Are you considering applying for a mortgage loan to purchase your first home? If so, you should read the following tips below that will make the process easier!
If You Have a Good Credit History It Is Easier To Qualify For a Mortgage
By far the easiest way to qualify for a home mortgage loan is by establishing a good credit history. To establish a good credit history you need to be able to demonstrate responsible repayment of smaller loans, such as credit cards and car loans. The building of your credit history begins the day that you put the very first debt into your own name. For many Americans, this is at the age of eighteen.
Have a good solid credit history, shows the home mortgage lender that you take financial responsibility seriously. This makes you, what the lender terms, a low risk borrower. That is to say that you as a borrowers are a relatively low risk in comparison to other borrowers.
In return for your good credit history, the lender will approve your home mortgage loan application. In addition, he will offer you a lower interest rate on the loan than would be offered to other borrowers who are classified as high risk.
However, if your credit history is not as strong as you would like, that doesn’t mean that you will have to give up on getting a home mortgage loan. There are other things that you can do to increase your chances for mortgage approval.
Save a Sizeable Down Payment
Having a substantial down payment on the home that you wish to purchase and applying for a smaller home mortgage loan is another way to increase your chances of getting mortgage approval. Again, this goes back to the risk involved to the lender for financing your loan.
Many mortgage lenders will require that you have a 20% down payment on the home, and then they will grant mortgage loan approval for the remaining 80% of the purchase cost. This helps to offset the lender risk. In the event that you are unable to keep up with monthly mortgage payments and you default on the loan, the lender will have a better chance of recovering his money through foreclosing on and selling the home if the loan is a smaller percentage of the market value of the home.
Therefore, if you can save 30% or more towards a down payment on your home, you will be lowering the risk to the lender and increasing your chances of getting mortgage approval.
You May Have To Accept a Higher Interest Rate on Your Mortgage Loan
If you wish to secure a mortgage despite your bad credit history, and you do not have a sizeable down payment saved up, you may have to agree to a mortgage at a higher interest rate than that which is being offered to low risk borrowers. This is because the lender will want to be compensated for his increased risk level.
This should not necessarily prevent you from taking the loan, though. If you secure the mortgage and are diligent about making timely payments, after paying on it for awhile you will improve your credit history. Then you can refinance the mortgage at a later date with a better rate offer.
About The Author
Jeff Slokum
This article provided courtesy of http://www.2nd-mortgage-guide.com
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Bad Credit Mortgage Loan - Get Approved by: Carrie Reeder
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A few years ago, if you had a bankruptcy or a foreclosure on your credit report, you could forget about trying to get a mortgage loan. If you were lucky enough to find someone who would finance you, your interest rate would be through the roof and plan on putting 10-20% down.
But today, this is not the case. There are many programs available today to help people who have recently suffered a bankruptcy or foreclosure to get a mortgage loan or mortgage refinance loan.
There are two things to do if you are in this situation:
About The Author
Carrie Reeder is the owner of www.abcloanguide.com. Her website offers free information about mortgage loans and provides lists of recommended bad credit mortgage lenders.
carrie@abcloanguide.com
But today, this is not the case. There are many programs available today to help people who have recently suffered a bankruptcy or foreclosure to get a mortgage loan or mortgage refinance loan.
There are two things to do if you are in this situation:
- Get yourself a free copy of your credit report from all 3 major credit bureaus, look over everything, do you see any mistakes? Make sure everything included in your bankruptcy or foreclosure reports accurately on your credit report. Make sure those accounts involved in a bankruptcy or foreclosure are not showing something else like collection or charge-off.. That could make your score much lower than it needs to be. If you have a bankruptcy or foreclosure, you want everything involved to say so, so it is all under 1 circumstance, instead of many. You can dispute all errors on your credit report online nowadays. It takes about 15 minutes. You can do it right on the website of Equifax, TransUnion or Experian.
- Once you have checked your credit reports, apply only to places that submit your application to many lenders. Every time your credit report is pulled, it will knock your credit score down a little. If you apply to a mortgage service that will submit your application to many lenders, then you only have one credit inquiry and can receive offers from up to 4 lenders per application.
- Will I have to make a large down payment? Not necessarily. If you can get your credit score above a 600, you should easily be able to get 100% financing, even if it has been less than two years since your bankruptcy or foreclosure. If your score is above a 580, you might still be able to qualify for 100% financing.
- What kind of interest rate can I expect? Depending on your credit score and whether you have any down payment or not, I have heard of situations with a credit score as low as 585 with no down payment and an interest rate as low as 7.25%. That was quoted in March of 2005.
