New law - buy after short sale

[sqa4life]

Hello Experts,

So, my loan officer who works for BofA told that the new guideline require people who file bk, shortsale or turn back home to the bank, have to wait 7 yrs before they can buy another home. She said this law has passed 3 months ago.

Is that true?
Any official document out there I can read to confirm?

As far as I know, for short sales, you only wait 2 yrs for conventional loan (20% down) or 3 years for FHA loan. Please correct me if I am wrong. Not sure about bk as I am only interested to know about the waiting period after a short sale. "obtaining a loan after short sold"

Thanks all

[shasta_steve]

To my knowledge what you were told would only apply to jumbo loans. It is 7 years to buy another home if you are doing a conventional loan but 3 for FHA or 2 for VA after foreclosure. I believe if you do an 80% LTV you can buy in 2 years with Fannie and 5 years with Freddie on a conventional loan with a short sale.

Lets face it there are going to be consequences with whatever decision you choose. In my case I do not feel I will be buying another house for 7 years or more. If I do have to I would just go the FHA route after 3 years. Let's face it, it is very unlikely Fannie or Freddie will exist in their current form in a few years. Rules may get easier or harder. It is just a gamble.

[TomEason]

To my knowledge what you were told would only apply to jumbo loans. It is 7 years to buy another home if you are doing a conventional loan but 3 for FHA or 2 for VA after foreclosure. I believe if you do an 80% LTV you can buy in 2 years with Fannie and 5 years with Freddie on a conventional loan with a short sale.

Lets face it there are going to be consequences with whatever decision you choose. In my case I do not feel I will be buying another house for 7 years or more. If I do have to I would just go the FHA route after 3 years. Let's face it, it is very unlikely Fannie or Freddie will exist in their current form in a few years. Rules may get easier or harder. It is just a gamble.

steve
Thanks for sharing your insight. As you know, these times are merely forecasts or guesses, as no one really knows yet - to soon. As you remarked, even though the GSEs have made their announcements, it's worthy to note that Fannie and Freddie are so screwed up they're both in conservatorship, and their pronouncements are subject to much change, not to mention, they may no longer exist in the near future, as you note. Much of this is marketing hype by the real estate industry being foisted on consumers to evangelize the supposed benefits of short sales, with the hoped result, obviously of getting SS listings.

[sqa4life]

Thanks.
I thought for conventional loan is 2 years waiting period if you put down 20% as down payment.

Anyway, is there really a new law/guideline on short sale 3 months ago?

[TomEason]

Thanks.
I thought for conventional loan is 2 years waiting period if you put down 20% as down payment.

Anyway, is there really a new law/guideline on short sale 3 months ago?

sqa4life
Who knows? It's all too complicated for anyone to know, and no doubt varies by lender. I think your best bet may be to consult with a local trusted and experience loan broker.

[shasta_steve]

Thanks.
I thought for conventional loan is 2 years waiting period if you put down 20% as down payment.

Anyway, is there really a new law/guideline on short sale 3 months ago?

I think this is where I got my informaton. I read it a few days ago and had to go find it again. Keep in mind it is one of those kool-aid drinking short sale websites. These are supposed to be the new rules comming out. From what I understand if the loan is backed by Fannie it would be two years after a short sale but five years if freddie backed the sale. Like Tom pointed out two years is a very long time in this current environment so the rules may be totally different then.

Buying A Home After Foreclosure or Short Sale | Wait Time To Buy Again After Short Sale

[sqa4life]

Thanks everyone for your input.

Steve,
Very helpful info. Thanks

I just can't wait to buy another house. Can't help seeing my kids running around the little rental townhouse. Needs space for them to play :-)

[shobam]

Do these rules apply if the short sale was a second home. What if you still own a primary would like to refi; its current, has a lot of equity and you have never been late even once? Moereover I was the only one on the note and I bought the house before I was married. But; my wife and I are both on our primary house that we would like to refi

[scottybear]

No new law passed. 7 years for a foreclosure. 2-3 for short sale. Bankruptcy is 2-3 as well.
Current score also matters of course.
Scott

[shasta_steve]

Can you provide a link to that? I have been hearing the same thing from agents but when I look into it I never get those exact numbers. Last I heard it was still 3 years for FHA foreclosure. Also the 2 year thing for conventional requires a 20% down after a short sale. Unless something has just changed.

