Product: Mortgage

Go to college, they said. Get an education, they said. You cant be successful without a degree, they said. For the last 32 years of my existence, this has been engrained in me, played on repeat like a broken record. So, I did just that. I went to college and got an education. Fast forward eight years after completion, hear I am at XXXX in the morning, thinking maybe this was the biggest mistake of my life. With just six days away from what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, closing on my new home, I cant really begin to get excited yet because, ironically I am not sure it is going to happen. And I am sure youre anxious to know why not, three simple words -- -- $ XXXX Debt Sentence. 

Thats right, that college education that everyone so consciously persuaded me to go get my whole life is standing in the middle of me closing on my dream home. I am ashamed of my naivety in believing that getting a college education would be my gateway to the American Dream. Boy, was I wrong! 

Lets back track briefly. For the last year, I have been preparing for this moment in my life, the time where I would become a homeowner. I worked hard, made sure my credit was up to par, researched the housing market, all in the interest of making an informed home buying decision. After a year of adequate preparation, I was ready to pull the trigger ; In early XXXX, I applied for a mortgage. 

I was thrilled when I got my pre-approval letter and my green light to go house shopping. I contacted my realtor, met with her, gave her the specifics I was looking for, my dream home. I found a home I liked online. She scheduled the showing for XX/XX/2019. We went. I fell in love and the rest is history. We made an offer. They countered. We made another offer. On XX/XX/XXXX, we had deal. Contracts were signed and closing was scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX, six days from now. Sounds perfect. So, what possibly could go wrong? 

The conversations with the lender started about the loan process, what I needed to do etc. I inquired about first time homebuyer grants, because this is technically the first home Ive purchased, so you can understand my dismay when I was informed I did not qualify for grants. HUH!? The confusion was paralyzing. What do you mean I dont qualify for FIRST TIME HOMEBUYER GRANTS? The name in itself says I should qualify! This is when I was smacked in the face with a crash course in debt to income ratio ( dti ) and first time home buyer grant qualifications. Probably one of the most absurd things I have heard in my life- if your debt to income ratio is too high, you dont qualify for any type of assistance, a tragic repeat of history- the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. 

As I previously stated, I prepared for this moment, at least I thought I did. My credit is the best it has ever been. With 3 credit cards with a total balance of less than {$1000.00}, an auto loan ( I mean I have to get from point a to b for crying out loud ) and a CD secured loan, which is really a savings account, I was using credit responsibly. I learned my lesson during my 20s about being reckless with my finances and I cleaned up my act, all besides that $ XXXX student loan bill that accompanies my three credit cards, my auto loan, and my CD secured loan on my credit report. 

Currently, my student loans are deferred where there is no payment due for a year and are not in default. Additionally, as an employee of the State of XXXX, I am a part of the Student Loan Forgiveness Program, which means that after 120 loan payments, my loans will be forgiven. I explained all this to the lender and even provided documentation to substantiate. Appallingly, this did not change a thing. That $ XXXX student loan bill substantially inflated my dti. I could not comprehend how a {$0.00} payment could do such a thing. How is this even possible, I asked. 

Thats when I got another crash course FHA Guidelines. The FHA Guidelines say something like this : we dont care whether your loans are deferred, whether you have an income based repayment, we dont care if you are in a forgiveness program, we dont care if youll be homeless, we dont care if youll ever touch the American Dream none of that matters to us. What matters to us is, we require the lender to calculate 1 % of the total student loan balance, in my case {$590.00} and calculate that figure into my monthly debts. Got it. Makes no sense, but understood. 

I knew I was not the only person with student loans, and after doing further research thats when I discovered that there are millions of Americans in the very same predicament. They cant even get a pre-approval for a mortgage, and I qualified barely, by the skin of my teeth, so that I was told I should be grateful. But unfortunately, I am not. 

I put down my earnest money, paid for the inspection and appraisal, got my homeowners policy, all in preparation to close. After finding out that I did not qualify for a down payment assistance grant, I went to withdraw the money from retirement account, only to discover that I was not able do that because hardships are not allowed and you even after to retire or quit to access my money that Ive been investing this whole time. Great! Another one bites the dust. So, now I have to bring {$4300.00} to closing on Friday, but I dont have it.