Washington State Mortgages, Made Clear. Buying or Refinancing? Let's find the right loan together.
Twas the season of spending with American’s splurging over $1100 on gifts this holiday season. Credit card interest rates average around 24% with some department store cards pushing 30%; making it very difficult for some to pay off the debt.
Lendingtree reports that 42% of those who charged holiday gifts regret adding to their debts.
If you’re feeling a bit of a financial hangover from the holidays, you can take some steps to help ease the headache of credit card debts. [Read more…]
Several weeks before the holiday season sets in, we begin to see those commercials I absolute dread. You know, the luxury cars with giant red bows on them…the recipient gushes, “you shouldn’t have!”… and they’re right, the gift giver probably should not have – especially if they’re considering buying or refinancing a home. [Read more…]
If you’re thinking about buying a home in Washington State — even if it’s a year or two away — one of the most important things you can do right now is understand how credit works for mortgage qualifying purposes. The rules aren’t always intuitive, and some of the most common-sense moves people make can actually hurt their scores at exactly the wrong time.
Here’s what you need to know about building and maintaining credit with a home purchase in mind. [Read more…]
One of the most valuable things you can do before buying your first home is understand what lenders are actually looking at when they evaluate your application.
Some buyers are surprised to learn they qualify sooner than expected. Others discover there’s some groundwork to do first. Either way, knowing where you stand early gives you options. [Read more…]
Part of what I do as a mortgage originator is review credit reports. I’m often surprised how many consumers think that a debt that has been charged off means that it has been removed from their credit history or “forgiven”. Basically, a charge off is when the creditor is writing the debt off their books for tax purposes, it is not terminating the debt owed by the borrower. Often times, the charge off may turn into a collection or be sold or assigned to a collection agency and therefore, mortgage lenders will view a charge off on a credit report as a collection. [Read more…]
