Posts Tagged ‘Payment History’

Home Mortgage Refinance Loan: Your FICO Score & Mortgage Refinancing

March 4th, 2010



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

Tips on Refinancing Your School Loan

February 3rd, 2010



If you’re one of the millions of students who have taken out loans to finance their college education and find upon graduation that you can’t pay them back, you are not alone. Many people, just like you, are having a difficult time repaying their student loans. Instead of defaulting, you may find that you can refinance those loans instead. Well, in this article, I will provide you with specific tips on refinancing your school loan. Let’s begin.

Know the benefits of consolidating. Many students have more than one loan and many of these have different interest rates. Therefore, by consolidating, you can transfer the higher interest loans to smaller ones. This lower interest rate will make your monthly payments lower and lower the total amount you will pay in the end. In fact, refinancing multiple school loans has saved students thousands of dollars.

Be smart about refinancing your school loans. There are several things to consider before refinancing student loans:

- Take a look at your credit report. In order to get a good student loan refinancing rate, you need good credit. Take care of any issues that would improve your credit score.

- Check your payment history on your existing school loans. It will be difficult to refinance your student loans if you have a poor payment record.

Apply baby, apply. You will then need to apply for student loan refinancing. There are several ways to do this. Many students choose to refinance through there bank or credit union, but an online lender has recently become a more popular option. Many online lenders offer very competitive refinancing rates.

No matter where you decide to go to refinance your student loans, make sure you take time to research all your options. Compare lenders, rates and the terms of the loan so you ensure you are getting a good deal. If you do not scrutinize all your options, you may end up getting a bad deal and it could make paying off those students loans even more difficult and costly.

In conclusion, refinancing your school loans is a very smart decision. To do so, simply follow the above mentioned tips and you’ll be well on your way to making one of the best financial decisions you’ve ever made! Good luck!

By: Mishaun Taylor