Mar 11, 2013
I received this information on credit scores from a lender so I thought I would pass it onâ¦
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What Affects My Credit Score
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IS IT TRUE THAT RUNNING CREDIT REPORTS CAN REDUCE YOUR SCORE?
Fico.com states that it doesn’t if it is a same industry report. Experience tells me differently. The good news, if it is less than 3 in a 90 day period, it doesn’t change it at all. If you run 15 in one week you will 2-4 points for each report run.
HEY, I KNOW MY SCORE; I RAN IT ON THE INTERNET. ISN’T IT THE SAME!
Not so much. The on line version is close to the real thing, but not quite. If you really need to know, have someone in the mortgage industry run it.
I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY CREDIT. WILL MY SCORE EVER IMPROVE?
Late pays affect the score by the number of lates, how long they were late, and more importantly, how recent were they. It is hard to quantify the damage multiple lates have on score. If the lates have been more than 2 years, they have a much smaller affect on the score.
WHY IS MY SCORE SO LOW? I NEVER MISS A PAYMENT.
IF YOU HAVE HAD PERFECT CREDIT ALL OF YOUR LIFE, WILL YOU HAVE A PERFECT SCORE?
NO!!!!!!! One of the dumbest calculations that go into credit scoring is the ratio of credit used versus the credit limit. The closer you get to 100% of your credit limit, the more points you will lose.
A card with a $100 limit and a $99 balance will lose you about 15-18 points. If that same card has $101 on it, you will lose about 25 points. Throw on a past due, and now you are talking about some serious points.
Ideally, you would never want your balance to exceed 50% of your limit.
SHOULD I CLOSE OUT MY OLD CARDS TO GET A HIGHER SCORE?
Again, NO!!! If you want a higher score, go out and use those cards just a little bit. Put $20 on a $10000 card will score some points.
The longer you have had a card or loan, the more it adds to your score. HOW DO I GET A PERFECT SCORE?
I don’t know. I have run over 10,000 reports and have never seen an 850.
Other than the obvious (paying everything on time) and keeping credit balances less than 50% of the limit, time. I have only seen one score of 847. She had credit established for 30+ years, no lates and minimal balances on credit. To top it off, she was a real estate agent.
Feb 16, 2013
USDA Loans
USDA loans on Cape Cod are no longer going to be available to the towns of Barnstable, Bourne, Dennis, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Sandwich and Yarmouth. This change, according to the mortgage rep that gave us the information, is going to take place on February 28, so there is still time, but not much.
There are a lot of sites that state they are the “official” site, but this is the “real one”: http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do
USDA loans are great for those that qualify. The one issue I have seen come up is that the appraisal is a much more in depth process and becomes something of an inspection. Here is a document outlining some of the guidelines: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/Publications/WI-RHS-Originator-Manual-Section-3-Property-Eligibility.pdf
Any repairs found, under the USDA guidelines, by the home inspector, pest inspector or appraiser will, typically have to be completed prior to closing. Because of this process, USDA loans are not ideal for homes that need quite a bit of work.
If you have questions concerning USDA loans give us a call. We can put you in touch with a mortgage representative who is knowledgeable about them.
Oct 12, 2012
Bank of America has Sold Your Mortgage…What Does that Mean?
Within the last couple of weeks Bank of America has been sending letter to homeowners letting them know that there is a new servicer for their loan. The one I am personally aware of is Seterus, but have also heard that Homeward and SPS (Select Portfolio Servicing) are others. What that means is that they are no longer responsible for handling the loan. If you are making payments, make sure they go to the right place!
Are You Involved in A Short Sale?
If you are involved in a short sale transaction, this could and probably will cause delays. BOA has to transfer documents to the new servicer before the ball can get rolling again and I am hearing that BOA isn’t always doing so in a timely manner.  If you have an offer in negotiation it depends how far along things are as to the result of the changeover. If the offer is newly submitted to BOA then you will probably have to start from scratch with the new company. If there is a letter of approval and the closing is eminent then there is a chance the new company will approve the short sale and allow the property to convey. The bottomline is that you will probably face delays and it is important for your agent to contact all parties and communicate with them so no one is surprised by it…there is enough of that in short sale transactions already.
A Letter at Your Doorstep…What Now?
Let your agent, attorney or negotiator know who the new servicing company is. BOA should be transfering documents over to the new company, but you want to be proactive by contacting them quickly and requesting the appropriate documents they need for the short sale file and ask them what they have.  Has there been a recent BPO done on the property…that should be one of the files transfered and the new company will wait on that before negotiating on any submitted offer that is not already approved. At least you can get your part done. It also doesn’t hurt to have whoever is negotiating with BOA on your side to contact BOA for an update on the file transfer.
Our Best Advice
Be Proactive! That is something our team stresses all the time. There is only so much that is within your control in these types of situations, but it is very important to have people helping you that know the short sale process. If you have any questions we would be happy to help! 508-258-9010 or [email protected] .
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