In this installment of the Chicago Video Home Buyers Guide, we talk about credit, and what you need to know when getting a mortgage. With mortgage guidelines tightening, having good

credit is more important now than ever before. That being said, you don’t need to have perfect credit to

get a loan. But you do need to show that if you have had credit problems in the past, these problems are behind you and you have control of your credit now.

In this video I talk about fico scores and what goes into the credit score, and what you can do to improve your credit and raise your credit score. The truth is, you have more control over your credit than you may think. Even if you have had problems in the past, you can improve your credit profile over time.

Here are links to past articles which cover how credit scores are determined, what you can do to improve your credit and how to remove mistakes on your credit report.

How to understand and improve your credit score-part1

How to understand and improve your credit score-part2

How to understand and improve your credit score-part3

How to understand and improve your credit score-part4

If I can help in any way, please let me know.

Other videos in this series -

Pre-Qualification and Mortgage Pre-Approval

Equity build up – How you build value by paying down your mortgage

How leverage and home appreciation will build value over time

The tax benefits of owning your own home

You can trust in us to get the job done right.

Free- Home Buyer’s Guide

Free Mortgage Pre-approval

Peter Thompson 630-479-6424

Illinois Mortgage Rates                   First time home buyer loans

Chicago Mortgage Company            Chicago FHA Mortgages

“How low of a credit score can I have and still be able to get a mortgage?”

This is a question I hear almost every day. One of the frustrating things for many people trying to buy their first home, has been dealing with old credit problems. Some people consistently have problems with credit, and if you just don’t pay your bills on time (or at all) and if you don’t take credit seriously, buying a home and qualifying for a mortgage is probably not an option. But for many people their credit has been damaged due to isolated life events. Too many people have run into problems over the last few years, often as a result of losing a job, medical issues or other traumatic events. For these people, the real frustrating part is that once their lives are back on track and they are back to paying their bills on time, it is still hard to improve their credit scores. To add insult to injury, mortgage guidelines have continued tightening over the last few years. A few years ago credit scores pegged 620 as the lowest level of good credit, that is, credit scores good enough to qualify for the best rate on a conventional mortgage. Now it takes a Fico score of 740 to get the best terms, and those with scores under 700 should expect higher rates or bigger fees.

FHA is much more common sense in regards to credit. With FHA your whole credit profile is considered and the scores themselves aren’t nearly as much of a focus. FHA underwriters also base their decisions on letters of explanation telling what happened to your credit, why it happened and why it isn’t likely to happen again. FHA is much more common sense, and FHA doesn’t have a minimum credit score that they require. But over the last year almost all of the lenders who fund FHA loans have added overlays (additional requirements) that have raised the required FICO score to a minimum of 640. There might not be much difference in the credit profile between someone with a 640 score and someone with a 629 score. But statistically, credit scores under 640 are much more likely to default on their loans. The sad thing about concentrating on credit scores is that it doesn’t take the human element into effect, and there are people who have scores where the credit is improving, and others with the same scores where the credit is going down. Up until now they have all been looked at the same way if their score was below the 640 minimum. But this is now changing.

Prospect mortgage, the company I work for, has just come out with a new loan program that allows people to buy homes with Fico scores between 580 and 639. In my opinion, this is a huge step in the right direction. This isn’t a new version of sub-prime and it doesn’t mean anyone with a credit score over 580 is now able to get a loan. What it does mean is that those people who have been doing the right things and who can show they are able to afford a home payment  won’t be frozen out simply because their Fico scores came in too low. This program is going back to old school FHA underwriting. In order to qualify for this program, we need to see that even though your credit scores are lower than what is normally called for, you are handling your credit responsibly and whatever caused the problems is all past history. The real key to this loan is affordability. Having a payment that fits in your budget means you aren’t stretching too far, means less stress on your finances, so one of the biggest factors for approval will be showing that both your total mortgage payment and your mortgage payment plus all your other debt, are at comfortable levels. If your payment is going to jump with the new mortgage compared to what you have been paying for rent, we will need to see that you have been saving regularly and that the higher payment won’t be a burden.

This new program is an FHA fixed rate mortgage. Here are some of the features of this new loan:

• Borrowers credit scores between 580-639.

• Available for purchase loans only.

• 3.5% down payment.

