Real Estate, Finance and Home Articles of Interest

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 Broker, 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 cars and unsecured credit, not mortgage loans.

Unfortunately most would be home mortgage borrowers 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 Government 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 fundamentals of credit repair contain three distinct steps. Those steps include getting access to all three credit bureau reports, monitoring changes on your credit reports, and working with an online credit repair service. The speed at which negative items are removed from your credit profile is directly related to your ability to notify the credit repair agency of changes on your credit report. A smart homeowner should continually monitor their credit report profile for changes and avoid the last minute rush to dispute negative items which could take 30, 60 or even 90 days to complete. Several online credit report monitoring services are available for a small monthly fee and a potentially save thousands in higher fees and low credit scores.

The Stupid Home Owner Blog covers credit repair in detail and provides a step by step process for gaining control of your mortgage credit score