Whether you are a first time buyer, a move-up buyer, or if you are considering re-financing your current home, your creditworthiness is the absolute most important factor in the process. I am amazed at the number of eager potential home buyers who are delayed in their enthusiasm by credit issues.
I am not a credit adviser or counselor, and I don’t put buyers in my car to look at properties until they have been pre-qualified by a local loan officer. With the high importance credit and credit scores, especially in this post-bubble real estate market, it seems that everyone should have a handle on their credit record and at least know their approximate credit score. This is not intended to be a post on credit or its impact on so many factors in your life, all forms of financing, insurance, and even employment. I just want to give you some easy tips on checking and monitoring your credit. When you get the reports, look for the deficiencies: late payments, judgements, anything negative, and do whatever you can to fix them. Pulling your report is also great way to check for identity theft and fraud too.
Contact the Credit Agencies – you can contact any of the 3 credit reporting companies, Experian, Transunion or Equifax, directly to order either one or a set of all 3 reports from the different companies. You may find a few differences between the reports. You may also have to pay extra to get your credit score (which is the basic measure of your creditworthiness). There is a charge for this service, and be expected to be pitched for monthly services and updates, identity protection and other offers.
The FREE Option – Contrary to all the hype in advertising, there is really only one source of free, no-strings-attached, credit reporting is AnnualCreditReport.com. Federally mandated, this service lets you pull a free credit report from each of the 3 reporting companies once a year. You can request them all at once or string them out over the year. This is totally free.
To Keep up with your Credit Score – I like Credit Karma, another free service that updates you on your score, credit inquiries, and deficiencies on a regular basis.
Whether you are financing a home or not, you can easily check and monitor your credit. You never know when knowing your score might come in handy.
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