[TomEason]

On future loan qualification criteria. It would be helpful if anyone really knew what various lenders might require in the future to qualify for a home purchase loan, but no one does. The RE industry markets their forecasts in the "hope" they aren't too far off. Credit market professional admit they cannot predict. Furthermore it's a moving target. The fact that the GSEs are being phased out due to their woeful performance and loss of the taxpayer's money makes any forecasts even more difficult.

[shobam]

I'm looking into this very thing right now. No one has the same answer. I called Freddie Mac and spoke to a brain dead woman who I had to hang up on because she could not speak english. After a few more calls I got a semi-conscious person who told me that its the US Treasury that puts in place the rules. Called over to the US Treasury and got no where.

No brokers really know, no bank reps know. To give an example; a 6 dollar an hour phone parrot over at Citi told me that in order to do a refi via the Freddie Mac "Relief Refinance Program" one must have a credit score of 780 or better. This while I'm looking at the guildlines that say 620. Then He said that the guild lines that I had were old ones yet the page and guidlines that i was looking at were current and he counldn't tell me where he got his information. I told him that 780 is near perfect and the guild line states that this program is for people who are squeezed out by tightening credit requirments and falling home valuesas outlined on the web page. I asked him if I came to you with a 780 score out of a possible 850 would I qualify for a loan, any loan. He couldn't answer the question. I just hung up again.

I'm wondering if a SS on a second home disqualifys you from refi'ing your first or primary and I can't get a straight answer on that either. Eveyone wants to do a "hard pull" on my credit report. I don't want to spill 10 or 20 points for someone to say no.

[TomEason]

I'm looking into this very thing right now. No one has the same answer. I called Freddie Mac and spoke to a brain dead woman who I had to hang up on because she could not speak english. After a few more calls I got a semi-conscious person who told me that its the US Treasury that puts in place the rules. Called over to the US Treasury and got no where.

No brokers really know, no bank reps know. To give an example; a 6 dollar an hour phone parrot over at Citi told me that in order to do a refi via the Freddie Mac "Relief Refinance Program" one must have a credit score of 780 or better. This while I'm looking at the guildlines that say 620. Then He said that the guild lines that I had were old ones yet the page and guidlines that i was looking at were current and he counldn't tell me where he got his information. I told him that 780 is near perfect and the guild line states that this program is for people who are squeezed out by tightening credit requirments and falling home valuesas outlined on the web page. I asked him if I came to you with a 780 score out of a possible 850 would I qualify for a loan, any loan. He couldn't answer the question. I just hung up again.

I'm wondering if a SS on a second home disqualifys you from refi'ing your first or primary and I can't get a straight answer on that either. Eveyone wants to do a "hard pull" on my credit report. I don't want to spill 10 or 20 points for someone to say no.

shobam
While I certainly empathize with your frustrations, I wanted to let you know how much I chuckled when I read the funny narration of your experiences.

[scottybear]

Can you provide a link to that? I have been hearing the same thing from agents but when I look into it I never get those exact numbers. Last I heard it was still 3 years for FHA foreclosure. Also the 2 year thing for conventional requires a 20% down after a short sale. Unless something has just changed.

https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides.../sel012711.pdf This is a 1200 page doc. Go to page 435 for chart of waiting periods after derogatory event.

Some things to remember. These are current, but could change tomorrow, next week, next year etc.
Just because you meet requirements per Fannie, doesn't mean you can find a lender to give you a loan. Guidelines very by lender, and lender guidelines very by state and county. If you live in a falling market, lenders will have stricter guildelines then if you live in a rising market. Anytime over 80% LTV also have to think about mortgage insurance. You may qualify for 90% LTV, but can't find a mortgage insurance to cover you.

Very best thing to do is talk to a couple of mortgage brokers in your area and ask them what currently is available.

I saw a bunch of questions asking about short selling second homes. That is still a short sale.

[shortsale973]

Remember banks are in the business of lending and making money. They wont penalize you for too long.

[scottybear]

Remember banks are in the business of lending and making money. They wont penalize you for too long.

Very well said. Once markets start to rise, interest rates start going up, it will be lend, lend, lend.

[Angels]

Very well said. Once markets start to rise, interest rates start going up, it will be lend, lend, lend.

Pretty soon they wont have anyone to lend to so they will have no choice but to lend to us less desirable people. It’s all supply and demand. And because they are greedy they cannot help themselves but to lower the standard. It will happen, just wait awhile.

[Angels]

Very well said. Once markets start to rise, interest rates start going up, it will be lend, lend, lend.

