Your FICO Credit score is used by mortgage companies to determine how much of a risk you are for a home mortgage refinance loan. The lower your score, the more you will pay when mortgage refinancing. There are ways to improve your credit before applying and save money on your home mortgage refinance loan. Here are tips to help you polish your FICO score and qualify for a better mortgage refinancing interest rate.
FICO stands for “Fair Isaac Corporation,” named for the company that calculates your score. Fair Isaac evaluates the contents of your credit reports and assigns a numerical value to your credit worthiness. Because there are three companies that maintain records, you will have three FICO scores, one for each credit agency. Before you consider mortgage refinancing it is important to request credit reports from each credit reporting agency and carefully review your records for errors.
Any adverse information found in your credit reports will damage your FICO scores. Other factors that affect your FICO score include the length of time you have been using credit, the amount of available credit vs. your debts, negative credit information in your file, collections, any write-offs or bad debt. If you find mistakes in your credit history it is important to dispute the error and allow enough time for the correction to raise your FICO score before applying for a home mortgage refinance loan.
How to Improve Your FICO Score before Mortgage Refinancing
Improving your credit score takes time, there is no quick fix; however, there are steps you can take to raise your score. First, make sure you are paying all of your bills on time as 35% of your FICO score is based on your payment history. Fair Isaac also bases 30% of your FICO score on the amount of your debts and your available credit limit. The remaining factors include 15% based on the length of your credit history, 10% on the amount of recent inquires, and 10% on the type of credit accounts you use.
The items you can control prior to mortgage refinancing include paying your bills on time, maintaining low balances on your credit cards, and paying off negative information found in your credit reports. The more time you have to devote to improving your credit score, the more you can boost your FICO Score. If you are a homeowner with poor credit you want to devote at least six months to improving your FICO score before applying for a home mortgage refinance loan. You can learn more about your credit and how it affects mortgage refinancing by registering for a free mortgage tutorial.
By: Louie Latour
Posts Tagged ‘Fair Isaac Corporation’
Home Mortgage Refinance Loan: Your FICO Score & Mortgage Refinancing
March 4th, 2010Georgia Refinance Loans With Bad Credit in Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Athens, Columbus, Macon, etc
December 23rd, 2009
Homes in Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and surrounding areas have appreciated to allow homeowners to take cash out of their homes, via home equity loans or home equity line of credit loans, to finance home improvement projects, credit card debt consolidation, education, etc.
If you live in Georgia and you need a mortgage refinance loan but you are worried about bad credit – know that it is possible to get a HELOC or Home Equity Loan, even with a low credit score be it 450, 500 or 550.
What is your FICO credit score?
Your FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score is number between 300 and 850, that indicates your financial health. A good FICO score is a score above 670, while a poor FICO score is a score below 620. Different lenders vary of what they consider a “fair” credit score versus a “poor credit score” – this
can be a gray line.
Having a good credit score allows you to get credit on competitive terms – good interest rates, exciting new loan products, credit cards, etc.
If you have a low credit score below 600, you will need to find a subprime refinance lender, who works with people with bad credit, whether it is due to poor debt management or a history of Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Not all subprime lenders are created equal. The best lender is a lender, who is willing to look at your specific situation and find you the best loan product. Even though, you may have a low credit score, you may also have good equity in your home. Some lenders even offer up to 125% LTV (Loan-to-value) loans, if you qualify.
By: Alexandra French
Your FICO Score And Your Refinance Loans
November 8th, 2009
You may have heard of a FICO score, but if it didn’t relate to any of your favorite sports, forgotten all about it. But if you have ever taken out a formal loan, you have your very own FICO credit score, which will let future lenders know how much of a risk they will be taking by lending money to you. A low score will label you as a high-risk borrower, and if you have one and want to refinance your home, you can expect to be hit with a high interest rate.
But you can take matters into your own hands when it comes to raising your credit score. If you wait to apply for refinance loans until it is improved, you will save a considerable amount of money over the life of your refinance loan. How can you begin the process of lifting your FICO credit score and lowering your refinance loan rates?
The Fair Isaac Corporation is the mysterious entity behind the FICO anagram, and the company actually responsible for assigning your score. They base your score on all the details of your credit history, and then assign a numerical score representing your creditworthiness.
How Your FICO Score Is Assigned
Fair Isaac gets your credit information form the three major credit reporting bureaus, Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. They will assign you three different scores because the information form each of the credit bureaus will be slightly different. The first thing you should do before applying for a refinance loan is get copies of three of your credit reports and scores. An error in any one of your reports could lead to an unjustified lowering of your score, and you should take the steps to repair the damage.
Your credit scores will also reflect the amount of time you have been a debtor, how much of your existing credit lines you have used, and whether any of your accounts have been turned over to collection agencies or written off.
If you uncover any errors in any of your credit reports, you should immediately send a separate letter for each of the mistakes to the credit bureau/s involved, and include documentation to support your complaint. The credit agencies will review your information, and if they agree that there are mistakes, will correct your reports and adjust your scores. Cleaning up your credit reports is essential before applying for your refinancing.
Other FICO Score Raising Options
There are other things you can do to raise your Fair Isaac and Co(FICO) scores, but they will take some time. You can begin immediately to make your bill payments on time; you can cut back on your credit card use; and you can pay off and close as many accounts as possible. The most important of these suggestions is to begin paying your bills on time, because 35% of your FICO score is calculated from your payment history.
You should try to pay down as much as you on any credit cards which are approaching their limits, because that will also make a significant improvement in your FICO score. It may take six months or longer for all the changes in your bill handling to be reflected with a better score, so don’t start until you are ready to see the effort through.
By: Jonathan Andrew