Saturday 25 April 2009

Successfully Building A Lender - Friendly Credit Report.

Perhaps you are looking to or need to loan some money, maybe from a large, well-known bank, or some smaller financial institution. However, loaning money is not as easy as coming to the lender and asking for a loan – chances are, it will not come quickly, if ever the loan is approved (there is a chance that it may not). Lending institutions, just as a normal stranger, would hesitate to lend some money to somebody they don’t exactly know.

Logically, lending institutions would first want to know the person they are lending money to, because there is always the risk that they will not be paid back, or will receive incomplete payments. This is the reason why there are credit reports. These credit reports are simply records and listings of credit activities, including credit card accounts, past and present loans, unpaid balances, and even how quickly you pay your bills and debts.

Credit reports ultimately affect your credit rating, which the lenders look at when deciding whether or not to loan you money, including how much. These credit reports come from consumer reporting agencies, which are bodies tasked to collect and properly distribute to the proper recipients these reports regarding the consumer. Don’t worry, these credit reports cannot be distributed to just anyone, or else they would be in violation of federal law.

In order to have a greater chance at securing a loan, your credit report and rating must be in good standing. Take note, it is not the consumer reporting agency that declares whether you can get a loan or not – it is the lenders themselves. The consumer reporting agency merely provides the necessary information to give the lenders some background about the person asking for a loan.

A credit report usually contains identification, credit information, public records, and recent inquiries. Identification contains any relevant information including name, address, work history, etc. Credit information contains any credit card accounts, credit limit, bills paid and unpaid (if any), and the like. Public records are simply any state or county records while recent inquiries are those who have acquired your credit report within the past year.

In order to build a lender-friendly credit report, these factors must be addressed and should reflect your good standing. These parts of a credit report should complement each other and show that you are basically a person to be trusted with the money that they lend. Any suspicious data that they find could potentially be the key to the lenders not approving the loan.

For the identification part of a credit report, they will take a look at your work history, so if you have job instability, it will reflect on your credit report and would likely discourage them from loaning you money. It would be better if you stick to a job for quite some time before changing work. They will also take a look at the companies you’ve worked for, if these are in good standing as well.

With regard to credit information (which is perhaps the most important part of the report), you should make sure to pay any bills on time – electricity, water, telephone, cable, etc. Unpaid bills are a big discouragement to lenders, including any previous loans that you may have paid in full, but after the agreed-upon time. If they see that you are a responsible person when it comes to finances, you have a better chance of securing a loan, also with a higher amount.

Public records are usually used to see if you’ve been paying your taxes properly. This, like credit information, shows them your responsibility in financial dealings. They will also state if you have filed for bankruptcy and the like.

The deed of your home (to be used in home mortgages) is sometimes not enough for the lenders – they actually want to look at your credit report and deduce if you are able to pay the loan, and if you’re good in handling finances. If you have a good credit report and subsequently a good credit rating, a loan or home mortgage is not as difficult to obtain. It is important to keep in good standing financially, since consumer reporting agencies are observing you carefully.

Monday 6 April 2009

The Secret Of Home Mortgage Refinancing

The Secret Of Home Mortgage Refinancing

Refinancing your home mortgage comes with numerous advantages. Primarily, home mortgage refinancing could save you a lot of home on your payment. It can also allow you to pay off the full home mortgage faster, especially when you have feasible terms.

When you’re planning to refinance your home mortgage loan, make sure to consider these four important things to ensure it will not cause any problems afterwards:

* Learn the terms of your original mortgage

Before shopping around for the appropriate home mortgage lender, ensure that your original mortgage does not have pre-payment penalties or any kind of early payoff penalty.

Many people refinance their home mortgage not knowing that they will be charged for a pre-payment penalty. These penalties usually range from six months up to three years, plus another penalty for early payoff.

Although penalty amount varies, the average pre-payment penalty amounts to a six-month worth of mortgage interest. In order to justify refinancing mortgage loans with pre-payment penalties, you need to have significant payment and interest savings.

* Maximize your options

In order to ensure you’re getting the lowest rate in the market, apply for pre-approvals to several different lenders. However, make sure that the lender is not pulling out your credit history during an initial pre-approval application.

Be aware that every time your credit history is pulled, it slightly reduces your credit score. When your credit history has too many inquiries, this may prevent you from refinancing your mortgage loan with a low rate.

In addition, assess different lender offers concerning interest rate offerings and closing costs. Remember that these two factors will largely affect your lender choice. Choose a lender with feasible rates to maximize your mortgage refinancing benefits.

* Choose your lender

Once you have compared different lenders, you can now allow your choice of lender to pull your credit history. Then, make sure to get the interest rates and closing costs into writing. Ask your lender to provide you with a quotation in advance of all possible costs involved with your loan.

Ask for information about whether the refinancing loan, which you will be getting, has pre-payment penalties. Most lenders leave this important information out, knowing they might scare consumers away.

In refinancing home mortgage, make sure you shop around and assess different lending options. Do not grab the first opportunity that comes before you. Be a smart consumer and refinance your home mortgage with the lowest rate possible.