Off Topic A Little But I'm Curios.

I went into trucking so I could make a better life for me and my wife. I'm originally from the UK so had to start a fresh when I came over here. I waited 12 months before I joined Prime because I had to have held my US driving license for that time before I could apply to Prime. I've been driving for them for 4 months earning great money. Today I decided to apply for a mortgage. I have a 717 credit rating, no debts and no bills, so I stand in what I thought was an excellent position. However today I'm told by the mortgage people that the way I earn my salary (paid by the mile) is classed as a commission based wage and they need 24 months history under those circumstances!! This is potentially the end of my "by the mile" career and a return to "by the hour" is on the foreseeable horizon suddenly. Has anyone ever had this issue and if so did you get round it?I have zero intension on waiting for that period.

Thanks in advance

Gary E

Find a different mortgage company or realtor. With the amount of foreclosed homes on the market, should be easy enough to find a house you can buy. Only having driven for 4 months in your new career, is probably more what they're looking at. Job history and lengths at an employer are probably higher priorities to them. God Luck, I'm sure you can find someone to work with you.

Another thing they will be looking at is while you're credit score is good, you essentially don't have any credit being that you're still fairly new in country. I'd definitely search out another mortgage company and maybe get a credit card, spend a little on it each month and make payments so that you can show consistent debt payment. Also, you might look into purchasing on a land contract. You're dealing with the property owner as being the bank rather than a mortgage company. Just be sure to really read a land contract but they are fairly simple to do and work quite well.

I went into trucking so I could make a better life for me and my wife. I'm originally from the UK so had to start a fresh when I came over here. I waited 12 months before I joined Prime because I had to have held my US driving license for that time before I could apply to Prime. I've been driving for them for 4 months earning great money. Today I decided to apply for a mortgage. I have a 717 credit rating, no debts and no bills, so I stand in what I thought was an excellent position. However today I'm told by the mortgage people that the way I earn my salary (paid by the mile) is classed as a commission based wage and they need 24 months history under those circumstances!! This is potentially the end of my "by the mile" career and a return to "by the hour" is on the foreseeable horizon suddenly. Has anyone ever had this issue and if so did you get round it?I have zero intension on waiting for that period.

Thanks in advance

Gary E

You should really have someone investigate your score. Something isn't right. I have a 760, I am 21, and have only had a loan for 1 year, and even missed 1 payment by 2 days... I am only checked for credit report, not my pay. You have a good credit score though, so you should look elsewhere, because it shouldn't be based on pay, but on credit history. Who did you try?

Hey Gary,

I'm assuming your wife doesn't work... Home loans were easy as all get out 10-15 years ago. They are not as easy any more.

There are other options for loans... PM me If you want to throw some ideas around.

Look into the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development. There's a few things that limit where you can buy and how much you can make, but they're qualifying guidelines are much more relaxed than a typical mortgage bank.

I just left the mortgage industry to drive a truck and you will get the same answer regardless of who you talk to because all banks and mortgage companies have to follow the same government regulations. Once you have driven and filed taxes on your income for two years they will take the average, divide it by 12 and come up with a monthly income for you for mortgage qualification purposes. However, if the second year income is lower than the first year, they will use that amount because it will appear yearly income is decreasing. You also have to watch what you write off too because that will lower your tax bill but it lowers your income too. I had a trucker that needed to refinance his house because he was getting a divorce and needed to get cash out to give his soon to be ex her equity out of their home. He couldn't do it because after deductions he had income of $7000 for the year. That is great for saving on taxes but doesn't let you qualify for a mortgage. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but after the mortgage industry blew up in 08-09 the government made it much more difficult to get a loan.

I just left the mortgage industry to drive a truck and you will get the same answer regardless of who you talk to because all banks and mortgage companies have to follow the same government regulations. Once you have driven and filed taxes on your income for two years they will take the average, divide it by 12 and come up with a monthly income for you for mortgage qualification purposes. However, if the second year income is lower than the first year, they will use that amount because it will appear yearly income is decreasing. You also have to watch what you write off too because that will lower your tax bill but it lowers your income too. I had a trucker that needed to refinance his house because he was getting a divorce and needed to get cash out to give his soon to be ex her equity out of their home. He couldn't do it because after deductions he had income of $7000 for the year. That is great for saving on taxes but doesn't let you qualify for a mortgage. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but after the mortgage industry blew up in 08-09 the government made it much more difficult to get a loan.

What's sad is that not only did the government make it harder after the housing bubble crashed, most people don't even realize it was the government's fault to begin with.

Thanks for all the replies guys n gals. I had a good talk with my wife last night and dug around researching on the internet and yes it's almost impossible with this type of income in the first 24 months as Jolie says. So thanks once again to all but I'm outta here and going to see if I can find something with driving class A or B by the hour. Now I have a whole new set of issues no doubt, like experience behind the wheel etc but hopefully I can find some mom n pop outfit around central Missouri with such opportunity. Thx to all

Hi Gary, I know you already have your answer, but I thought I would chip in because I'm also from the UK. I've been living over in the US for four years. Like you I have had to wait for my two year period to be up so that I can have a mortgage. My wife has been working at the same place for four years so we could have got the mortgage just in her name. But we thought it best for us both to be on there. I get paid by the mile and it's going to work out just fine. There is another alternative that you might be able to use......we used it when we first came over here........as my wife also had no credit living in the UK for ex amount of years. Its called a land contract. Can you get that in your state? We are buying this house we are in from the owner. We transfer to a mortgage in May of this year when my two years at Swift are up. Wish you all the best for the future.

Mick