Pretty soon they wont have anyone to lend to so they will have no choice but to lend to us less desirable people. It’s all supply and demand. And because they are greedy they cannot help themselves but to lower the standard. It will happen, just wait awhile.

[TrappedFL]

What about a person who had to short sale their home in order to move and marry, and would seek to purchase a home with their fiance/spouse (who was not involved in the prior short sale)?

Situation is that I short sold one year ago, and now we are hunting. We've been thinking that it would be best for him to buy it and be on the loan, but then that raises issues. It would be cleaner if we could both buy the home together.

[SurfwhenUcan]

Hello Experts,

So, my loan officer who works for BofA told that the new guideline require people who file bk, shortsale or turn back home to the bank, have to wait 7 yrs before they can buy another home. She said this law has passed 3 months ago.

Is that true?
Any official document out there I can read to confirm?

As far as I know, for short sales, you only wait 2 yrs for conventional loan (20% down) or 3 years for FHA loan. Please correct me if I am wrong. Not sure about bk as I am only interested to know about the waiting period after a short sale. "obtaining a loan after short sold"

Thanks all

Law? What law? The following link from the Fannie Mae website should help clear up any confusion on this. Either your loan officer doesn't understand what FM said or he's just generalizing and that's not very helpful when you are asking for specific information. Maybe he should look at this too.

Media: News Releases > Fannie Mae Increases Penalties for Borrowers Who Walk Away

A BK, short sale, deed in lieu or foreclosure will significantly affect your ability to purchase a home for a long time to come, first by preventing such a transaction altogether, then farther down the line probably preventing because of the lender requiring a 20%+ down payment to even consider you.

[shobam]

What about a person who had to short sale their home in order to move and marry, and would seek to purchase a home with their fiance/spouse (who was not involved in the prior short sale)?

Situation is that I short sold one year ago, and now we are hunting. We've been thinking that it would be best for him to buy it and be on the loan, but then that raises issues. It would be cleaner if we could both buy the home together.

Its the same thing with me. I owned my house all by my lonesome. Then got married. We did a refi to her house to pay off her "Ex" per the divorce decree and I went on the mortgage then, in 2007. so here we are in 2007 and we/I own two homes. One in my name alone and one in both our names. My new wife was not in the picture when I bought my house. My house was bought in 2003, near peak of housing bubble. We needed to sell my house (whole host of reasons too long to discuss) but was under water to the tune of about 34K so it was a short sale. So I have a house in both my wife's and my name worth about 300K that we owe 200k on, no lein and we have never been late in paying the mortgage, wife's CS is mid 700s, my score is mid 600s. But because of that SS with, with a house in only my name "our" only recourse is to wait 2 years to refi (we are in an ARM that adjusts in May of 2012 more than a year out) My wife has been ill with kidney disease but geting better but has no tangible income right now, so removing me from the mortgage and refi'ing in her name is out right now. Looking forward to 5/2012, in the worst case senerio were by my mortgage adjusts the most it can per terms of the note, it could go up almost $500.00 to about $2000.00 per month.

That is what In trying to avoid. The mortgage is with Citi and they are no help in any way. They don't even understand what a SS is or the fact that my loan is a Freddy Mac and that even if i can get somene who speaks English.

[SurfwhenUcan]

Its the same thing with me. I owned my house all by my lonesome. Then got married. We did a refi to her house to pay off her "Ex" per the divorce decree and I went on the mortgage then, in 2007. so here we are in 2007 and we/I own two homes. One in my name alone and one in both our names. My new wife was not in the picture when I bought my house. My house was bought in 2003, near peak of housing bubble. We needed to sell my house (whole host of reasons too long to discuss) but was under water to the tune of about 34K so it was a short sale. So I have a house in both my wife's and my name worth about 300K that we owe 200k on, no lein and we have never been late in paying the mortgage, wife's CS is mid 700s, my score is mid 600s. But because of that SS with, with a house in only my name "our" only recourse is to wait 2 years to refi (we are in an ARM that adjusts in May of 2012 more than a year out) My wife has been ill with kidney disease but geting better but has no tangible income right now, so removing me from the mortgage and refi'ing in her name is out right now. Looking forward to 5/2012, in the worst case senerio were by my mortgage adjusts the most it can per terms of the note, it could go up almost $500.00 to about $2000.00 per month.

