As I mentioned on this blog before, I’ve been in the process of house hunting lately. I figured it was time for an update on that. I started my search for a house, which will be my first, back in the middle of May. At the time, I was informed of the nice little tax credit that was available and that it might be nice to actually consider it seriously. I met with a broker, established a good relationship with a Realtor, and trekked out into the northwoods to look at homes. Meanwhile, my credit report was run so as to pre-approve me for a mortgage. That credit report has been the source of my anxiety now for the past 4 months. I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve not always been careful with my money. Back in the day, I got in over my head with credit cards and managed to accumulate some rather negative entries on my credit report. I managed to clean all that up many years ago but then I moved and changed jobs. This was an insidiously expensive time in my life. I opened another credit card in order to help cover my expenses for my move to the northwoods and subsequently I eventually fell behind on payments on that card because I had a job that paid me beans rather than quarters. That eventually started to change as I worked my way up in my company but the debt, the past due balances, and the negative info on my credit report remained. In deciding to pursue a house purchase, I knew that I would have to pay off the debts and clean up my report. What I did not anticipate was the amount of time it would take to do it.
In May, I came up with the money to pay off my past due balances that were showing up on my credit report until finally all but one was being reported correctly. That one entry however, despite it having been paid, would simply not go away. My frustration grew daily as I spent hours on hold with the creditors and with the 3 credit reporting agencies. None of whom were helpful. I spent my evenings filing disputes with the credit agencies, gathering mountains of paperwork to prove without a doubt that my debts were in fact paid and that I had no outstanding balances. Phone call after phone call I went around in circles trying to get people to actually read the proof they had been sent by certified mail (which cost me a small fortune). To make it short, it came down to having far too many hands in the pot and not enough people actually communicating with each other. This ONE past due balance was preventing me from obtaining a mortgage.
Finally, now we are entering September and things are nearly resolved. After another round of letters and dispute claims with the 3 credit agencies, the creditor (Midland Credit Management) has finally begun to report my payment correctly. I received a letter yesterday from TransUnion declaring that I no longer had a past due balance which means that FINALLY, after 4 months of wrangling I might be on track now to get a mortgage and actually get into my own house by the time the snow comes. Time will tell though. I have to wait at this point until the middle of September to run my credit reports again to make sure that everything is showing up properly. Of course, each time I run my report to check on the status of these things, it costs me points on my credit score. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing your credit score decline BECAUSE you are trying to ensure things are reported correctly. I’ll be providing another update on this sometime in Mid to late September and hopefully I’ll be able to share the news that I’ll be purchasing a house!
In other exciting news, Sister Sarah informed us yesterday that her next child is going to be a girl!! We are all very excited for her and can’t wait to meet the new addition to their family.