• All the funds for closing can come from a gift.

• Available for single family homes, townhomes, condos and 2 unit buildings (rental income can’t be used to qualify).

• Ratios (this is to show affordability) are 31% of income cam be used for the housing payment and 43% of income can go toward the housing payment plus all other debt. These ratios can be increased if there are at leas 2 compensating factors.

• Can apply 2 years after a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge – 12 months after chapter 13.

• 2 months reserves required (based on 2 times the full mortgage payment).

• Home buyer counseling is required.

The rates on this program are higher than for conventional FHA mortgages because of the higher risk. This program won’t help everyone, but it will help a lot of people buy a home now. If you are looking to buy a home but worried that your credit will hold you back (or a Realtor working with clients who have had problems in the past), give me a call.

Free Home Buyers Guide

You can trust in us to get the job done right.

Peter Thompson 630-479-6424

Illinois Mortgage Rates                   First time home buyer loans

Chicago Mortgage Company            Chicago FHA Mortgages

FHA credit score requirements are moving up again. We, and most other lenders, now have moved to a minimum 640 middle score for FHA approval, and some wholesale lenders now require a minimum of 660. If you read the FHA guidelines, the minimum score is only 580 (though there is no way you will get a loan with that score), and with the economy soft and the housing market down, cutting off otherwise well qualified buyers doesn’t seem like a good way to achieve their goal of offering more families a chance to buy a home of their own. So what gives?

The problem is that this tightening of credit standards is a direct result of FHA success (I’ll get into this more in a minute). As anyone who reads this blog regularly knows, I am a big fan of FHA mortgages. FHA has always offered common sense, fully documented loans to middle class and low income borrowers. FHA is often thought of as a first time home buyers loan because you only need a small 3.5% down payment and their philosophy on credit was more realistic in that they were willing to work with people who had mistakes in the past.  The key with FHA credit issues is that they needed to understand the situation – what caused the problems, that the borrower is back on track and that the credit problems aren’t likely to continue. FHA was never a score based loan, it was a loan that looked at each situation individually. As someone who reads and analyzes credit reports every day, I can tell you the credit score is just a starting point. For example, 2 of the credit reports I looked at this week from different borrowers had almost identical scores, both in the low 600s. One was a single parent who went through a divorce and had some uninsured medical issues which stained her credit, but is now paying everything on time and trying to rebuild her good credit. The other was from a single guy who makes a great income but travels regularly and doesn’t have a system to pay his bills on time. He can afford to pay when the bills come due, but hasn’t gotten in the habit of doing it. To me these people, even with the same scores, should be looked at differently.

Up until a few years ago FHA never had a minimum score requirement. The score requirements are now coming from the lenders who take on the FHA loans (FHA doesn’t make loans themselves, they insure the loans that meet their requirements) and again, they are raising the scores because of the program’s success. A few years ago, before the financial melt down, FHA accounted for about 2% of the loans originated. 100% financing and sub-prime loans had taken away most of the borrowers who would normally be FHA buyers. Now, most of the companies making these riskier loans have gone out of business or been bailed out by the government, and FHA market share is in the 30 to 40% range. As conventional mortgage guidelines have gotten tougher, more borrowers who would have otherwise been conventional buyers are now better served by FHA. One result of this is that the average credit scores for FHA loans has increased a lot over the last years, from the low 600s to near 700.

But with their market share increasing so dramatically, this has also put pressure on the FHA reserve fund. FHA insures against losses by collecting mortgage insurance premiums on every loan they insure. This has been enough to keep the program solvent since its inception back in the 1930s, but with unemployment high and home values decreasing, this has increased loan defaults and decreased their reserve fund. Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and all the big banks have had to go to Uncle Sam to keep their doors open, FHA is doing this on their own. In order to protect their fund, they have taken several big steps. Earlier this month they changed the way they collect mortgage insurance in a way that will build funds quicker. They also have put more pressure on lenders who make the FHA loans, shifting more risk from FHA to the lenders, and this has spurred the increase in score requirements.

