It’s always a good idea to obtain a copy of your
credit report before applying for a home loan. By doing
this, you can correct any errors on your credit profile
in advance and establish credit if necessary to start
repairing your credit if you’ve had problems in
the past. Lenders look very carefully at your credit
as an indicator of your “character” or your
willingness to repay your loan. Having poor credit,
little or no established credit or unresolved disputes
with creditors can affect your purchasing power and
your ability to get a loan. To avoid unpleasant surprises
down the road, you can request a copy of your credit
report for a small fee by calling any one of the following
credit bureaus:
1) TRW/Experian, (888) 397-3742 or visit www.experian.com
2) Trans Union, (800) 916-8800 or visit www.transunion.com
3) Equifax, (800) 685-1111 or visit www.equifax.com
As a part of our standard pre-qualifying procedure,
we can order a credit report for you. All we need is
your full name, current address, your previous addresses
for the last 5 years, your phone number, date of birth,
Social Security number and your spouse’s name.
We’ll run the report and review it with you, saving
you time and money.
When you receive your credit report, check for the following
items:
INCORRECT ENTRIES
If there are mistakes on your credit report (i.e. accounts
that aren’t yours or on-time payments that are
showing as late), you can have them corrected by writing
to each credit bureau and requesting that the information
be deleted. They will contact the creditor who must
respond within 30 days. If the creditor does not respond,
the item will be removed and a new credit report will
be issued to you. If there is still a dispute, you can
add a 100-word statement to your file explaining your
side of the story.
OUTDATED NEGATIVE CREDIT
If there are unfavorable credit items older than 7 years
showing on your report, follow the procedure outlined
above. Bankruptcies can be removed after 10 years.
CURRENT NEGATIVE CREDIT
If you have a current credit problems, the time to resolve
them is before you buy.
Re-establishing good credit after a bankruptcy or other
credit problems is very important.
Having an established credit history is also important
as lenders want to see a track record of debts owed
that have been repaid. If you haven’t already
done so, apply for credit cards and use them or establish
a credit history by documenting your monthly rent payments
and your monthly payments to utility companies...
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