How hard is it to get a decent mortgage loan with a household income of $55,000 p/y & about $1500 credit debt?

Ok, before I can try to answer this the best possible, I have a couple of questions of my own to get a clearer picture.

1. What is your idea of a "decent" mortgage?

2. What kind of mortgage are you trying to get? (Fixed rate or Variable rate)

3. Even though your credit debt maybe $1500, what does your credit score as a whole look like.

4. How long have you been establishing credit altogether.

5. How long have you had your job?

6. Do you have anything in checking and savings for the closing costs and additional expenses that the mortgage may not cover?

I have a lot of questions, huh? But with the information that you've provided there's not a whole lot to go by to get a real accurate answer. I'm going to be 100% hypothetical and pencil in some generic answers to the questions I asked to show you some possible scenarios:

Scenario #1. Let's say that you've been at your job for 5 years with that income, have $15,000 in checking and savings collectively, and have a credit score of 736 that you've been establishing for 8 years. It's likely that you could finance a house very easily with a fixed (interest) rate mortgage or a variable rate mortgage.

Scenario #2. Let's say that you've been at your job for about 18 months with that same income, have $3,000 in checking and savings collectively, and have a credit score 616 that you've had for about 3 years. Chances are, you won't get any of the deals you would've in the first scenario, but you would still have a chance at qualifying for a mortgage.

So, the advice I'm giving you before trying to shop for a mortgage, is to

1. START SAVING- While it's not impossible to 100% finance a house, more times than not, there's hidden expenses that rear it's ugly head when it comes down to the wire. You can prepare for this by having something put back.

2. Know your score- It's necessary to know exactly where you are with your credit score ever more so when buying a house. A few points can sometime translate out to hundreds, even thousands of dollars depending on what kind of mortgage you get. If you have to contact collectors to negotiate paying off old debts to get them off your credit, then so be it. Make sure that if you're able to get any remaining debt paid off as possible, that way your utlization (which is 30% of your credit score) will help your score. Also if you have a friend or family member with excellent credit, ask them to add you as an authorized user on some of their oldest credit cards. This can provide additional credit history and a boost to your score.

3. Shop around- Don't jump at the first mortgage that you see. An easy way to market shop is to get your most recent credit reports YOURSELF and have copies on hand to show the realtor or loan company. This can eliminate the need for them to pull your credit which would knock it down several points if done enough. Do research on how fixed rate mortgages and variable rate mortgages work. The worst thing that you would want to do is to lock yourself into a bad loan that you can't get out of.

4. Don't let "your eyes get bigger than your stomach"- This is actually a continuation from point number 3, but I'll add that when it comes to getting a "decent" mortgage, always keep in mind that the mortgage should always allow you to live within your means. Don't go get a mortgage that's so high that you're barely able to keep the utilities on, or creates other problems.

5. Job stability- This is a tricky subject beacuse the way some companies layoff people at the drop of a hat. If you see yourself changing careers in the next 5 years, I'd be extra careful when looking for a mortgage. Some lenders pay close attention to how long someone's been working at the same place. If you feel like you're going to retire where you are, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

I know that I really didn't give you the answer that you were looking for, but hopefully I did give you some insight on what to look for and how to go about it,

Good Luck!