The lenders who approve and fund the loans have always been responsible for making sure that the loans conform to FHA guidelines, they are now being held to a higher standard. Now the lenders are also held accountable for the default rate, or the percentage of loans that go into default (missed payments up to foreclosure). This means that FHA could force a lender to buy back loans that go south, even if the loan met all the guidelines and everything was done according to the rules. The truth is that you never know for sure what loans will go bad, because so many of the problems arise when an unforeseen life event happens to a borrower. It doesn’t matter what your credit score is, if you lose your job, have a death in the family, a medical emergency or another traumatic life event, your finances will be under stress.

From the lenders standpoint, the worst thing that can happen is being forced to buy back a loan. Lenders make money by originating loans and then selling them off and collecting their profit upfront. When they are forced to buy back a loan, this is a big loss. Since lenders aren’t in the habit of doing anything that will cost them money, raising the credit scores is a logical way to cut the risk in their portfolio. This isn’t what FHA was hoping for, though. This move by FHA to hold lenders accountable, is having the unintended consequence of making it harder to qualify for those who FHA is meant to serve, and by taking otherwise well qualified buyers out of the housing market it is making it harder to build a housing rebound. FHA Commissioner David Stevens recently said that he though some lenders had gone overboard on the credit tightening, and "You won’t help communities recover if you limit lending to just the top tier borrowers." But without specific action from FHA the lenders are going to continue with a tighter credit policy, because this is the safest course for them.

What this means to new home buyers or anyone thinking about getting FHA financing.

Credit is now more important than ever. If you are thinking about buying a home, the best thing you can do is to start the process early, have your credit run and get pre-approved for a mortgage. Sometimes there are problems on your credit report which you may not even be aware of. If you start early you have time to make sure you address the issues and get mistakes cleaned up, before it’s too late.

Here are links to past articles which cover how credit scores are determined, what you can do to improve your credit and how to remove mistakes on your credit report.

How to understand and improve your credit score-part1

How to understand and improve your credit score-part2

How to understand and improve your credit score-part3

How to understand and improve your credit score-part4

Free Home Buyer’s Guide

No-Obligation Mortgage Pre-approval

Peter Thompson 630-479-6424

Illinois Mortgage Rates                   First time home buyer loans

Chicago Mortgage Company            Chicago FHA Mortgages

Another new change in the mortgage industry starts today, June 1^st – the adoption of the Fannie Mae Loan Quality Initiative. This initiative is an order from Fannie Mae, the largest buyer of mortgages in the mortgage aftermarket, that all lenders who want to sell them loans must do extra due diligence, and check to make sure that there are no red flags that the lender would have otherwise missed. Most of these changes are ones that have already been adopted over the last year, like running social security numbers through a data base to make sure they are correct, and pulling IRS tax transcripts on every transaction. But there is one new ingredient to this mix which is likely to throw the industry for a loop, and delay and in some cases blow up the closing on the last day. This new change is that starting with applications taken today, June 1^st, any loans sold to Fannie Mae will have to have a credit report run again on the day of funding to make sure that the borrower has not taken on any additional debt. If they have new accounts, or if they have inquiries on their credit report which means that they could have opened new credit but it hasn’t shown up yet, the loan has to go back to the underwriter and more research has to be done to see if this is a problem, or not.

This new underwriting overlay, like so many of the other changes, is a reaction to the soft real estate market and the high rate of foreclosures. Underwriting was way too lax before, which got us into this mess, but underwriters now are going out of their way to make sure that there is absolutely nothing in the file that could be used as an excuse for the end lender (the wholesale lender or Fannie Mae) to require that they buy back the loan if for some reason it does go bad. Overall, this is a good thing. Making risky loans is bad for everyone. But this new initiative is going to add a whole new level of uncertainty to every real estate transaction. So far all the extra checking and verifications that are part of the loan process have been things that we do at the beginning when we first take on the loan. This, coming at the end, means that you can never have a fully approved loan until the closing.

So many real estate transactions are links in a chain of sales where the seller of one home is buying another, and each transaction is subject to the closing of the prior transaction. If a first time home buyer on a sale at the beginning of the chain is kicked out for going beyond his ratios, this means that all the other transactions downstream are also on the rocks. In practical terms, what this now means is that there is no such thing as a “clear to close” approval. A clear to close means that all of the prior to close conditions have been signed off on and that the loan is moved into the closing department. Real estate attorneys traditionally demand to see that a loan is clear to close before they will waive on their client’s mortgage contingency (which protects their client’s earnest money), and many attorneys won’t set a closing until they have this in writing. Now, even if you have a written loan approval with all the conditions signed off, it still isn’t a real approval, because something could still come up on the credit report the day of the closing, either with your buyer or one further up the chain.