That is what In trying to avoid. The mortgage is with Citi and they are no help in any way. They don't even understand what a SS is or the fact that my loan is a Freddy Mac and that even if i can get somene who speaks English.

Here's the deal with Short Sales (and Foreclosures & Deeds in Lieu):

1) They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines
2) The bank will take the worst borrower of any two or more applying for a loan - if your score is 580 and your wife's score is 800, review of your loan application will be based on 580

Trapped - no way you can be on the application
Shobam - you are not going to get a refinance. However, you have a decent medical hardship but it's not enough. The problem is, if you're paying on time, you have no hardship right now, you need to be living the hardship which becomes possible to argue when your payment goes up - then you have an unaffordable payment and no way to protect yourself by adding income from your wife. Not until then.

[scottybear]

Here's the deal with Short Sales (and Foreclosures & Deeds in Lieu):

1) They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines
2) The bank will take the worst borrower of any two or more applying for a loan - if your score is 580 and your wife's score is 800, review of your loan application will be based on 580

Trapped - no way you can be on the application
Shobam - you are not going to get a refinance. However, you have a decent medical hardship but it's not enough. The problem is, if you're paying on time, you have no hardship right now, you need to be living the hardship which becomes possible to argue when your payment goes up - then you have an unaffordable payment and no way to protect yourself by adding income from your wife. Not until then.

1. WRONG! I posted the Fannie Mae Guidelines above, you have a link to all 1220 pages of guidelines. Page 434-435. Read it. 7 and 2 even though they look the same aren't the same. Go surfing, don't spread mis-information.

[shortsale973]

Here's the deal with Short Sales (and Foreclosures & Deeds in Lieu):

1) They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines
2) The bank will take the worst borrower of any two or more applying for a loan - if your score is 580 and your wife's score is 800, review of your loan application will be based on 580

Trapped - no way you can be on the application
Shobam - you are not going to get a refinance. However, you have a decent medical hardship but it's not enough. The problem is, if you're paying on time, you have no hardship right now, you need to be living the hardship which becomes possible to argue when your payment goes up - then you have an unaffordable payment and no way to protect yourself by adding income from your wife. Not until then.

That is correct. When I bought my house 7 years ago, my credit was 640ish and my wifes was high 700's. They took the worse of the two and based my rates off of mine.

[SurfwhenUcan]

1. WRONG! I posted the Fannie Mae Guidelines above, you have a link to all 1220 pages of guidelines. Page 434-435. Read it. 7 and 2 even though they look the same aren't the same. Go surfing, don't spread mis-information.

You appear to be new here, maybe you're just new. You should be the one surfing - around this site that is. Educate yourself a little more before picking fights, plus learn to read. As with most people walking around with a chip on their shoulder, you come off looking like a fool.

Read my post again Sherlock. My advice is what you can expect in real life right now, not what you read on a silly little pdf. Apply for a loan and then get back with us and tell us what happens. Those are minimum waiting periods. Only the very naive think passing a single guideline qualifies them for loan. You have to pass 50 guidelines to get to the end of the rainbow and these days, as hard as it is to qualify for anything, even passing 50 is not enough. That's real life.

But more importantly, 1) They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines means when you apply for a loan, whether you have suffered a foreclosure, done a short sale or negotiated a Deed in Lieu, these are all generally considered a foreclosure event by the bank when looking at you for new financing. I wasn't talking about waiting periods at all. You must have been reading in such a rush, you missed the point. Next time I'll type reeeaaallll slow.

You might also look up the word GUIDELINES. It means "a detailed plan or explanation to guide you in setting standards or determining a course of action"
But then we have to look up "GUIDE" since you seem to think it means "REQUIRE" (it doesn't). I'll let you educate yourself on "guide". Your pdf is a guide, not a set of laws.

I take it you are one of those nuts who runs around waving a little booklet of guidelines screaming at the bank they have to follow them, like everybody used to do with the MHA booklet. The most you will do is put on an amusing little show. Feel free to keep posting though. It's funny to watch you run around.

[scottybear]

You appear to be new here, maybe you're just new. You should be the one surfing - around this site that is. Educate yourself a little more before picking fights, plus learn to read. As with most people walking around with a chip on their shoulder, you come off looking like a fool.

Read my post again Sherlock. My advice is what you can expect in real life right now, not what you read on a silly little pdf. Apply for a loan and then get back with us and tell us what happens. Those are minimum waiting periods. Only the very naive think passing a single guideline qualifies them for loan. You have to pass 50 guidelines to get to the end of the rainbow and these days, as hard as it is to qualify for anything, even passing 50 is not enough. That's real life.