- Can I get cash out? On a purchase, not likely. On a refinance, depending on your amount of equity, that is very possible.
About The Author
Carrie Reeder is the owner of www.abcloanguide.com. Her website offers free information about mortgage loans and provides lists of recommended bad credit mortgage lenders.
carrie@abcloanguide.com
Mortgage Basics by: Brad Stroh
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Purchasing a home involves getting a mortgage. A mortgage is a written pledge of property used as security for the repayment of a loan. The property you purchase is the collateral for the mortgage. If you fail to make payments on the loan, the lender can repossess your home. As a result, the lender has some legal rights on your property as you pay off your mortgage. Unlike a standard loan, the mortgage is used to enforce the lenders rights to the property if the borrower does not repay the home loan. If the borrower does not keep up with his/her monthly mortgage payments, the borrower can obtain the home through what is called foreclosure. Foreclosure is the forced sale of a home or property that is pledged as security against a mortgage. The property is sold so the lender can recoup its losses on the loan.
Home mortgage loans are offered commonly in 15 or 30-year fix rate periods. The term refers to the amount of time the lender allows for the mortgage loan to be repaid. Therefore, a 30 year loan spreads loan payments across a 30 year time span. The fixed-rate refers to the interest rate. The interest rate is a percentage of the loan the borrower must pay to the lender, in addition to the monthly payment, for lending them the money. In a fixed-rate mortgage, the interest rate does not change. It remains constant throughout the term of the loan.
The actual amount of the mortgage is called the principal. When the borrower first starts paying off the loan, interest is paid off first, then the principal. For example, if the interest rate on your mortgage is 6%, and the loan amount is $100,000, you will pay in addition to the principal, $6,000 to the lender. The lender includes interest into the monthly payments, however, the principal and interest isn’t split 50/50 for each monthly payment. Interest is paid first; anything remaining goes toward paying off the principal. To figure out the percentage of your monthly that will go to interest payments, the lender takes your mortgage interest rate (6%) and breaks it down into a decimal (.06). Then the lender divides that decimal by 12 (.06/12 = .005). Then the lender takes the new number and multiplies it by the principal of the mortgage (.005 x 100,000 = 500). The end result is the monthly interest rate payment. If your overall mortgage payment is $700, $500 goes towards paying off the interest, and $200 goes toward paying off the principal.
However, as you pay down the principal, the actual dollar amount paid to interest vs. what is paid to principal changes each month. Your overall monthly payment doesn’t change, but the ratio between interest-to-principal pay off does. For example, after you pay your first month’s mortgage payment, the next month’s payment is based on the principal being $99,800 ($200 less than the first month). So, when the formula is applied to the next month’s payment, the interest and principal payments are adjusted based on what is still owed ($99,800), the interest rate, and the established monthly mortgage payments.
Fixed-rate mortgages aren’t the only home loans offered. Some loans have fluctuating interest rates while others have shorter terms. Most new home buyers stick with a fixed rate 15 or 30-year mortgage because there are no surprises; the interest rate and monthly payments remain the same.
If you’re about to buy a home, be aware of how your standard mortgage operates, and establish early on if you have the finances to afford a mortgage. If you get involved in a mortgage and later discover you can’t afford it, it could cost you your new home.
About The Author
Brad Stroh is currently co-CEO of Freedom Financial Network and http://www.Bills.com. If you would like more of Brad’s articles, please visit the Bills.com information on http://www.Bills.com/loans/.
Home Loans by: Barry Stein
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Buying a home remains the great American dream. Home ownership rates have been exploding in recent years, spurred on by the historically low interest rates in the home mortgage market. Home prices have been rising at far faster than inflation, especially in major urban areas such as San Francisco, San Diego and Chicago. This means that not only can that home you’ve always wanted put a roof over your head, but it can provide you with a great investment as well. For people new to the mortgage market, buying their first home starts with finding the best home loans.
All potential homeowners should take some time to research home loans before calling their local realtor. There are a dazzling array of choices available when it comes to home loans, and finding the right mortgage for your needs can be difficult. Approach your upcoming home purchase with the same seriousness you apply to other major purchases. Your home will most likely be the biggest single investment you ever make. Take the time at the beginning to educate yourself about home loans. It will be time well spent.
Home loans are available from a wide variety of sources. These sources include banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Shop around at all of these sources to find the home loans with the lowest interest rate and lowest costs.
You will also have to decide between fixed rate home loans and variable rate home loans. Variable rate home loans are often advertised with extremely low “teaser rates”. These rates are used by lenders to get your attention and lure you in.
