Loan and mortgage - best rate with out without spouse?

[ragnathor]

Hi all,

We are planning to buy a mortgage in the near future. I am wondering, in order to secure the best rate is it better for one spouse or both to apply? Both credit scores are good, but one is certainly better. Incomes are similar.

Thanks

[cynthia1848]

Rate depends on credit score but also on which lender you pick.  It also depends on how big the mortgage is - do you need both incomes to qualify?  If so, both people will have to be on the loan.  Go with an independent mortgage broker and they will get you quotes from several different lenders.

[charis]

I am the only one on our mortgage because I have excellent credit versus my husbands good credit.  We went with a local credit union for our refi and having him on the mortgage would have upped our interest rate.  We did not need his income to get the loan, so that might be the deciding factor for you.

[Distshore]

Get the bank or broker to run it both ways and check the best scenario.  We ended up going with just my husband on the mortgage (as an immigrant, my credit history is shorter and dragged our interest rate up 0.25%) but we are both on the title of the house.

However, by the time we bought a second place, my our credit scores are in the same range, though still 50 points apart, and we got the same rate regardless of which of us took the mortgage, so we are joint on that.

[ragnathor]

Great, thanks for the responses. I guess it may or may not be beneficial. We will ask they run both scenarios.