[Jessicer]

Alright, I make 65,000 a year. I found the house I want to get at 149,000. Needs no work. I'm prequalified up to 200,000. Now, the problem is, I'm 20 years old and don't have established credit. I only have one credit card and I've only been paying it for 3 months now. My father has agreed to co-sign with me. He has a credit score of 930. So my first question is, could I use his score to get qualified for a loan? (Him being the primary signer, and me being the secondary or co-signer) Secondly, I looked into the FHA loan and cannot get one without me having credit as well. Is there ANY kind of loan (besides setting it as non-owner occupied through my father, which will only finance 80%) that I can get? I've fallen in love with this house. Please let me know. By the way i can only afford to put 10% down right now.To the "Know-it-all" down there... The highest FICO score you can have is 850. The highest VantageScore is 990.

[Doug M]

First your father cannot have a score of 930 as 850 is the top. I would never recommend a co-signer on any loan, much less a 150k loan. If you do not make your payments, your father is now stuck with making all the payments. If you are qualified for the loan already, there is no reason to bring him into it. If you cannot obtain one right away, you might be better off establishing more credit and going out for a loan next year sometime. This will allow you to save up some extra money for a down-payment which will also increase the odds you can obtain a mortgage. Plus, if you have a co-signer on your note, your credit will not improve as much as if you were the only debtor on the note.