I have a co-worker with “spending issues”. Six months ago she and her husband were unable to obtain a debt consolidation loan of 10K to pay off their credit card debt. Yet they have been assured by some mortgaage broker that they should have no problems getting a 160K mortgage, with $0 down. Not that they’ve actually filled out the paperwork yet…
Is it really that easy to get home loans? My sense is that she’s being fed a line, but I’ve never had a mortgage. Is there some hierarchy of loan types, some easier to get than others? I understand home equity loans are pretty easy, presumably because the bank can seize your property of you don’t pay.
I filed for bankruptcy in December of 2000. In July of 2001, I had a brand new mortgage under my belt. (Unfortunately)
It required some creative thinking on my part, but in the end, I put no money down, and got a mortgage.
And was paying 15 freakin % interest. There’s the kicker - and the part she may not yet have realized.
At the time it seemed like a good idea. But then, most things do, at the time, I suppose 
Oh and, to for the other half of the question, I could NOT get a credit card at that point in time to save my life, or a regular loan.
Mortgages, they can get their money back fairly easily. Regular personal loans, those are hard to recoup if the consumer flakes.
There is one basic reason why mortgages are the easiest type of loan to obtain. Because it is secured by excellent collateral, the property itself. Unlike other types of loans, even car loans, the investment in real estate is a good enough offset to the risk of a questionable borrower to make it a go. It is true you can get a mortgage the day after your bankruptcy has cleared, with bad ongoing credit (meaning late payments) and with what is considered unverifiable income (meaning self employment). It is also true that you will pay much higher interest rates because of these negative marks. This is often not necessarily a bad thing if it gets you into home ownership, which is the single strongest assett most average Joes have in their investment portfolio’s. In due time, not as long as it used to be in todays mortgage market, you can refinance at a lower rate with a good payment history.
The kicker is that you must meet what is called a debt to income ratio which determines just how much you can afford on a monthly house payment with regard to your other obligations. It is generally 28 percent of your gross monthly income with 33 percent being the top end including all other contractural debts. This is how someone with 10 thou in credit card debt might still be able to qualify for a mortgage, as long as the monthly payment of that debt on top of the cost of their mortgage, taxes and insurance do not exceed 33 percent of their gross monthly income. This is just general knowledge I gleaned while I obtained my real estate license about 10 yrs ago, and the only thing that I hear has really changed is that they are giving more and more leniency with regard to credit worthiness at the cost of the higher interest rates.