Another potential issue is that Fannie Mae states in the initiative that they are concerned with the items on the credit report and how they affect the borrower’s purchasing power. The initiative doesn’t mention credit scores, but I’m betting that some lenders will look at this in a more conservative way. If they interpret this as having to pull a full credit report, and if scores are stated, this too could effect the loan approval. Many loan programs are based on credit scores, and if the score drops prior to closing will that mean the loan no longer fits the guidelines? This could be another can of worms.

So long story short, be aware that your credit use can affect your loan approval even after you have an initial approval. Here is what you need to watch out for until the loan has closed:

First of all, don’t take on any debt that you can’t comfortably afford.

Don’t open any new credit accounts, don’t buy a car or even furniture or appliances with no payments for the next six months. All of these will have to be accounted for.

Put your credit cards on hold until closing. You can make your normal monthly purchases, but don’t buy anything out of the ordinary.

If you absolutely have to buy something, check with your loan officer first and make sure you document the new credit.

Think twice before having someone pull your credit. Even if you don’t take on new debt the credit inquiry looks like you are and will need to be explained.

The initiative is strictly with Fannie Mae at this point, but usually whatever Fannie does Freddie Mac quickly follows, and FHA is likely to adopt these regulations, too. Even if they don’t, many lenders will take the initiative and run these on every loan to shield themselves from liability. So this is likely to become an industry standard.

Peter Thompson 630-479-6424

Illinois Mortgage Rates                   First time home buyer loans

Chicago Mortgage Company

If you are in the market to buy or refinance a home, having a good credit rating is more important now than ever before. Both conventional and FHA loans now use credit based scoring (where better credit scores get better rates) or credit floors (below which your loan is automatically rejected). This means a few points difference in a score can mean a difference of thousands of dollars over the years you hold onto the mortgage, or if you are even able to get the house at all. Credit scores are crucial to the loan process, but the truth is that the whole system is flawed. There are hundreds of factors which go into each credit score and credit scores change constantly. Like taking a snapshot, your credit score measures only what is happening in that moment in time. Some of the scoring items are contradictory and some are entirely illogical. You could have a perfect credit rating and never paid a bill late and still have a sub par score. Little changes can make a big difference in your scores, and with so much riding on them you need to do what you can to present your credit profile in a way that presents you in the best light. If you have time there are a lot of things you can do to improve your credit scores, but if you are on the borderline and pressed for time, there are still ways to get your credit scores up.

For a full run down on how credit works and what you can do to raise your scores, read my 4 part series:

Part 1 -How credit works

Part 2 – Fico scores and how they are figured

Part 3 – 10 Ways to raise your FICO scores

Part 4 – Fixing mistakes and credit repair

This series is a great primer on what will work to make the most of your credit scores, but this is general advice, not specific to your personal situation. If you are in the market for a home and need to get your score up 20 points in order to qualify (minimum 600 score for FHA) or to avoid paying extra (below 740 on a conventional loan) you want something that will make the difference now. One way to do this is by using a “What if?” credit simulator. This is a tool we have available through one of our credit companies. When we pull a credit report the report will tell us not only what the scores are now, but what the range can be in potential improvements. Then we can use the “What if?” simulator to try out different changes to see what will make the most positive impact in your score. Maybe paying down a credit card, or switching a balance to another lender will help. It could be a matter of adding a balance to a card you haven’t used in a while or fixing a mistake on your report. Little changes can make a big difference, and this tool takes the guess work out of the credit equation.

There are two ways we can use this tool. First, if you haven’t found a home yet, we do this as part of the pre-approval and this tells you what you need to do while you still have time to do it. It takes about a month for the credit companies to report. If you have the time make the changes now and your scores will be up when you are ready to apply for the loan. The second way to use this is if you are already at the point where you need the loan and don’t have time to wait. In this case you can do a rapid re-score and we can update the credit on the items you changed manually. This is more expensive as the credit company charges for every credit line that is updated, but paying a little more up-front can pay off big if you are able to get a better rate. Or an approval you wouldn’t other wise get.

