You would be surprised at the actual credit history you can use. Credit cards, utility bills, car note, rental history are some of the few credit items that can be used as credit history for lenders to determine your credit history. It makes a great difference If you are in good standing and pay all your current & past bills on time. There are several services out there available to help first-time home buyers. There are several services that will also help you get and gather all the necessary items you would need if you are thinking about buying a home. For example in my area there is the Woodbine Community Center they help in many areas but in your case they would be of help for you to sit down, take a few classes if you need to help you in your thinking process of buying a home. Perhaps you can look at the site I provided to see if you have some sort of service like it in your area. Hope this helps you in your quest to purchase a home if that is what you desire. Take care

I would highly advise you to go talk to a mortgage originator if you know any. If not, ask some friends who they used to get their mortgage, and talk with them first. There are some awesome loan programs available, and they are fairly easy to obtain even with marginal credit. But going to get a credit card might certainly be the worst move you can make right now. Talk to them first!

Good Luck!

Hi Piper,

You might start with getting a prepard credit card to establish some good credit. I will provide you a link. You might have no credit history which this card will help you or you might have negative items listed in your credit reports and if that is the case you might want to consider credit restoration. Here is a link. Good luck!

http://www.HammeredCredit.com

Bottom line is to find a local lender that is willing to "go the extra mile" with you and do some extra work to assist you in obtaining a mortgage or helping you get to the point that you can qualify. There are alternative methods of documenting credit worthiness as Jenny stated...the trick is to understand not all loan officers or mortgage brokers are created equal. Do you have any friends in similar situations that may have purchased a home recently? A good local referral is the best way to find something that will truly go the extra mile for you. If you are not able to find someone that can give you a referral, make some calls to local lenders that will do FHA loans or some mortgage brokers and ask the questions directly....guaging their answers on how knowledgeable they appear to be of the FHA product and underwriting procedures and how willing they are to work with you to get you to the point you qualify for a loan. It shouldn't cost anything for an initial consultation....out of pocket cost to you shouldn't come before an appraisal or full credit check....closing costs are often negotiated as seller assistance during the home purchase process.

Good luck getting in to your first home!

You are a candidate for FHA loans. It requires 3.5% down payment, and you can use the $8,000 HUD tax credit as the down payment.

Find a local FHA lender and ask he/she to submit your loan request as "manually" underwrite... this means more work for him/her but you will have a higher chance of loan approval.

FHA will consider credit scores as low as 500. They will also consider "non" traditional credit history such as cell phone payments, car payments, utilities payments, etc.

NO credit history is "better" than late payment history. Perfect credit is NOT a requirement, however, your credit history should be decent and reasonable....this is where the "manual" underwriting comes in to help you...all credit deficiencies must be justified with compensating factors. This means YOU will need to work with the local FHA lender and help him/her to document the compensating factors.

I hope the information helps.

Email: Contact@ActusPropertySolutions.com
Phone: (888) 525-0125

FHA has programs to use alternative credit references such as utility bills. With Rural Development there are also plans to as long as the credit you have is either good or explanable. Try one of the local lenders such as Wallick and Volk or one of the banks.

You must have about a 620 fico score in order to qualify for a FHA mortgage. Do you know your credit score? Also you will need 3.5% in cash of the sales price for the downpayment.