Answer: -One or two years from now, one missed payment on a couple cards won't send you into 20% interest rates. We are also assuming those cards prior to the missed payment was up to date and you don't miss any payment for the next year or two. These can be explained that your husband didn't get paid from work. What that explination will send up red flags if you looked for a mortgage now. Missing one payment on a couple cards after not getting paid for two months will point out to the lender that you do not have sufficient savings to cover a bump in the road. They will see this on the mortgage application anyway. Most reputable agencies will ask or require you have a 6-month savings buffer. After what happened to you, they may insist on it and refuse your application until you have sufficient savings. They are just protecting themselves from you defaulting on the mortgage and foreclosure.Even if your score comes in really low, as long as your front and back ratios come in good, the bad credit score will just disqualify you from prime lenders and the lowest interest rates. You would, however, qualify for sub-prime lenders which may not carry PMI charges, but will charge a few points higher. You may still qualify for a piggy back loan which is your mortgage is partially funded by a prime lender and a sub-prime lender. Piggy backs may eliminate PMI but part of your sub-prime loan will still come at a higher interest rate.Your number one problem isn't the missed payments, your number one problem is your lack of savings. Save enough for you two to live on for 6 months with no income and then everything above that, use that for a down payment. Even if in two years that "extra" savings doesn't equal a 20% down payment, you'll still qualify for a large number and various types of loans if your credit score and ratios are good enough. -If it was only two credit card payments you shouldn't have a problem with a mortgage especially if you've made on time payments the rest of the time. It usually only gets reported to the credit agencies if you were more that 30 days late. You may or may not be asked you explain them. -Having been involved full time in the mortgage industry for 12 years, the most important and primary factor when shopping for a home loan is your credit score. If your score is 620 or above many lenders can offer you fairly decent loan terms, if you are above 680 - 850 any bank will do your loan, if between 500 - 619 credit score normally the rate will be 2-3% higher than a good loan along with a 2 to 3 year prepayment penalty. If you are below 500 then your only option is a hard money loan (this is a bad credit mortgage to the fullest) which normally requires a minimum of 30% down payment and really does not care how bad your credit is. The other solution as long as your income and employment history is sufficient (over 2 years employment) you can possibly qualify for an FHA government loan where the credit score does not have much priority and you can purchase a home w/3% down or have the down payment gifted from a family member (this is the best homeownership program to purchase your first home). Otherwise there are plenty of 100% financing lenders out there and can finance your deal with a minimum of 620 score wheter or not you can prove your income, if you can prove your income easily you only need a 560 score to purchase the home with no money down. The wise solution is to repair your credit 6 months to a year before purchasing a home, check out www.lexingtonlaw.com, a company of paralegals and attorneys who can repair your credit without any documentation from you except for a 3 merge credit report. Another solution is Ecredit. In regards to your credit card lates they will not hinder you if only a couple of 30 day lates and normally lenders do not pay attention to these if they are older than 24 months, mortgage lates, foreclosures and a bankrupcy less than 4 years on the other hand are the worst derogatory type of credit if you're shopping for a loan. In summary, the best solution is to enhance your credit before purchasing your home.