The “What if?” simulator is a great tool, and it does work. But don’t wait till the last minute to run your credit, get pre-approved before you start looking for a home. If you want to see what can be done to make the most of your credit, give me a call or click here for a pre-approval. I’d love to help.

Illinois Mortgage Rates                   First time home buyer loans  

We Lend in All 50 States

Over the last year mortgage qualification has become increasingly harder. Two new changes go into affect next week which will ratchet loan approvals a little tighter still.

One is a change that only affects mortgages here in Illinois. Senate Bill 1167 will become law as of June 1^st. This law is aimed at predatory lending and the problems caused by sub-prime loans. It restricts the types of loans available, requires home buyers counseling for home buyers in Cook County who are taking out specific types of loans, and it requires more transparency so the consumer knows exactly what they are getting when they enter into any mortgage financing. There are some good features in this bill, but most of what they are legislating against has already gone away due to market forces in the mortgage market. Sub-prime loans have been a big problem and there is no question that they were abused. But there is no such thing as a sub-prime mortgage now, so this bill is coming too late to make any real impact.

The one part of this that is going to hurt some is that stated income loans will no longer be available in Illinois. Stated income loans were loans which didn’t verify the borrower’s income, but took whatever was stated as the Gospel truth. As you can imagine, this was a license for abuse, and there were way too many borrowers who bought homes with no idea how they would pay for them. That said, stated income loans do make sense for well qualified borrowers with complicated tax returns – self employed borrowers. These loans, like so many others, have been disappearing over the last year. The guidelines in the law are somewhat vague as to what is considered stated income, but the lenders who were offering this program are taking the cautious path, and are withdrawing from the market. It looks like this will be the final nail in the coffin for any loans that don’t verify income, which means it will be harder for self employed borrowers to qualify for a mortgage.

The other big change is that Fannie Mae brings out their new version of their automated underwriting system, DU 7.0. Most conventional loans are approved through the automated underwriting system, so this will have a huge impact on how loans are approved. On the good side, this version does away with the declining market policy. Last December, in a reaction to the down turn in the housing market, Fannie Mae came up with a plan to identify markets where the prices were falling, and require a higher down payment in those areas. The plan basically made it harder to get financing in the areas that needed it most, and was not a popular move. So getting rid of this plan is a step in the right direction. It will be looked at as a bigger step if the mortgage insurance companies follow the lead and stop their declining market policies, too. The rest of the changes in version 7.0 are not going to be positives for mortgage borrowers. Some of the changes include:

• Borrowers must wait a longer time after a bankruptcy or foreclosure before they can get a mortgage again, and when they are ready they will need a higher down payment and a better credit score.
• Debt to income ratios, that is how much debt you are carrying, will be much lower.
• Condos will now be considered riskier, and harder to approve.
• Having mortgage insurance on your loan will not reduce the risk of having less than a 20% down payment.
• ARMs will be considered riskier than fixed rate loans.

There’s more, but the bottom line is that this is a way of tightening more, and some borrowers who will qualify for a loan today, may not next week.

Illinois Mortgage Rates and News

Find here more information

First Time Home Buyers Loan : Tax Benefits Make Real Estate a Smart Investment for Chicago Area First Time Home Buyers

In the mortgage industry, the present is looking more and more like the past. Back in 1992 when I first got into the mortgage market, George Bush was finishing his last year in office (though he didn’t know it at the time), a Clinton was running to take his spot and Brett Favre had just been picked up by the Green Bay Packers. A lot has happened in between, but another George Bush is finishing his time in the White House, another Clinton is running for president and now that Favre has finally retired he is threatening to un-retire and continue his reign of terror against our beloved Chicago Bears. In the mortgage industry the future is looking a whole lot like the past, too. Back when I first started there were two types of loans which covered the majority of lending options – conventional and FHA. Conventional mortgages were for those home buyers who had strong credit and a good down payment. FHA was for everyone else.