But more importantly, 1) They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines means when you apply for a loan, whether you have suffered a foreclosure, done a short sale or negotiated a Deed in Lieu, these are all generally considered a foreclosure event by the bank when looking at you for new financing. I wasn't talking about waiting periods at all. You must have been reading in such a rush, you missed the point. Next time I'll type reeeaaallll slow.

You might also look up the word GUIDELINES. It means "a detailed plan or explanation to guide you in setting standards or determining a course of action"
But then we have to look up "GUIDE" since you seem to think it means "REQUIRE" (it doesn't). I'll let you educate yourself on "guide". Your pdf is a guide, not a set of laws.

I take it you are one of those nuts who runs around waving a little booklet of guidelines screaming at the bank they have to follow them, like everybody used to do with the MHA booklet. The most you will do is put on an amusing little show. Feel free to keep posting though. It's funny to watch you run around.

They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines.

Sorry I am new and seemed to have stepped on your turf. Seems I was responding directly to the single sentence above. Yes, each lender will have different guidelines, and each lender will have different guidelines for different products and from state to state and county to county. BUT, on Fannie Mae's guidelines, they do differentiate. That is a fact. It also is a fact that many other factors play a part. Way too many to discuss here. You were not talking about waiting periods? That is what the original question was.
My question to you. Someone has the opportunity to either have a forclosure or short sale today. In three years from todays date, everything else being the same, credit score, income etc., do you think they will have a better chance with "foreclosure" showing up on credit report, or "legally paid in full for less then full amount." Nobody can know for sure. My guess is "legally paid in full for less then full amount." will trump "foreclosure."

[SurfwhenUcan]

They are all considered to be Foreclosure in terms of mortgage approval guidelines.

Sorry I am new and seemed to have stepped on your turf. Seems I was responding directly to the single sentence above. Yes, each lender will have different guidelines, and each lender will have different guidelines for different products and from state to state and county to county. BUT, on Fannie Mae's guidelines, they do differentiate. That is a fact. It also is a fact that many other factors play a part. Way too many to discuss here. You were not talking about waiting periods? That is what the original question was.
My question to you: Someone has the opportunity to either have a forclosure or short sale today. In three years from todays date, everything else being the same, credit score, income etc., do you think they will have a better chance with "foreclosure" showing up on credit report, or "legally paid in full for less then full amount." Nobody can know for sure. My guess is "legally paid in full for less then full amount." will trump "foreclosure."

If you want my honest opinion on what's going to take place 3 yrs from now, I'll tell you - I think it's useless to speculate. I know the capricious nature of bank lending policy and you are right about one thing - we don't know what that's going to be tomorrow or next week. What I do know is the guidelines 3 yrs AGO aren't the guidelines of today and we can expect the same to be the case 3 yrs from now So to expend energy worrying about the difference between a Foreclosure or a Short Sale and basing a critical decision on what most likely will not be actual conditions at some point in the future, well - I just don't think it's worth it. The other problem with your premise is it assumes it assumes we have a choice between short sale and foreclosure. I'm basing this on years of experience when I tell you there isn't a choice 9 times out of 10.

I know the original question was about waiting periods. Trapped indicated they were actively househunting. Shobam said she just couldn't wait. I was simply letting them know what options were OFF the table.

[shobam]

Well, my loan is Freddy Mac. Moreover my credit score Av is 666 and my FICO is 650 and rising about 10 point a month. Secondly under the "Freddie Mac Refinance Relief options" there seems to be conflicting information, I have read that plan several times. Thirdly, I have well over a year to when my ARM adjusts and at that point it will have been 2 years since my SS.

I plan on putting an end to the discussion by starting to call brokers on Monday, not to apply but to seek information, I have not done that yet. My bank, Citi does not know what state they're in let alone anything about a refi - I could have a more fruitful conversation with a fence post. I have read on the Freddie Mac sight where by one co-signers can be dropped from the note. someone out there must be interested in doing a refi on a house with over a 100k of equity it sitting in one of the few value rising markets. I might pay have to pay a few more percentage points but who's to say that it has to be a Fannie or Freddy anyway

[scottybear]

Hello Experts,

So, my loan officer who works for BofA told that the new guideline require people who file bk, shortsale or turn back home to the bank, have to wait 7 yrs before they can buy another home. She said this law has passed 3 months ago.

