VA loans are wonderful for just about any type of residential real estate transaction if you are eligible and can get them. For example, you can do a VA loan for a home purchase or you can use a VA streamline loan to quickly and for relatively little cost refinance your current VA mortgage. Any fact that makes VA home loans so great is that they are more lenient on past credit problems than conventional mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

If you are eligible for a VA loan and you have had some credit problems in the past you will need to tread carefully through the loan process – especially in the very beginning when you are getting “yes” from everyone as a result of their attempt to get your business.

Keep the following in mind for ways that you could be held up with getting your VA loan approved if you have had credit problems in the past:

• Credit problems happened in the last 12 months
• You have had a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the past 2 years
• You have had a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in place for at least 1 year, but you have had some slow pays with your payments
• You have had a foreclosure in the past 2 years
• You have federal tax liens or bad student loans
• You have recent judgements against you

If you notice this list above nowhere does it mention credit scores. Credit scores are a factor with VA lenders but not necessarily with the VA. Not all VA lenders are created equal meaning that VA lenders can make up their own approval rules that are more stringent than what the VA requires. For example some VA lenders won’t accept loan applications if your credit score is less than 620 while others will.

What this means is that you need to really do your homework when it comes to looking for a VA lender to work with if you have had some prior credit problems.

Credit Problems and VA Loans – Where Can You Get Stopped? is a post from: Florida Mortgage Team

Is there a minimum credit score for the VA streamline refinance in Florida? It depends who you ask – and no, I am not kidding.

You see, officially speaking – the VA/FHA streamline refinance programs have no officially credit score requirements. Ok, so now that you see that — before you think that there is no credit score requirements for VA streamline refinances…

Some lenders do require that you have a minimum credit score.

Some lenders require a 620 for the VA streamline refinance program.

Some lenders require a 640 for the VA streamline refinance program.

And some lenders still do not have a credit score requirement for the VA streamline refinance program.

To make it somewhat even more confusing, these guidelines are changing all the time and can change at any time in the future. So if you have been told by a loan officer that there are “new” credit score requirements for the VA streamline refinance program – he isn’t lying — it is true that his employer or maybe the lenders that he uses have recently started requiring a minimum credit score on all VA streamline refinance loans, but it doesn’t mean that they all have.

So if you have been told that there are minimum credit score requirements for the VA streamline refinance program, be sure to shop at least a handful of lenders who can help you.

Florida VA Streamline Refinance: Is A Minimum Credit Score Required? is a post from: Florida Mortgage Team