If your dream is to own your own home, but you unfortunately have bad credit, there's still hope out there for you. Although you'll have more trouble securing a loan than someone with good credit, with a little education on credit scores and how they affect mortgage rates, you'll be better armed to point your research in the right direction.
You'll find that having bad credit does not mean you won't find lenders willing to give you a loan. Instead it means that the loans you'll find will be at interest rates you probably don't want to have to pay. You'll also be asked for much more documentation to support your application.
Because the FICO score (developed by Fair Isaac & Company) is the one that pretty much all lenders use, before you go out there and try getting your home loan, it's good to know what yours is. Once you do, you'll have a good feel for what to expect from the people you'll be submitting your loan application to and what your chances of approval are.
There are a variety of scores used by different financial institutions. Credit card companies have their variants, and so do insurance companies and car loan lenders, just to name a few examples. What doesn't change, though is this: the higher your score, the better you look. In all cases, the higher your score, the more likely your application will be approved and the better terms you will get.
You might be surprised to learn that you have more than one credit score. That's right! You have three of them, as each credit bureau has their own. While common sense might dictate that they'd all be identical, it's absolutely not the case, because the companies that report our credit activity aren't required to do so to all the bureaus. In order to get your complete credit profile (and not 1/3 of it), you should get your score from all three bureaus.
Another thing to look out for is errors on your credit report. The figures vary by a wide margin, but the consensus is that a large proportion of credit reports carry errors. When you get your credit report, go over it line by line to spot any errors and/or omissions. Highlight anything you spot and make sure you contact the credit bureau to have it corrected. Followup one month later to check if your report has been updated.
When people have bad credit, they often don't bother knowing how the credit system works, because they think that they're not going to need that information. As it turns out, getting to know the basics of the credit scoring system can prove beneficial. You'll either know what to expect from bad credit finance companies, or you'll decide to take the time to clean up your credit and apply for a loan when your credit profile looks better. In both cases, you come out ahead because an informed customer is always better off than an uninformed one.
You'll find that having bad credit does not mean you won't find lenders willing to give you a loan. Instead it means that the loans you'll find will be at interest rates you probably don't want to have to pay. You'll also be asked for much more documentation to support your application.
Because the FICO score (developed by Fair Isaac & Company) is the one that pretty much all lenders use, before you go out there and try getting your home loan, it's good to know what yours is. Once you do, you'll have a good feel for what to expect from the people you'll be submitting your loan application to and what your chances of approval are.
There are a variety of scores used by different financial institutions. Credit card companies have their variants, and so do insurance companies and car loan lenders, just to name a few examples. What doesn't change, though is this: the higher your score, the better you look. In all cases, the higher your score, the more likely your application will be approved and the better terms you will get.
You might be surprised to learn that you have more than one credit score. That's right! You have three of them, as each credit bureau has their own. While common sense might dictate that they'd all be identical, it's absolutely not the case, because the companies that report our credit activity aren't required to do so to all the bureaus. In order to get your complete credit profile (and not 1/3 of it), you should get your score from all three bureaus.
Another thing to look out for is errors on your credit report. The figures vary by a wide margin, but the consensus is that a large proportion of credit reports carry errors. When you get your credit report, go over it line by line to spot any errors and/or omissions. Highlight anything you spot and make sure you contact the credit bureau to have it corrected. Followup one month later to check if your report has been updated.
When people have bad credit, they often don't bother knowing how the credit system works, because they think that they're not going to need that information. As it turns out, getting to know the basics of the credit scoring system can prove beneficial. You'll either know what to expect from bad credit finance companies, or you'll decide to take the time to clean up your credit and apply for a loan when your credit profile looks better. In both cases, you come out ahead because an informed customer is always better off than an uninformed one.
About the Author:
If what you need is a specific type of bad credit loan, such as for example to buy a house with bad credit in ATL, make sure you visit my personal finance blog where you'll find plenty of money-saving tips.
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