Things You Should Know Before You Repair Your Credit; St. Louis Mortgage Interest Rate Update

Make Sure You Get Your “Real” Scores!

Most banks and lenders use scores calculated by FICO (also known as Fair Isaac) and derived from your reports with the major national credit bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Be careful, the credit scores sold at popular credit report monitoring websites are NOT the same scores that lenders use!

  • The 5 Major Areas Considered in Your FICO Scores

Timely bill payment is the centerpiece of a strong credit report and score. But believe it or not, only 35% of your FICO scores are derived from your payment history! In other words, any type of negative information – no matter what you have out there – is really only going to affect about a third of your credit score. The majority of your scores are calculated from your behavior patterns with your current accounts, your length of credit history, the types of accounts you use and how you acquire new accounts. It’s always important to maintain healthy accounts (especially credit cards) and use them wisely.

  • Paying or Disputing Some Accounts Can Hurt Your Scores

Believe it or not, simply paying a collection off will have little to no effect on your credit scores. In some cases it can even cause the account to resurface and be re-reported, further damaging your scores! Credit scoring is a complex system where even the removal of negative information can negatively affect your scores (really!); this is not an area where common sense applies. There is a very strategic way to approach your credit card debt, your collections, and especially your medical bills – do your homework before throwing money at the problem.   You might consider a 3rd party or professional for some guidance.

  • Don’t Close Your Accounts!

Closing down credit cards will never help your credit scores – not only will you reduce your total available credit, but also reduce your total length of history as years go by.

Maintaining a stable, lengthy, and diverse credit history with at least one major credit card is incredibly important. And would you believe that even paying off an installment account like a car loan or student loan could actually hurt your credit scores? Don’t blindly pay off debt without knowing where you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck!

  •  New Negative Information Can Drop Your Scores

When you decide to repair your credit, make sure you’ve devised a budget so not to overextend yourself and watch your mail for notice of new collections carefully. Just one new 30 day late payment or collection can drop your FICO scores and impact the rate offered or whether you are approved or denied.

St. Louis MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES for September 20, 2012:

  • Conventional 30-Year Fixed 3.625%/ 3.678% APR
  • Conventional 15-Year Fixed 3.00%/ 3.094% APR
  • Conventional 5/1 ARM 2.625%/ 3.321% APR
  • FHA/VA 30 Year Fixed 3.750%/ 4.524% APR
  • Jumbo 5/1 ARM 2.750%/ 2.427% APR
  • Jumbo 15 yr Fixed 3.375%/ 3.630% APR
  • Jumbo 30 yr Fixed 4.750%/ 5.010% APR

*The above mortgage rates are based upon an 80% LTV, o/o single family with FICO scores of 720.

Paramount Mortgage is a locally owned Mortgage Banker celebrating our 41st year. Great rates and programs are secondary to what is most desired in a lender relationship: Integrity, Communication and Customer Satisfaction. Be to check out our website: www.paramountmortgage.com

For more information or if you have questions on mortgage rates you may contact me by phone at my direct line, (314) 372-4319, email at rfishel@paramountmortgage.com or you can visit our company website at http://www.paramountmortgage.com.

 

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