Are you renting and wanting to buy a home? Have you decided it’s time to buy that big house because you’ve got a couple more kids than a few years ago? Or, maybe you’re looking at downsizing, the kids have moved out and you want to get a small villa on the golf course. Have you found a need to refinance and pull out some cash for college expenses or your daughter’s wedding?
The “Mortgage Meltdown” and ongoing foreclosure crises have caused hundreds of mortgage lenders to close their doors forever. The lenders left have tightened their lending guidelines to a level not seen in the mortgage industry for a couple of decades.
One of the primary areas of concentration and focus to improve overall mortgage performance is to raise credit score requirements on all loan products. Actually, throughout all the credit markets, tighter credit controls have been implemented.
Armed with this knowledge it is important to know how your credit looks. At least three months or so before you want to apply with your mortgage lender and put your application in, you should start the mortgage process by having your credit report reviewed.
There are numerous places online you can go to have this done. Two you might consider are www.annualcreditreport.com which you can get a free credit report but you’ll have to pay a small fee to get the credit scores, another source to get your credit scores is myfico.com. Getting together with your mortgage broker, usually can also get you’re a free copy of your report. This service does cost a few dollars so if you do this just make sure you give them the courtesy of assisting you with the loan when that time comes.
I’d recommend getting your scores as that is the main benchmark your lender will use. If your scores are less than 640 you’ll have a much tougher time qualifying for most mortgages. Anything less than the 700’s you may still benefit from [http://www.NationalCreditFederation.com]credit repair.
You are able to do this yourself but I will caution you. Just because you can represent yourself in a court of law doesn’t mean you should. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and other credit laws, as with most laws can be somewhat ambiguous and confusing. If you are the least bit unsure what your credit report means, hiring a professional can get you results that you may not have the time or the expertise to achieve yourself.
Regardless of which path you choose, you will benefit with increased credit scores, if managed properly. Credit repair in today’s credit lending environment is not only necessary but a financially prudent action to pursue. When done correctly, your credit scores will increase and can be the difference between approval or denial on your mortgage application.
Not only could credit repair amount to hundreds of dollars difference on your mortgage payments for years to come but your ability to buy and move into your dream home. The key is to get started as early on in the process as you can.
Herschel Bentley is the Executive Director of the National Credit Federation, an attorney assisted credit restoration firm. Having over 25 years mortgage and R.E. investing experience has lead to personally working with thousands of credit cases. He is well known as a [http://www.NationalCreditFederation.com]credit repair expert and national speaker of credit repair techniques.
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Herschel_Bentley]Herschel Bentley
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Tags: Credit Repair, mortgage loan