Is that true?
Any official document out there I can read to confirm?

As far as I know, for short sales, you only wait 2 yrs for conventional loan (20% down) or 3 years for FHA loan. Please correct me if I am wrong. Not sure about bk as I am only interested to know about the waiting period after a short sale. "obtaining a loan after short sold"

Thanks all

American Pacific Mortgage - Content Pages - Education - How Foreclosure Impacts Your Credit Score

Doesn't discuss waiting periods but does discuss credit score.

[TomEason]

American Pacific Mortgage - Content Pages - Education - How Foreclosure Impacts Your Credit Score

Doesn't discuss waiting periods but does discuss credit score.

scottybear
Thanks for posting the link. It's an informative article, and the writer cites her references, which is often lacking on credit blogs.

[giggity]

Do these rules apply if the short sale was a second home. What if you still own a primary would like to refi; its current, has a lot of equity and you have never been late even once? Moereover I was the only one on the note and I bought the house before I was married. But; my wife and I are both on our primary house that we would like to refi

Here's what I found. Background, purchased a home in 2006. Moved to a new state in 2009 due to job change and couldn't sell home so rented for 2 years and did a short sale in 8/2011...missed 3 payments leading up to close (60-day late was worst)...credit score went from 812 to 650, ouch! It's now at 713 (almost a year after SS). Looking to refinance current primary mortgage, which has never been late. Broker pulled credit report, locked me in and I thought all was well. Got a call 2 days later saying their Credco "merged report" is showing a "9" as the MOP (method of payment) for the SS mortgage and that a "9" means foreclosure and that would end my refi.

So I did some digging. Called Credco and it turns out that Credco cannot correctly interpret how Experian codes a short sale so they (credco) default it to a 'foreclosure' and that's how it shows up in the merged report, as a foreclosure because of the MOP=9 coming from Experian. Called Experian and they say that is how they report it according to the creditor...it's reported as "settled" and the only way to change it is to get the creditor to report it differently (paid in full or delete it). So Credco blames Experian and Experian blames Credco...the consumer gets screwed. The same account comes across to Credco for both Trans Union and Equifax just fine with no issues other than the missed payments (MOP=1 is satisfactory, MOP=2 is 30 days late, MOP=3 is 60 days late), which is accurate and according to the broker a non-issue. It's the designation of "foreclosure" by Credco's Experian interpretation that killed my refi.

I have yet to find a 'law' that says you can't refi or get a new mortgage immediately after a short sale. There are guidelines but those appear to be more for the lender to assess risk. A blatant issue with Credco is preventing me from obtaining a loan I am lawfully entitled to.

Credco example merged report: https://credco.com/assets/pdfs/sampl...ews-Format.pdf

[TomEason]

giggity

Welcome to the community.

The law governing credit reporting is the FCRA. You might read the applicable section to determine if the CRA's or the reporting lender's actions are in contravention to that law. If so, they can be held civilly liable.

FYI, there is no law or laws, either federal or state, that can force a lender to make a loan. Qualifying criteria are up to the individulal lending institutions, and are in a state of flux. Even gold plated borrowers are finding it challenging to qualify for a purchase loan.

[chokeout]

Giggity,

We are experiencing the samething with code 9. Did you ever get it resolved??

[DrowningInSanDiego]

Giggity,

We are experiencing the samething with code 9. Did you ever get it resolved??

We went through the same ordeal with two lenders who used Credco and RELS. Credco wouldn't budge even though we believe they are in the wrong here. The service they're supposed to be providing is accurate merged data of the three credit bureaus. However, since Experian is the only one that has changed the way they are specifying codes, Credco, does not know how to interpret them. They continued to blame Experian and had us tell them to change it. In my opinion, Credco's job is to properly interpret the data from the bureaus no matter how or what codes they choose to use. Credco's system is outdated and hasn't been updated to interpret Experian's codes. This is bad practice, but we really couldn't do much if its the lenders who continue to blindly pay and rely on Credco's reports whether accurate or not.

Right when we were about to take legal actions against Credco, we were able to find another lender that did not use Credco or RELS, and the merged report came back accurate (surprise surprise). Needless to say, we are back in a home 2 years after short selling...the way it was supposed to be according to the rules. Once things start to slow down for us, we will probably get involved again with trying get things corrected with Credco.

I'm with TomEason, as we've done the research and we believe they are truly in violation of the FCRA. Legal action is the only way to resolve that situation.