Fee-laden FHA mortgages cost more than privately insured loans.
via Fee-laden FHA mortgages cost more than privately insured loans.
Mortgages and Credit Scores
Today, credit scores plays a big role in determining whether or not your mortgage loan is approved and at what interest rate. Obtaining a mortgage loan at an interest rate just one point less results in a savings of about $5,000 on the average 15 year mortgage, and significantly more on a 30 year mortgage (about $50,000).
Why do lenders use your credit score in their lending decisions? Because they discovered that there is a direct correlation between your credit score and the odds of your becoming delinquent on your monthly mortgage payments. Consider the following statistics the mortgage industry has compiled:
Your Odds of Becoming 90 Days Delinquent are
576 to 1
288 to 1
144 to 1
72 to 1
36 to 1
18 to 1
9 to 1
4 to 1
2 to 1
As the above table illustrates, those with credit scores below 630 are not a very good risk, so they will obtain a mortgage at a significantly higher interest rate and this will add anywhere from $50 to about $250 to their monthy mortgage payment and add thousands to the price of the home.
If your score is 660 or above, you can get a mortgage loan fairly easily since you are a pretty good risk. As stated above, the higher your score the lower your interest rate, so your goal shouldn’t be to obtain a credit score of 660; it should be to achieve a credit score of at least 700. Some lenders will reward you if your credit score is higher than 725, by lowering your interest rate by about 1/4th of a percent. If it is between 700 and 724, it will be lowered by 1/8th of a percent.
Does an interest point or two make such a big difference in the price of the house? You bet it does! It means saving thousands in finance charges and a lower monthly payment. For example, paying an interest rate just two points higher means paying an additional $200 each month on your house payment on the typical $150,000, 30-year mortgage loan. That’s at least $72,000 more you’re going to pay for your house!
There are steps you can take to raise your credit score or overcome a low credit score:
(1) Offer a larger down payment so that you aren’t borrowing so much money
(2) Lower your debt-to-income ratio by paying off as much debt as you possibly can before applying for a mortgage loan in order to increase your credit score
(3) Don’t buy a car just before applying for a mortgage loan as it lowers your credit score
For a Kentucky FHA Purchase Loan, we can go down to a 620 credit score with the minimum down payment of 3.5%. No bankruptcies or foreclosures in the last 2 years.
FHA Manual Underwriting
The minimum FICO for FHA Manual Underwrites is being lowered to 620
Joel Lobb
Senior Loan Officer
Senior Loan Officer
(NMLS#57916)
American Mortgage Solutions, Inc.
800 Stone Creek Pkwy, Ste 7,
Louisville, KY 40223
phone: (502) 905-3708
Fax: (502) 327-9119
Company ID #1364 | MB73346
ated Articles
- Kentucky FHA Mortgage Guideline Changes April, 2013 (louisvillemortgageguide.com)
- Louisville Kentucky Mortgage Rates (kentuckyusdaloan.com)
- Unintended consequences? (itv.com)
- Credit Score Need a Tweak? Here’s How (hispanicbusiness.com)
- Is subprime heating up again? (bankrate.com)
The Best Kind of Loan for Your Credit Score
The Best Kind of Loan for Your Credit Score.
I’m often asked if having certain types of credit or loans is better or worse than other types of credit or loans.
I get questions like, “John, is it better to have a car loan
or a mortgage for my scores?” I also hear, “John, is it better to have a secured card or an unsecured card for my scores?”
In fact, you can swap in almost any type of credit-related account and I’ve been asked about that scenario.
I’ve been getting this type of question for almost 15 years now, and it seems that people believe there’s value or a penalty for having certain types of loans or accounts on your credit reports. That’s completely understandable and, thankfully, almost a complete myth.
Credit Cards
First, let’s tackle the secured credit card, versus the unsecured credit card, versus the charge card question. The assumption is that the type of card has a direct impact on your credit scores. That’s an incorrect assumption, meaning, you’re not penalized or rewarded for having one type of card over another.
That doesn’t mean one form of plastic isn’t better or worse for your credit than another. For example, a secured credit card is easier to max out than an unsecured credit card.
Why? The reason is because secured cards have considerably lower credit limits than unsecured credit cards. It has nothing to do with the fact that one is secured and one isn’t. It has everything to do with the credit limits.
Installment Loans
When it comes to installment loans, the issue of credit limits disappears because installment loans don’t have credit limits. They do, however, have original loan amounts.
An auto loan is likely to have a considerably lower loan amount than a mortgage, home equity loan and perhaps even a student loan. And, balances do matter on installment loans, albeit slightly.
Exactly like credit cards, credit scores do not treat installment loans of one variety or another differently. The collateral issue of balances can cause variable score impact, however.
Defaulting
One thing we haven’t addressed yet is the issue of missing payments and defaulting. Defaulting on a credit card, secured card, charge card, auto loan, mortgage, or any other kind of credit card, is treated equally — as one default.
You’re not penalized because you’ve defaulted on one variety of credit account versus another. You can, however, have a much larger default amount on a mortgage than any other type of credit account and that’s where the score impact can be variable.
The bottom line is: it’s not really the type of account that’s important, but it’s the incident that matters.
One Exception to the Rule
There is one very small exception to this rule. In fact, it’s so small that I thought very hard about omitting it.
There’s a chance your score could be negatively impacted if you have too many finance company accounts on your credit reports. These are the loans offered by consumer finance lenders who often target the near or subprime consumer.
Notwithstanding the consumer finance issue, the lender is also meaningless in your scores. So, you don’t get rewarded for doing business with a large, well-known credit card issuer and you don’t get penalized for doing business with a subprime credit card issuer.
In fact, credit scores are brand agnostic when it comes to your credit accounts. The most important factor is how you manage them.
Editor’s Note: This article by John Ulzheimer was originally published on MintLife.
See more from Mint.com:
Kentucky FHA Mortgage Lender 