Back in the day, we put together loan packages which highlighted the strengths of the borrower, and showed that they met all the guidelines in regards to credit, income, job stability and having enough money to close, as well as a full detailed appraisal. With changes in technology and a strong national real estate market, mortgage underwriting loosened up a lot. The credit score became the biggest factor in the approval process. With a high FICO score lenders would overlook weaknesses in other areas. It got to the point where some of the biggest wholesale lenders were doing most of their business taking on loans where the borrower stated their income and assets without proving the figures were true. (Even the appraisal guidelines loosened and many loans were approved with just a drive by appraisal, or a computerized estimate of value.) These loans were sold as a way for well qualified borrowers to cut down on their paper work and to streamline the loan process. Unfortunately, this opened the way for abuses and led to “Liar’s Loans”, and some people who bought way over their heads, and couldn’t afford to make their payments.

It wasn’t until property values declined (not so much here in the Chicago area, but very sharply in some areas of the country) that the abuses in the system really showed. When home prices were moving up borrowers found a way to make the payment, even if it was by borrowing more against their home. Now loan defaults are up and mortgage lenders have found that old time religion again. This means we are back to the old ways of doing things, tighter underwriting for everyone, and FHA is again the best option for many borrowers and first time home buyers.

So what can you do if you are planning on buying a home or refinancing your mortgage and you want to make sure you present your self in the best light? Here are a few things you can do ahead of time to improve your chances of getting a loan at the best rate and terms:

1. Focus on your credit – One thing that hasn’t changed is that your credit score and your credit profile are still a crucial part of the loan approval. Make sure you review your credit before you need a loan. If you have problems, work on them when you still have time to get them fixed. Here is a series on credit that will help you understand your options, and show you how to increase your credit score.

How to understand and improve your credit score-part1

How to understand and improve your credit score-part2

How to understand and improve your credit score-part3

How to understand and improve your credit score-part4

2. Address problems up-front – If you have had problems of some type in the past, don’t try and hide them. In the mortgage process we look into all the information you present and verify everything. But some things that you may think are huge problems we may be able to work around. For example, if you have credit problems from the past that are hurting your credit score, FHA can still be an option. The key here is to show that you have moved beyond these problems and they are no longer an issue. To show this you will need to write a letter addressing any credit problems that show up on your credit report. In the letter you need to explain what happened, what you have done to correct the situation and why this isn’t a problem anymore. If you have any documentation to help your case, provide it. The same applies for other problems like job gaps and

3. Put together your documentation – The days of the no-doc loan are gone, so you will need to have documentation proving you make enough income to afford the mortgage payments and you have enough money or other assets to pay for the down payment and closing costs. This usually means putting together some simple documentation. In some cases we can get by with less, and in others we will require more, but this is a good list to start with -

W2s for the last 2 years (in some situations we will need full tax returns),

Your pay stubs for the last 30 days

Bank and investment statements for the last 60 days with all pages attached.

4. Have a plan – Do you know how much of a payment you can afford? Do you know how much cash you can come up with for a down payment and closing costs? There are still ways to buy with little or no down payment required, and there are ways to buy with no closing costs. If you have money to put down, where is it coming from? Will you still have money left over afterwards for other purchases or emergencies? You need to think about these things before you look for a home and applying for a mortgage. The answers to these questions will help you to decide what to look for and how you will finance it.

5. Get pre-approved for a mortgage – With all the changes in the mortgage market this step is crucial. A mortgage pre-approval will tell you how much of a loan you can qualify for and how much of a home you can afford. A good loan officer will take it a step further and help you to figure out the best way to structure your financing so it meets your long and short term needs. And if there are any problems, a good loan officer can also give you advice on how to put yourself in the best position to buy a home, if not now in the future.

The mortgage industry might have gone back to the past, but if you make a plan and follow through, there could be a new home in your future.

Illinois Mortgage Rates and News

Chicago, IL – The first installment of this series,  How to Understand and Make the Most of Your Credit Score – 1,  gave an overview of the credit system, and how good credit is more important than ever before for qualifying for a loan and getting the best interest rate. This installment we will go over Fico scores, one of the biggest factors in qualifying for a loan.

Your credit report contains a good deal of information but most lenders focus on one feature, the FICO score. The name FICO is short for Fair Isaac Company, the firm that developed it. Actually, there are 3 FICO scores, one from each repository, but we generally use the middle score. This score is a computer model that weighs the overall risk in your credit profile. The idea behind credit scoring is to measure the likelihood of a customer’s defaulting on a loan.

Credit scoring goes a long way toward taking the human out of the approval process and making the system more automatic. There are some big advantages to this. Because of credit scoring you can go to the local mall, apply for a credit card and automatically be approved for financing. It works the same way with mortgages. This is how we can offer same day full pre-approvals.

