Yes, before all this our credit score was acceptable. I don't know what it'll look like after; depends on what the loan company did and does. (Even a credit check lowers your rating, so there's no telling what an attempted home loan will do, even though we weren't denied.)

I don't really know quite how one shops for a loan company, but clearly it's not a good idea to accept the suggestion of one's real estate agent no matter how honest, friendly, and conscientious he may seem. Our bank, which is new to us but seems excellent so far, doesn't do VA loans, so if we start over we can't go with them.

Well, at this point my honey is re-thinking the whole idea of house-buying anyway, so if this one falls through as seems likely, perhaps we'll just rent for now unless the perfect house jumps out and bites us on the ankle on our way to the store or something.