11/25/2025
🗣️🗣️🗣️ TAX SEASON PSA:
Before you take that refund and start paying random things off… STOP.
If your goal is to buy a home this year, the worst thing you can do is start throwing money at old debts without a plan.
💡 Talk to a lender FIRST.
They’ll give you a custom game plan and 9 times out of 10, you don’t even have to pay what you think you do.
Here’s what most people don’t know:
🧐 Medical collections?
Not required to be paid for a mortgage. ❌
🧐 Non-medical collections under $2,000?
Also NOT required to be paid. ❌
🧐 Charge-offs + repos (voluntary or not):
As long as they aren’t reporting as a collection, they usually don’t have to be paid either.
People close on homes EVERY DAY with repossessions. 🤯
🧐 Old negative accounts (4, 5, 6 years old):
STOP paying those. Lenders care most about the last 24 months.
🧐 Older debt (depending on your state):
If it’s outside the statute of limitations, paying it could actually hurt you — not help.
🧐 Building positive credit > paying negatives
Pay your credit cards down, keep utilization low, and add positive accounts before you worry about old collections.
🧐 Authorized users:
Great for boosting scores, but lenders don’t count them the same way. It will NOT carry you into a mortgage.
👉🏽 Real talk:
Most people haven’t even seen their mortgage scores.
You’re checking Credit Karma, but lenders use a completely different scoring model — which means you’re guessing. And that’s what delays your homebuying goals.
🏡 If you’re serious about buying:
Get your credit run.
Inquiries barely move mortgage scores (1–9 points, sometimes ZERO).
The only way to get a real step-by-step plan is to let a lender pull your file.
Stop wasting your tax refund on the wrong things. Get the RIGHT plan and use your money wisely.
Want me to set you up with a lender or review your credit plan? I got you. 💬