Fico scores range from a low of 350 to a high of 850 (the higher the better), but it’s rare to see scores at either extreme. Most people’s scores are in the 600s and 700s. Mortgage approval depends on other factors besides credit, but a high credit score will go a long way toward helping your situation. With risk based scoring you will need a score over 680 to get the best rates and pricing. If you are in the low to middle 600 range there are still options. If your credit score is below 620, you will have a harder time getting approved and the interest rate will be higher. The options available for those with scores below 600 are slim. Not so long ago Sub-prime mortgages filled this niche. Now your best option is to work on improving your score early.

Because your credit score is so critical to qualifying, it is important to check your credit early in the process, before you’re ready to even start looking for a home. This way if there are mistakes or problems, you have time to work on the credit and improve your scores.

There are five major factors that make up your credit score. These major factors are broken down into hundreds sub-factors, and how you measure up against all these factors is boiled down into your score. One thing to be aware of is that formula for the scoring changes regularly. This is meant as a way to measure the risk of default, so if new risk items show up in their reports, you can bet that the scoring will change. Lately I’ve seen scores vary more than usual, so my guess is they are adjusting the formula at the same time they are tightening the underwriting.

Here are the 5 factors, listed in order of importance:

Payment History: 35% impact. This seems obvious, but if you pay your bills on time it helps your score. Late payments, judgments and charge-offs can kill your score. If you miss a large payment it will hurt your score more than if you miss a low payment. Late payments from the last 2 years are more of a problem than older delinquencies.

Outstanding Credit Balances: 30% impact. This is a surprise for many people. You can have a perfect credit history and still have a poor score if your balances are too high. What they’re looking for here is how many accounts do you have open, and how high the balances are on the accounts. If you owe a lot of money on a lot of accounts, this is a risk that, in the future, you’re more likely to make your payments late, or not at all.

Your outstanding balance compared to your available credit limit is the issue here. If you are near your max credit limit it hurts your score. If you go over the max limit your score will take a big dive, because now not only is your balance too high, but you are now considered in default of the loan.

The less available credit you use the better. It helps your score if you spread your debt around several cards. Your score improves if you drop your balance below 50% of your limit, and it is best if you use no more than 30% of your available credit limit.

Credit History: 15% impact. How long have you had credit established? How long has it each account been established? And how long has it been since you’ve used the credit line? If you have a long history this will help your score.

Type of Credit: 10% impact. You lose points if you have nothing but credit cards. A mix of auto loans, credit cards, and a mortgage is ideal.

Inquiries: 10% impact. Every time you apply for credit it shows as an inquiry in the credit repository. Inquiries can lower your score because applying for more credit means you may be taking on new debt.

The credit report shows the number of inquiries that have been made on your credit history within the last twelve months. Each inquiry can cost as little as 2 points, and as many as 50 points against your score. If your credit score is high, the inquiry won’t affect you much at all. But if your credit score is lower, new credit is looked at as a big problem, and can bring your score down by as much as 50 points.

Also, if you’re about to buy a car or apply for a mortgage and have your credit run several times, make sure you do it all at once. It only counts as one inquiry if they’re all done in a 14 day period.

These scores are calculated by a computer that’s not taking any personal factors into consideration. When a credit report is generated, it’s simply a snapshot of your credit profile for that particular moment in time. Scores change, sometimes by large amounts in a short period of time. To make sure you don’t have a problem when you’re ready to buy, it’s important to have a loan officer review your credit and make sure you are on the right track.

I’ll have more tips on how to best use your credit in the next installment here at Illinois mortgage rates and news.

