Important Credit Information

Most mortgage products are "credit driven" which basically means that certain minimum credit scores are required to participate in certain mortgage products for financing of your home purchase. While your loan is in process it is important that you maintain the highest credit score possible. For most any load to be approved you must maintain above a minimum credit score throughout the entire application process. A lender will initially run your credit report for mortgage qualification purposes. When I run a credit report I then immediately follow up with the applicant to review what comprises their credit report and if it meets or exceeds minimum requirements for loan approval. All lenders, just prior to closing, will rerun your credit to confirm that necessary minimum credit scores have been maintained. Also, many mortgage products that are credit driven represent lower interest rates as credit scores are higher.

To maintain or exceed your minimum credit score it is imperative that your continue paying your bills on time.

Due to recent changes in the national credit laws, you can be penalized by up to 25 points for EACH account that falls delinquent for EACH 30 day period you are late. The bill paid 60 days late can cause your credit score to drop 60 points. This is what is known as the "90 day circle". This simply means that any account you have that goes past due within the last 90 days is penalized much higher than a bill your were 30 days late on three years ago.

For those borrowers with a low to moderate credit score that barely meets minimum credit score requirements, this 25 point or any drop for that matter, in your score, can cost you your loan. I cannot stress strongly enough that one must keep their bills current because, again, even if you meet minimum requirements today, a final credit report will be run just prior to the closing of your loan. As an aside, many people operate under the assumption that the more times their credit report is pulled that it results in a decreased credit score. There is some truth to this but there are exceptions to this, and one of these exception is when a lender re-pulls your credit prior to closing. Otherwise, the re-pull of your credit will not affect your credit scores.

When I am first contacted regarding the Nehemiah Program, or possibly other mortgage products, and I am provided authorization to run your credit, I will typically have that credit report back within the hour. I first review the credit report for general accuracy. I would then contact you to review the credit report and many times, by request, will provide the credit report to a potential customer by fax or by mailing. The advantage here is that we now both have your credit report in front of us and can review it together. There are a number of reasons that your credit score may be lower than you expected. You may have items on it that were paid on time but are showing as late payments. Quite commonly, we see on credit reports loans that are showing active but that were paid off years ago. Similarly, you could have old judgments still showing as unpaid but that were paid. It is not uncommon to even see the existence of credit cards on someone's credit report that never belonged to them, but rather belong to someone else or someone else with the same or similar name.

These are just some examples that can negatively affect your credit score. Simply telling me or any loan officer "Oh, that was paid 3 months ago" will not improve your score.

It must be correct on the credit report!

If, like most people, you have heard about the nightmares and hassles that can exist when you engage the effort to get your credit report corrected, or the difficulty in simply reaching a live person at a bank or credit card company between 9 to 5 to assist you. Bank mergers and the like make it all the more difficult to initiate corrective measures.

Most loan officers, frankly, take a look at credit scores and if the scores are inadequate for mortgage purposes will simply move on to the next customer. Working quite exclusively with first time home buyers, I realize that these individuals are typically the least knowledgeable and the people who need the greatest assistance. I provide credit counseling up to a point. I have had many instances when I have met with people, have reviewed their credit reports and have suggested that they take certain corrective measures to raise their credit scores. For those individuals who have heeded my advise, I haven then, for example, met with them again 6 months later and today they are homeowners. I am very vested in assisting people to the best degree possible and do not simply discard them as potential homeowners because of their credit scores. I believe every loan officer should take the approach of having a responsibility to assit individuals with credit report challenges but who may lack the knowledge of how to best proceed.

Credit Counseling

As much as I attempt to provide credit counseling directly, it is very important for me to recognize my limitations as well as the lack of contracts that may be necessary to assist in improving one's credit report. That is exactly why I established a relationship with a professional credit counselor five years ago. This individual is more than capable of working with my customers in resolving the more difficult credit report challenges or issues. He has had direct experience working within the credit bureaus, and has an address book of over 500 contact to major banks and lending institutions. This allows him to get your problem in front of the people that can actually fix the error rather than interacting with people who tell you they will correct the matter and 3 months later the error is still on your credit report. And, then try to reach the same persona again!

As a general rule, the longer you wait the harder it is to fix. The general advise is that even if you do not need a loan today, fix the error so that when the time comes to pursue home financing, or whatever, you are not confronted with rushing and time constraints. I have witnessed my credit counselor individual accomplish corrective measures in 2 to 3 weeks, which may otherwise have taken you or me 6 months to accomplish the same end result.

Concluding, as regards this are of credit report assistance needs, I believe I and Union Capital, have distinguished ourselves from the rest of the crowd by first not simply discarding those individuals who may have "weak" credit scores at the initial time of contact. Also, and more importantly, we have established a very successful and results oriented credit counseling program. This provision of credit report assistance/credit counseling is simply one aspect in our efforts towards creating a "one stop approach" to the goal of you becoming a homeowner.

Call Dan Ryan at 978-884-9222 today to learn more about this opportunity.

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