Debt Management Program - Qualifying for FHA Loan

Reader Question: Does going through a Debt Management Program with CCCS help you qualify for an FHA loan quicker?

For the information of all readers, CCCS stands for Consumer Credit Counseling Services, a company that counsels consumers on financial issues such as debt management, credit score improvement, housing, etc.

As for your question about FHA loans, it might be best to address that question to the folks at CCCS. Aside from the basics, I'm not familiar with their counseling services. So let me speak about debt-management counseling services in general, as they related to mortgage qualification.

By itself, your participation in such a program will not increase your chances of getting a mortgage loan, whether it's an FHA loan or any other type of financing. But the direct results of the counseling program may help you qualify easier. For example, if your debt-management counseling with CCCS helps you reduce your debt, then you will have a more favorable debt-to-income ratio. By extension, this could help you qualify for a mortgage under the FHA home loan program.

Another scenario would be a counseling program designed to improve a person's credit score. The mere enrollment and completion of that program would not help much toward mortgage qualification. But the direct results of the program might help. If the counseling services helped you to increase your score, then by extension it would also increase your chances of getting qualified for a loan.

I took a quick look at the CCCS website after receiving your question, and it seems they have some kind of program designed to help people qualify for mortgages. It's apparently aimed at people who have been through their debt-management program in the past. I don't know much about it, so I won't comment further. But it might be worth a look for you.

Hope that helps.