How to Make Better Financial Decisions about Credit and Mortgages

The more you understand about your credit history, the better mortgage rate you will get. It is important that you understand your credit as well as your credit scores. There is more than one type of mortgage. Your fico score will dictate what programs you will be eligible for. In most cases, the higher your fico score is, the better interest rate you will get.

Different Types of Mortgage Programs For First Time Home Buyers.

* Locking in the best interest rate for a mortgage
* First Time Home Loan Buyer Programs
* Down Payment Assistance or DPA
* HomePath Mortgage Program
* FHA loans, great for first time home buyers and buyers with low credit scores

Most Consumers Want to Know the Following about Credit Scores

* How to improve your fico score
* What factors impact your credit score
* How to recover from bankruptcy or foreclosure
* Credit Restoration

For more information about credit scores talk to your mortgage professional.

E Loans Free Credit Score Offer - Is it useful

E Loans free credit score offer will give you a CreditXpert credit score. It is not a score from the three credit bureaus, those being experion, equifax and transunion. The credit score that you get from ELoan will not be useful to you for getting a mortgage at any other mortgage company. The only place the E Loan Free Credit Report will work will be at ELoan. (What is the E Loan credit report offer)

How do I raise my credit score?

When is my mortgage payment due?

When is my mortgage payment due? Your mortgage payment most likely due on the 1st of each month. Most lenders do their accounting with mortgage payments being due on the first. There are a few lenders like World Savings can have their due date on a different day of the month. My old World Savings loan was due on the 15th of the month. Like I said earlier, your payment will most likely be due on the first of the month. It will be late after the 15th of the month and will show up as late on your credit report once you go over 30 days. So the late that is going to be bad for your credit report will show up after 30 days from the due date have passed.

To be on the safe side, just get your payment in on the 1st of each month.

When is my mortgage payment due?

E Loans Free Credit Score Offer - Useful For A Mortgage?

E Loans Free Credit Score offer does not give you your real credit scores. To get them, like so many other free credit report and credit scores you have to pay for them. On FreeCreditReport.com you will get a free credit report, but you will also be enrolled in a credit protection program to get the free credit report. The credit protection program cost money. So it's not really free. Just be sure to read the fine print before you sign on the dotted line for a free credit report. (Free Credit Report Information update)

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Credit Report companies do not allow Affiliate Marketing with credit repair companies

If you are a website owner and offer credit repair content on your website, credit reporting companies such as transunion, equifax and experion will not allow you to sell a credit pulling product on your website. Seems odd that the credit reporting agencies do not want you to get information that might help you improve your credit score. I saw this information on commission junction. I was interested in offereing people the ability to pull their tri merge credit report on my website.

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Wal Mart to offer a pre paid debit card

If you have bounced checks, bad credit or just can't get credit, Wal Mart has good news for you. Wal Mart will be rolling out a pre paid debit card. You can use it just like a credit card, the only difference is that you will need to have cash in your account for the charges to go through. The card will have fees so you will need to pay attention. There is a $4.64 reload fee every time you put money into your account. If you have direct deposit this is waived. If you use an ATM machine you will be charged $1.95 and if you want to cash a check it will run you $3. Requesting a paper statement will cost you $2 and the activation fee is $8.94.

If you don't have any credit, this is a great way to start establishing some. Just make sure in your agreement that they will report to all three credit bureaus which are experian, transunion and equifax.

Get a Debit Card

Does pulling your credit report hurt your credit score?

I have been in the mortgage business for nearly 7 years. One of the biggest misconceptions that I run into is that pulling your credit report numerous times will hurt a credit score. I find that sometimes new borrowers are reluctant to have their scores pulled because of this belief. They believe that their scores will drop considerably if everyone is pulling it. The reality is that you can pull your mortgage credit report unlimited times in a 14 day period from the first pull and it will count as one pull.

It is a known fact that borrowers will talk to a couple of different lenders prior to selecting a company to go with. It is just part of the research and fact finding process. It is a ploy by some lenders to tell their clients not to have other brokers pull their report. To a broker that has already pulled credit, this improves their chance of securing the loan instead of another broker. They scare the potential borrower into believing that their credit will be ruined if they have other people obtain reports, thus potentially risking the homebuyer’s ability to obtain a loan that serves the consumer versus one that serves the mortgage originator.

