How to Prepare for Your Mortgage Application

We’ve been talking a lot of about optimizing your credit score lately.

That’s because without a solid credit score, it can be very difficult to qualify for a mortgage.

If you’re planning to apply for a mortgage in the foreseeable future, the time to begin preparations is now.

Start by pulling your credit reports. Individuals are entitled to free access yearly to their credit reports, but a huge percentage of people never bother.

It’s absolutely imperative that you know exactly what items are on your credit reports because these are the documents lenders will be scrutinizing when deciding whether to lend you money for your home purchase or not.

Once you receive your credit reports, go over the accounts one by one. Note the ones that inaccurate. Often all it takes is a phone call to dispute the account and have it removed from your report, sometimes in as few as 30 days.

It’s also surprisingly common for there to be outright errors on your credit reports, such as items that are not yours. You definitely want to be disputing these accounts! Imagine not qualifying for a mortgage simply because of an item on your credit report that was there in error.

The small act of making a few phone calls to inquire about questionable accounts on your credit reports is often all it takes to give your credit score a significant bump in the right direction. Even if only a couple of accounts get removed from your reports, you could experience an increase of 50 points or more.

Those 50 points many mean the difference between qualifying for a mortgage and not getting approved – or they may push you into a better credit bracket that qualifies you for lower interest rates and more attractive mortgage terms.

The lesson is to be proactive when it comes to your credit score. Don’t wait until after you’ve made your mortgage application to pull your reports and find out exactly what’s on them.

The time to deal with your credit reports is right now. The sooner you receive them, the sooner you can clean them up.

And the cleaner they are when you’re ready to apply for that mortgage, the better off you’ll be.

Have a mortgage question? Give Leigh Brown a shout! She is your best Charlotte agent and best Concord agent and will work like a dog to help you find the perfect property among current Charlotte real estate for sale.