What do my husband and I need to do prepare to buy a house, considering our low credit scores?

Shorty8708: What do my husband and I need to do prepare to buy a house, considering our low credit scores?
My husband and I both have low credit scores 550-595 and student loan debt. I am graduating next year with my nursing degree which will significantly increase our income. We know the benefits of owning a home versus renting. We hope to buy a house within a year of me graduating. What do we do to prepare our credit and finances. I don’t want to have to wait 7 years for negative credit to come off our reports before buying a house.

Answers and Views:

Answer by mel
have 20% down payment, and at least 10 k around for immediate needs and repairs.

Answer by John S
The best thing you can do is pay down any revolving/installment debt. If you have none of that what you can do is apply for a couple of credit cards, then use a minimal amount say $ 100 of credit and pay it off within 30 days, repeating this cycle quarterly will drive your credit score up. Remember if you charge something pay it off within 30 days that always adds points. If you have any collections pay them in full, don’t ever negotiate down the balance, thats a big mistake.

Answer by [email protected]
I know you’ve pretty much heard all the Junk, but unless you get your scores even close over the 640, forget it.
But try to clean-up as much as possible with first challenging everything on your credit Record, because some can be easily removed as just asking them to investigate the report.

Then talk to the Lenders/Creditors on possible paying off, pennies on the dollars what owed, but first in the legal requirement that they remove all reported credit of such transaction, you’ll be surprised on how many will say yes and do it just to get something back.

I’ve included a Link and it Help me a whole Lot..

Answer by bud68
Well, if you have negatives on your credit, they will have to age their way off. When you begin working, pay down your debt as fast as possible and prevent any new negatives. That will gradually increase your scores.

Answer by grayhambone
forget “credit scores”. we are always looking for ways to judge ourselves against others.

just have a large down payment and steady employment.