Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are now on board to charge mortgage loan borrowers who have low credit scores even more in financing fees. For years bad credit borrowers have been paying the price in higher mortgage loan fees simply because they had no control over their own credit profile. With the government’s recent announcement of higher fees they’ve also published specific guidelines which show exact credit scores and the associated fees. Even more reason as a homeowner or would be mortgage loan borrower to start getting control of your own credit profile.
As the Ex Mortgage Executive, I’m always surprised at the lack of knowledge most home refinance prospects have in terms of maintaining control of their own credit report profile. Many homeowners believe they are either stuck with the credit they have or have no idea of what their true mortgage credit score is. I mention mortgage credit score specifically due to the fact that mortgage credit scores are lower than consumer credit scores. Consumer credit scores are scores used to determine creditworthiness for loans such as automobiles and credit cards, not mortgage loans.
Unfortunately most homeowners never check their credit score until after they begin the mortgage loan shopping process. As you may or may not know the credit bureaus owe you one free copy of your credit report every twelve months. Notice that I said free. It still amazes me that homeowners still approach the mortgage loan shopping process with no clue as to what is contained in their credit bureau profile. Why would anyone pay higher home refinance fees if they really don’t have to? The answer is - as I stated above, consumers are either in the mindset that they are stuck with what they have or have no ability to change negative credit if they wanted to. That answer could be no farther from the truth.
If you’re planning a mortgage refinancing or new home purchase it’s absolutely imperative that you understand the difference between your mortgage credit score and your consumer credit score. Mortgage credit scores are always lower than consumer credit scores simply because a mortgage loan is a much higher value than say an automobile or credit card. Gaining control of your credit profile should start with getting a free copy of your credit report. Each credit bureau will provide a free copy once every twelve months. The purpose of checking your credit profile at all three bureaus is to find out if there are any negative items been reported. If you do find negative items on your credit report I’ll detail the process below of exactly how to handle such an occurrence.
Under the new Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae guidelines you’ll be paying higher than normal fees for any mortgage credit score below 680. If you currently have negative items on your credit report which are holding your score lower than 680, there is a solution to your problem. The solution is credit repair however before you run off screaming in fear with all of the credit repair myths, let me say this. Legal credit repair is real and available however if you don’t know the process or where to begin you could make some huge mistakes along the way. On the other hand if you do understand the credit repair process it’s amazingly simple and can change your life forever.
The credit repair process goes something like this; obtain a copy of all three credit bureau reports and find an online reporting service that will monitor your reports for changes and notifying you immediately. Once you have that service in place you can work with one of the popular online legal firms who can initiate the negative item disputes for you. The real key to working with the top online credit repair services is to provide updated credit reports as soon as changes are made. That’s why using the proper credit report monitoring service is key to the entire process.
Terry Lamb provides more credit repair details and a step by step guide at The Stupid Home Owner Blog.
- Terry Lamb
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