Effectively Clear Up The Cccs Mark Anyway, Making This A Moot Point?

Q: SUMMARY: My wife and I are really hoping to go house shopping this month. I'm worried about a CCCS/3CS mark on my credit report even though my debt management service claims it does no harm. Quick advice based on this summary is welcome, but the full post follows. I'm sorry for the long post. STORY: A few years ago I was having some serious credit card debt problems (long, sad story), and to help I enrolled in a debt management program (DMCC, in Boca Raton, FL). This closed the four credit cards I was having a problem with and saved me lots monthly by consolidating the payments and reducing the interest rates. Until recently I've considered this to be a wonderful help. A few months later I got married, and we have had perfect credit since. I'm now listed only on my wife's credit card, which will be 100% empty in about a week (we hope to go through the pre-approval process immediately afterward), leaving a plump $12,000 limit. Our rent payments, debt consolidation payments, credit card payments, school loan payments, car payments, cable/utility/etc. payments have all been 100% on time. It has been like this for two years. Our income is steady, and my wife and I have been employeed in the same industries for three and six years (respectively). Plus, after rolling in my car payments and (hopefully) the remaining debt consolidation balance, our expected mortgage payments (for the price range we will be considering) would be almost exactly the same as these payments plus our rent have been -- which have been reliably and timely paid for two years. In other words, should the mortgage broker look only two years back (which I hear is standard) we would be considered a very low risk for a good loan. Also I've heard that since mortgage loans are more personal and less formula-based, I can explain my past troubles and how everything has been perfect since the wedding to some advantage. BUT! Recently I have found out that the debt consolidation has marked my credit record with a CCCS (apparently sometimes called 3CS) mark. I've done some research and some people even go so far as to say it's as bad as a Chapter 13 filing! But according to DMCC it should be considered a neutral mark. They even sent a couple of letters for me to pass to loan officers mentioning that I should be considered reliable because I am showing the initiative in paying off past troubles, and that there is nothing in our agreement keeping me from taking out another loan or mortgage. I was feeling better after getting those letters in, but I've done more research lately and I haven't heard anything good. So now I'm worried again. QUESTIONS: Do CCCS marks more than two years old effect a mortgage loan consideration that only looks two years back? Do letters from the debt management company really help satisfactorily explain the CCCS mark to a loan officer that might consider it a bad sign? Is it standard/possible to roll the debt management balance into the mortgage? Would rolling the debt management balance into the mortgage effectively clear up the CCCS mark anyway, making this a moot point?

A: -I don't believe you can roll a balance into a first mortgage. I may be wrong, and I'm sure someone will correct me if I am. -What matters is not whether the CCCS mark is negative, but the quality of the whole report, which always includes a mixture of negatives and positives. Check your credit report on your own, with all three bureaus. Trans Union and Equifax can both give you your score, and the reasons that it is not higher. While the score isn't the only thing mortgage lenders will look at, it's a good starting point.

Discuss It!

Most Popular Articles

More