Arizona Mortgage Rates 12-7-2007
07/12/07 00:28 Filed in: Mortgage
Rates
TODAY’S RATES ARE AS FOLLOWS
30 YR FIXED @ 5.875%
30 YR INT ONLY @ 6.125%
30 YR BOND PROGRAM @ 6.55%
30 YR FHA @ 6.00%
Eight Quick Credit Tips to Combat the Credit Crunch
30 YR FIXED @ 5.875%
30 YR INT ONLY @ 6.125%
30 YR BOND PROGRAM @ 6.55%
30 YR FHA @ 6.00%
Eight Quick Credit Tips to Combat the Credit Crunch
TODAY’S RATES ARE AS FOLLOWS
30 YR FIXED @ 5.875%
30 YR INT ONLY @ 6.125%
30 YR BOND PROGRAM @ 6.55%
30 YR FHA @ 6.00%
Eight Quick Credit Tips to Combat the Credit Crunch How to get loans approved and houses sold in this market!
1. Tell your client to apply for business credit cards
Most people don't realize that over 90% of business credit cards do not get reported to personal credit reports. If they are not reported, they are not scored, period.
Many people run their businesses from their personal credit cards and as a result their credit score suffers. Your client doesn't need a big company to get approved for a business credit card; it is much easier to get approved than most people think.
Once approved, your client can move their personal credit card debt over to the business credit cards and watch their credit score go through the roof once everything is updated on the credit report.
2. Have your client settle for deletion, or at least zero out all unpaid collection accounts less than 24 months old.
You need to pick your battles as to which accounts you focus on during the credit crunch to assure your client's credit score increases enough for the client to get their loan approved.
When payment is made on a collection account that is less than 24 months old, the score will either stay about the same or increase a few points. Settling in exchange for deletion is ideal, but not always possible. Given the fact that the collection account will keep selling to other collection agencies in the future, it is best to deal with it while it is still young.
Once an account goes beyond 24 months you need to be careful when settling because the account may erroneously have the date of last activity updated to the current date and bring the score down as a result.
3. Make sure your client gets rid of all their past due amounts on non-collection/charge-off accounts and make sure they pay before the due date until after the loan closes to be safe.
Within the delinquent accounts on your client's credit report, there is a column called "Past Due". Credit Scoring software penalizes clients for keeping accounts past due, so past dues destroy a credit score.
If you see an amount in this column, have your client pay the creditor the past due amount reported, unless that amount belongs to an account that is charged-off or in collection. If that is the case, use the advice in number 1 above to determine the best action.
4. Get rid of your late payments.
Have your client contact all creditors that report late payments on their credit and request a good faith adjustment that removes the late payments reported on their account.
Your client should be persistent if they refuse to remove the late payments at first. They should remind the creditors that they have been a good customer and would deeply appreciate their help.
5. Have your client ask for a credit limit increase on their credit cards and either pay-off if possible or at a minimum evenly distribute the balances your client is carrying on their revolving debt.
Credit scoring software likes to see borrowers carry credit card balances as close to zero as possible and also see that they have been trusted with a lot of credit - which is why increasing their limits is good.
If your client can't afford to pay down their credit card balances, tell them to evenly distribute their credit card balances among all of their credit cards rather than carry a large balance on one credit card to maximize their score.
6. Tell your client, "Do not close your credit cards".
Closing a credit card can hurt their credit score, since doing so effects their debt to available credit ratio. For example, if they owe a total credit card debt of $10,000 and their total credit available is $20,000, they are using 50% of their total credit.
If they close a credit card with a $5,000 credit limit, they will reduce their credit available to $15,000 and change their ratio to using 66% of their available credit.
7. Keep their old credit cards active.
15% of a credit score is determined by the age of the credit file. Fair Isaac's credit scoring software assumes people who have had credit for a longer time are at less risk of defaulting on payments. Therefore, even if old credit cards have horrible interest rates, closing those cards will decrease the average length of time a client has had credit.
Tell your clients to use old cards at least once every six months to avoid the account rating changing to "Inactive". Keeping old cards active can be as simple as pumping gas or purchasing groceries every few months, then paying the balance down.
An inactive account is given less weight by Fair Isaac's credit scoring software, so your client won't get the benefit of the positive payment history and low balance that card may have as much as if the account were active.
8. Pay down Negative Amortization mortgage balances below the original amount borrowed to increase the score
Most people don't realize that owing more than the original amount borrowed on a loan is a negative event to the credit score. If possible, have your client pay down the balance on any and all negative amortization loans that the client owes more than the original loan amount. This includes mortgages and student loans. Once your client brings the balances below the original amounts borrowed, a credit score increase of 5 to 10 points is very common.
