Being a single parent with bad credit is not an easy situation to work out of. Check if the home you want to purchase is valued correctly. Many areas and homes may not have been appraised for years and even if an appraisal costs money, it may save you thousands of dollars in mortgage or loan payments. When you are sure about the house you want to buy, don’t approach the most advertised large lenders. Established banks and large lenders are very strict about bad credit and charge a high Annual Percentage Rate (APR) to compensate. Therefore, it may not be worth your while to apply for a loan with them unless there are specific programs to help single income mothers or special products for women. A smaller bank or lender such as a community or non-governmental bank is a much better option. Aside from getting an APR which is reasonable, applications are typically reviewed on a case-to-case basis. The Office of Housing Choice Vouchers offer programs in tandem with the Federal Housing Administration to enable small income borrowers to qualify for a home loan.
Before looking at these programs, it’s always best to try and clean up your credit report. This can be done by reviewing it with your credit agency to see if any delinquencies can be removed in addition to keeping a clean credit history for at least one or two years.