Before signing up for a variable rate mortgage, make sure you find out what the interest rate cap is. Variable rate home loans are usually based on an underlying interest rate, like the prime rate. The interest rate you pay will typically be the prime rate plus or minus a certain percentage. The variable rate mortgage will have a cap above which the interest rate cannot rise. Find out what that cap is, then use a mortgage payment calculator to see what your monthly mortgage payment will be at that rate. If you cannot afford the monthly payments at the maximum interest rate, you may not want to take the mortgage loan. While it is unlikely that interest rates will rise sufficiently to make the maximum interest rate kick in, it is always a possibility.
Variable rate home loans can be a good choice if you believe interest rates are likely to fall. In an environment where interest rates are steady or rising, they may not be so good a choice. You may also want to consider a variable rate mortgage if you do not plan to stay in your home more than five years. For instance, if your job transfers you every couple of years, you could probably get away with a variable rate mortgage and take advantage of the lower interest rate. When you move and sell your home, you will probably realize a gain due to rising home prices.
On the other hand, fixed rate home loans have a set interest rate for a set period of time, generally either 15 or 30 years. The interest rate does not change, therefore you will always know what your monthly mortgage payment will be. You are protected from rising interest rates with a fixed rate mortgage. If rates fall significantly, you can always refinance your mortgage loan to take advantage of the lower rates.
If you can afford the payments, 15-year home loans can substantially lower the amount of money you will ultimately pay for your home. When you run the numbers on a 15-year versus a 30-year home mortgage loan, you may be surprised at how affordable the 15-year home loan can be. Your mortgage payment will not double if you go with a 15-year mortgage versus a 30-year. This has to do with the affect of compound interest. You are paying far less interest in the long run on a 15-year mortgage.
Whatever type of home loan you decide on, the most important thing is to take that step which transforms you from a mere renter to a home owner and builder of equity. There are a great many home loans out there, but once you find the right one, you will find the rewards of home ownership well worth the time and effort put forth.
About The Author
Barry Stein is the owner of aWebBiz.com where he offers cutting-edge tips on all aspects of business. To find more advice, tools and resources to help you succeed in your business, visit: http://www.aWebBiz.com.
Barry's Internet Marketing Blog: http://aWebBiz.com/blog
Tips on Getting Your Mortgage Loan Approved by: Chris Rocks
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What is important to lenders?
Not every applicant is approved for a home loan the first time he or she applies. For a variety of reasons, even after a lot of hard work, sometimes a loan just can’t be approved. It may have to do with the applicant’s credit or savings history, employment stability, debt structure, or the value of the home. The good news is that a denial is merely a detour, not a roadblock. Purchasing a home takes planning, discipline and hard work! Follow these tips and with our assistance, homeownership is not out of reach.
Establish a consistent record of paying bills on time.
Before making a loan the size of a home loan, most lenders will want to review how you have handled your credit in the past. This includes all credit accounts, including utilities, revolving debt (credit cards, etc.), and installment debt (car loans, student loans, etc.). It is critical for you to bring all overdue bills up to date immediately and begin paying them on time in a consistent manner.
Establish a consistent record of steady employment.
Lenders are more likely to look favorably on an applicant who has been in the same (or similar) line of work for generally two or more years. If you have been working steadily for less than two or more years, expect the lender to ask why. There are many acceptable reasons, including:
* You recently finished school, vocational training, or left the military;
* Your work is typically seasonal and gaps in employment are customary to the industry
* You may have been laid off from your job; or
* Frequent employment changes are normal in your line of work (sales, contract work, etc.), but you have been consistently employed and maintained a consistent level of income over the past 2 years.
You may want to pay off some debt to lower your debt-to-income ratio.
This step will make it easier to qualify for a mortgage loan if your debt ratio is high. Chances are good that if you’re already paying rent, making a mortgage payment will be a smooth transition. Along with the mortgage payment, you’re also responsible for real estate taxes and insurance, and if required, mortgage insurance and homeowners dues. Work with us to determine the monthly payment you can afford based on your income and the standard debt-to-income ratio guidelines.
Establish a consistent savings pattern.
Saving money for a down payment, and still having enough reserves left over to cover two months of expenses in the event of an emergency, is typically the most challenging part of buying a home. While sometimes it is difficult, this is a necessary step to ensure you are financially ready to take the plunge into homeownership.
About The Author
Chris Rocks is a Mortgage Consultant specializing in working with First Time Home Buyers. FirstHomeTips.com, a site designed by Chris, was created to help make the home buying process less complicated and less stressful for the first time buyer.
Website URL: http://www.firsthometips.com
Contact Email Address: chris@firsthometips.com