Need a mortgage after a CH 13

[haines2323]

My husband and I filed Ch 13 in Feb. 2005, our case was closed 5-12-2008. We currently own our house and it is too small for us. We have 2 children, 1 boy and 1 girl who NEED their own rooms. My husband's FICO is 690, mine on the other hand is 613. Any suggestions on raising our scores so that we can get a mortgage soon. My husabnd has a WAMU account with a $3000 limit that I am an auth. user on and I have an Orchard Bank (unsecured) card with a $300 limit. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks in advance.

[Flamingo]

I am assuming you have cleaned up your credit reports by now and have been paying all bills on time during your Plan and after your discharge to present. Not having one late bill during that time does help. Right now the mortgage market is not that good even for people with excellent credit. Creditors/mortgagors are being extremely picky and may continue to be that way until the housing market changes. FHA is the way to go right out of a Chapter 13. The attorney who handled your Chapter 13 is a good source for a broker reference since you were recently discharged. Our attorney gave us our broker's name and he was fabulous and worked to get us a low fixed rate in April 2006 (6.5% for 30 years) which was the going rate at that time and our credit scores were about 690 at that time. With an FHA mortgage you will have to deal with PMI. I would suggest getting the names of a few good brokers who can do some leg work for you and let you know what your options are at this point in time.