You don't think implying that the op is irresponsible, whiny and too dumb to find out information ahead of time is insulting them? Really? It is.

Further, paying off a credit card to 0 every month does not exactly qualify as irresponsible and is certainly not 'running up the balance'. The gray area of when the balance is reported is what took the op by surprise, understandably so.

macv, Your posts sometimes come off as very rude or caustic. I really wish you'd stop to think before you type as to whether the tone you are using is appropriate. It's such a shame because you share so much valuable information and advice!

The OP was simply sharing the frustration that she had experienced. It's something that happens quite often with people the first time they get a mortgage...even more so nowadays with how the mortgage market is. It is no picnic right now getting a mortgage and they are even more sensitive to issues like this than they used to be.

I don't think it was very nice to berate her for not having a high enough level of "personal responsibility" to please you. The very fact that she is currently building a house, a dream that many people have but can't attain, and that she is self employed, a farmer, and took responsibility for her losses last year is ample evidence that she is in fact a very responsible person. Not that it matters because this isn't the proper venue to judge people as to whether they are responsible or not.

I find macv's posts quite informative and sound.

Please don't discourage him/her from further posts.

Maybe if the original post was titled something like " Don't make the mistake I did" instead of a title that made it seem like others should have informed them about this problem it would not seem that the OP was blaming others.

Thats how I read it.

neesie, I did nothing of the sort.

Oh Lordy....Let me give you guys some back story here...

MACV- short for Military Assistance Command Vietnam- has a military background, which is why he may come off, errrr, a little harsh sounding. He was around for a long time under a different screen name and one day, not dispassionately, got mad, canceled his account, had the thread deleted and told everyone to go fly a kite. Well, he came back under a different screen name and it took me a while to put two and two together.

Long and short of it is....he's knows exactly what he's talking about and I'm grateful for the information that he provides. Before y'all pounce on me, please know I was previously criticizing *him* for throwing barbs around and I've just learned that he's a little more direct than most folk on this board. He's a Harvard educated, practicing architect with a lot of experience....and I think he really spends a lot of time trying to help people on this board not expecting much in return.....soooooo you take the good, you take the bad, you take them all and there you have the facts of life :)

Responsibility, more information, dispassionate action is a *very* military way of thinking...so I don't interpret it as a direct shot at the OP, so to speak. More of a thought process.....

I often wonder what all these people would do with out the wonderful suggestions, help and practical knowledge that the people here offer up everyday.

I built my first home with books that I read night and day. Most of the information offered here from how to get a good home loan to what to not do was just not easily available. A lot of people building now would be lost with on the net!

mdev.....thanks for the info on macv...didn't know that background. As for the banks....they are looking for ANYTHING to raise rates these days. IMO....any idiot working for a bank and can see that whatever the balance that person had in the last few months was PAID off EACH month...'should' give them a better rating....NOT a poorer rating.....that's just common sense!!! Especially if it pertains to the actual house they are building and not 'other' stuff! It seems they are using ANY thing they can think of to give folks a poorer rating so they can charge higher rates.

One thing I have learned is that common sense has nothing to do with credit and mortgages. LOL These people operate in their own alternate reality.