Here are the other installments in this series:

Part 1 – How our Credit System Works

Part 3 – 10 Ways to Raise Your Fico Scores and Improve Your Credit

Part 4 – Fixing Mistakes and Cleaning Your Credit Report

Illinois Mortgage Rates and News

Technorati Tags: credit reports,credit scoring,how to improve your credit,Illinois mortgage rates ]]> http://www.ptmortgage.com/blog/2007/12/10/how-to-understand-and-make-the-most-of-your-credit-score-2/feed/ 7 http://www.ptmortgage.com/blog/2007/12/09/how-to-understand-and-make-the-most-of-your-credit-score-part1/ http://www.ptmortgage.com/blog/2007/12/09/how-to-understand-and-make-the-most-of-your-credit-score-part1/#comments Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:15:30 +0000 Peter Thompson http://www.ptmortgage.com/blog/2007/12/09/how-to-understand-and-make-the-most-of-your-credit-score-part1/

Chicago, IL – Your credit profile has always been a big factor in qualifying for a loan, but with loan quality problems in the mortgage industry the underwriting is becoming increasingly tight. One recent change is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s move to risk based pricing. This means those with credit scores that used to be considered good but not outstanding will need to pay more for their mortgage. The private mortgage insurance companies have taken on similar policies. These changes mean that good credit is more important than ever before for both qualifying for a mortgage, and getting a mortgage for the lowest rate and cost.

Part of my mission here at Illinois Mortgage Rates and News is consumer education. Credit can be a confusing topic. Most people think that all they need to do is pay their bills on time. But good credit is much more than that. In order to understand and improve your credit profile you need to know how the credit system works and how to use it to your advantage. This is a big topic, so I’m going to break this topic up into several posts. I will cover how the credit system works, how banks and mortgage companies look at your credit, what goes into your FICO scores and how to fix mistakes and problems in your credit rating.

It’s hard to function in America without good credit. Good credit is not just about buying things, either. Have you applied for a new job lately? Many employers are now running applicant’s credit before hiring. Auto and home insurance rates are tied to credit scores, too. But if you want to get a mortgage at the best terms, good credit is crucial.

That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck if you have a few late payments on your record. Your overall credit pattern is the key, not just isolated incidents. And even if you have had serious problems in the past, there are still ways you can buy.

Your credit record is compiled by 3 companies, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. These companies are called credit repositories. Their business is to gather information from financial institutions and businesses throughout the country and then sell this compiled information back to the retailers and banks so they can use it as a basis for their credit decisions. Each repository does this independently of the others, so your credit profile and scores will be slightly different with each. If you are applying for credit at Home Depot or Best Buy, they will usually only pull from one repository. When we run a mortgage credit report we pull a tri-merged report which draws from all 3 credit repositories.

Your credit report is a record of all the credit you’ve built up over your lifetime. (Is this the real permanent record your teachers warned you about back in school?) Your credit report gives a list of all the accounts you have now, as well as all the accounts you have closed. It shows the balance of each account, the credit limit, your payment history showing late payments as 30, 60, 90 or over 90 days late, and any past due balance you still owe, when the account was opened and when it last showed activity. It also shows a record of bankruptcies, judgments, and foreclosures you may have had.

Back in 1992 when I first got into the mortgage business, all this credit information was underwritten manually by a mortgage underwriter. The underwriter would base their loan decision on how well the borrower conformed to established credit guidelines. There were guidelines, but it came down to a judgment call on the level of risk the loan carried, and some underwriter’s would accept more risk than others.

The underwriter still reviews the credit, but much of the decision is now based more on credit scores and automated underwriting decisions. Still, it is all about risk. In the next installment I will talk about credit scoring and FICO scores, how they measure risk and what you can do to show yourself in the best light.

If you are even thinking about getting a loan, the first thing you need do is get a copy of your credit report and see what it has to say. I will go over this in depth later, but if you want to see your credit on your own, there are a couple of ways to get a copy of your report. By law, each repository has to give you a free copy of your credit report once each year. You can get the reports at annualcreditreport.com. These reports will give you all the data of the report, but they won’t give you the credit score. To get the scores you will need to pay. You can also order a copy of each from the repository websites, or you can get them all for a fee at Myfico.com.

In the next post here at Illinois Mortgage Rates and News, I will cover more on credit scoring and what goes into the FICO score.

Here are the other installments in this series:

Part 2 – Fico Scores and How They Work

Part 3 – 10 Ways to Raise Your Fico Scores and Improve Your Credit

Part 4 – Fixing Mistakes and Cleaning Your Credit Report

Illinois Mortgage Rates and News

Technorati Tags: credit reports,credit scoring,how to improve your credit,Illinois mortgage rates ]]> http://www.ptmortgage.com/blog/2007/12/09/how-to-understand-and-make-the-most-of-your-credit-score-part1/feed/ 0