Don't confuse this advice with labeling a negative amortization loan as being bad. They can be a great financial tool when used appropriately and make otherwise unaffordable payments affordable. They can be great as long as your client is not in the middle of a refinance, but if they are, paying these balances below the original amount owed can maximize their credit score.
30 YR FIXED @ 5.875%
30 YR INT ONLY @ 6.125%
30 YR BOND PROGRAM @ 6.55%
30 YR FHA @ 6.00%
Eight Quick Credit Tips to Combat the Credit Crunch How to get loans approved and houses sold in this market!
1. Tell your client to apply for business credit cards
Most people don't realize that over 90% of business credit cards do not get reported to personal credit reports. If they are not reported, they are not scored, period.
Many people run their businesses from their personal credit cards and as a result their credit score suffers. Your client doesn't need a big company to get approved for a business credit card; it is much easier to get approved than most people think.
Once approved, your client can move their personal credit card debt over to the business credit cards and watch their credit score go through the roof once everything is updated on the credit report.
2. Have your client settle for deletion, or at least zero out all unpaid collection accounts less than 24 months old.
You need to pick your battles as to which accounts you focus on during the credit crunch to assure your client's credit score increases enough for the client to get their loan approved.
When payment is made on a collection account that is less than 24 months old, the score will either stay about the same or increase a few points. Settling in exchange for deletion is ideal, but not always possible. Given the fact that the collection account will keep selling to other collection agencies in the future, it is best to deal with it while it is still young.
Once an account goes beyond 24 months you need to be careful when settling because the account may erroneously have the date of last activity updated to the current date and bring the score down as a result.
3. Make sure your client gets rid of all their past due amounts on non-collection/charge-off accounts and make sure they pay before the due date until after the loan closes to be safe.
Within the delinquent accounts on your client's credit report, there is a column called "Past Due". Credit Scoring software penalizes clients for keeping accounts past due, so past dues destroy a credit score.
If you see an amount in this column, have your client pay the creditor the past due amount reported, unless that amount belongs to an account that is charged-off or in collection. If that is the case, use the advice in number 1 above to determine the best action.
4. Get rid of your late payments.
Have your client contact all creditors that report late payments on their credit and request a good faith adjustment that removes the late payments reported on their account.
Your client should be persistent if they refuse to remove the late payments at first. They should remind the creditors that they have been a good customer and would deeply appreciate their help.
5. Have your client ask for a credit limit increase on their credit cards and either pay-off if possible or at a minimum evenly distribute the balances your client is carrying on their revolving debt.
Credit scoring software likes to see borrowers carry credit card balances as close to zero as possible and also see that they have been trusted with a lot of credit - which is why increasing their limits is good.
If your client can't afford to pay down their credit card balances, tell them to evenly distribute their credit card balances among all of their credit cards rather than carry a large balance on one credit card to maximize their score.
6. Tell your client, "Do not close your credit cards".
Closing a credit card can hurt their credit score, since doing so effects their debt to available credit ratio. For example, if they owe a total credit card debt of $10,000 and their total credit available is $20,000, they are using 50% of their total credit.
If they close a credit card with a $5,000 credit limit, they will reduce their credit available to $15,000 and change their ratio to using 66% of their available credit.
7. Keep their old credit cards active.
15% of a credit score is determined by the age of the credit file. Fair Isaac's credit scoring software assumes people who have had credit for a longer time are at less risk of defaulting on payments. Therefore, even if old credit cards have horrible interest rates, closing those cards will decrease the average length of time a client has had credit.
Tell your clients to use old cards at least once every six months to avoid the account rating changing to "Inactive". Keeping old cards active can be as simple as pumping gas or purchasing groceries every few months, then paying the balance down.
An inactive account is given less weight by Fair Isaac's credit scoring software, so your client won't get the benefit of the positive payment history and low balance that card may have as much as if the account were active.
8. Pay down Negative Amortization mortgage balances below the original amount borrowed to increase the score
Most people don't realize that owing more than the original amount borrowed on a loan is a negative event to the credit score. If possible, have your client pay down the balance on any and all negative amortization loans that the client owes more than the original loan amount. This includes mortgages and student loans. Once your client brings the balances below the original amounts borrowed, a credit score increase of 5 to 10 points is very common.
Don't confuse this advice with labeling a negative amortization loan as being bad. They can be a great financial tool when used appropriately and make otherwise unaffordable payments affordable. They can be great as long as your client is not in the middle of a refinance, but if they are, paying these balances below the original amount owed can maximize their credit score.