credit report - Mortgage Loan: Interest Rate Basics

The interest rate you pay for your mortgage is derived from a number of factors. Economic factors determine interest rates in general; mortgage lenders discount or mark up the rates they charge depending on their individual markets and customers. Economic factors such as inflation are out of your control. There are however, factors you can control to ensure you are receiving the best interest rate for your mortgage. The first factor you can control is your credit. Before you start shopping for mortgage lenders make sure your credit is in order. You need to verify the information contained in your credit reports and dispute any errors you find. The information in these credit reports, there are three different reports, is used to calculate your FICO credit score. Lenders use your FICO credit score to determine how much of a risk for lending you are. If you are an acceptable risk your credit score influences the interest rate the lender you choose will charge you. By improving your credit score you are improving the interest rate that you are able to qualify for with or without paying points. You can improve your FICO credit score by paying down the balances on your credit cards and closing cards you do not need. Make sure you are making all of your payments on time and have at least six months of on-time payments under your belt before you start applying for mortgage loans. Because interest rates vary from one lender to the next shopping for the best mortgage can save you a lot of money. When you shop for a mortgage lender make sure you ask for "no-obligation quotes." A no-obligation quote allows the lender to give you a mortgage quote without the lender accessing your credit report. Whenever a lender accesses your credit report a credit inquiry is logged on your history. Too many credit inquires over a short period of time can damage your credit score. It pays to shop for mortgage lenders to find the best interest rate for your mortgage; however, you need to shop smart to avoid making common mortgage mistakes that can cost you thousands of dollars. To learn how to avoid these mistakes sign up for a free mortgage guidebook. To get your free mortgage guidebook visit RefiAdvisor.com using the links below. Albuquerque Mortgage Refinance Louie Latour has twenty years of experience in the mortgage industry as a mortgage broker. He is the owner of Mortgages Refinance Advisor, a mortgage help site devoted to saving homeowners money with a free guidebook Mortgage Refinance: What You Need to Know. Sign up for your free guide today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Louie_Latour credit report - Free Credit Check! Many companies that specialize in credit repair or offer to clean bad credit reports up will offer a free consultation. Some call this a free credit check. The companies that specialize in bad credit repair generally focus on removing inaccurate, obsolete or unverifiable information from you credit reports. Do you have this type of information on your credit report? Practically everyone does. The credit bureaus make mistakes, creditors that report information make mistakes and if you do not review your credit report occasionally for inaccurate information, then your credit scores may be suffering. Before you can attempt to clean bad credit, you need to know why you have bad credit. Visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com This truly is a free credit check, as long as you click "no thanks" on the offers presented by the credit bureaus that created the site. And be sure that you spell it correctly, because there are impostor sites selling all kinds of information often using the term "free credit check" or "free credit report" to lure you in. You may be disappointed to learn that you will not receive a "credit score" at this site. You do have to pay for this information. Occasionally Fair Isaac runs a special at myfico.com offering consumers a free credit check. Fair Isaac invented the current credit scoring process used in the United States. When you hear a creditor refer to your FICO score, they are talking about Fair Isaac. Fair Isaac also makes suggestions about how you can improve your FICO score, clean bad credit or establish good credit, if you are lacking in that department. Many creditors only look at the FICO score when deciding whether or not to approve your credit application. When you review the information on your credit report (that was the free credit check) and have negative information removed, your FICO score will improve. If you have lots of negative items on your credit report and you do not know where to begin. You can hire a professional to help you clean bad credit, but all professionals are not the same. Many will entice you with offers of a free credit check and sometimes you will end up paying for something that you do not need or want. Some so-called credit repair specialists will recommend that you apply for an employer identification number or EIN and use this number when you are applying for credit. Making false statements on a credit application is illegal. You may want to clean bad credit, but you do not want to create more problems for yourself. Law firms offering options that will legally clean bad credit reports will never recommend that you do anything illegal. They may offer a free consultation, but they will not disguise it as a free credit check. You may think that a law firm will charge more than another credit repair professional, but often this is not the case and you get what you are paying for. You get to clean bad credit effectively and legally. For more information about how to clean bad credit legally, visit Credit Fix Solutions.