The problem with this is that a borrower may miss out on better loan terms and lower closing costs. If a lender tells you not to have anyone else pull your credit for these reasons, you may want to talk to someone else. They are not being honest with you. The end result is that it could cost you thousands of dollars over the term of your loan. An honest lender will give you this information. They are confident in their services and don’t have to rely of sleezy scare tactics to earn your business.

If you want to know what your score is, you can pull it yourself. If you pull it on your own it does not count as a pull. Be sure that you pull a mortgage credit report. This will be more accurate for assessing your ability to get a loan and the types of rates that you will be able to get. Most of the free credit reports online are consumer credit reports. They are similar but are not accepted as a valid report in the mortgage industry. You can go to Getprequalified.com to order a free credit report. You will also find other useful services to get started on the home buying process.

Dave Mason
Mortgage Broker

Hey don't pull my credit

I have been in the mortgage business for nearly 7 years. One of the biggest misconceptions that I run into is that pulling your credit report numerous times will hurt a credit score. I find that sometimes new borrowers are reluctant to have their scores pulled because of this belief. They believe that their scores will drop considerably if everyone is pulling it. The reality is that you can pull your mortgage credit report unlimited times in a 14 day period from the first pull and it will count as one pull.

It is a known fact that borrowers will talk to a couple of different lenders prior to selecting a company to go with. It is just part of the research and fact finding process. It is a ploy by some lenders to tell their clients not to have other brokers pull their report. To a broker that has already pulled credit, this improves their chance of securing the loan instead of another broker. They scare the potential borrower into believing that their credit will be ruined if they have other people obtain reports, thus potentially risking the homebuyer’s ability to obtain a loan that serves the consumer versus one that serves the mortgage originator.

The problem with this is that a borrower may miss out on better loan terms and lower closing costs. If a lender tells you not to have anyone else pull your credit for these reasons, you may want to talk to someone else. They are not being honest with you. The end result is that it could cost you thousands of dollars over the term of your loan. An honest lender will give you this information. They are confident in their services and don’t have to rely of sleezy scare tactics to earn your business.

If you want to know what your score is, you can pull it yourself. If you pull it on your own it does not count as a pull. Be sure that you pull a mortgage credit report. This will be more accurate for assessing your ability to get a loan and the types of rates that you will be able to get. Most of the free credit reports online are consumer credit reports. They are similar but are not accepted as a valid report in the mortgage industry. You can go to GetPrequalified.com to order a free credit report. You will also find other useful services to get started on the home buying process.

Dave Mason
Mortgage Broker

Universal Default Rate on Credit Cards, Suze Orman

I got a good tip from watching Suze Orman the other night. Consumers don’t realize that when you default on one debt it can affect other credit use. There are a lot of people that are losing their homes due to foreclosure. They feel that the mortgage is hopeless yet they want to keep their credit cards for emergency use. While this is understandable, consumers fail to realize what the impact to their credit is across the board. Your creditors are checking your credit all the time. If they see that you are having trouble on one of your credit accounts, they have the right to raise your credit card interest rate to the universal default rate. It is in your contract. If you don’t believe me, then believe Suze Orman. I’ve seen her tout this fact a few times on her show. Your rates can go as high as 29% just because you are late on your mortgage. The reality is that you need to keep up on everything. If you are having financial difficulty you need to be aware that your credit cards may not be your safety net.

For additional credit articles go to GetPrequalified.com

Debt Negotiation does not hurt your fico score

I keep hearing reports that doing debt negotiation hurts your credit score. I would like to set the record straight. The truth is that debt negotiation does not hurt your credit score. Having too much debt and not paying your bills will hurt your credit score. If you are current on all your bills and stop paying them, your score will go down, no question about it. Debt negotiation is for people that are in serious financial hardship and possibly considering a Bankruptcy. Debt negotiation is not a way to get out of paying your bills. So if you think you are going to run out and charge up a bunch of debt and then let it go, you may have a problem. That could be considered a fraudulent act. Debt negotiation is for people that may have experience a medical emergency or even a job loss.

Bottom line, debt negotiation does not hurt your credit, having too much debt and not paying it is the culprit. Actually the more old debt that you pay off, the better it is for your credit score. So settling your debt actually helps your credit score not hurt it.

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Debt Negotiation