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This may come as a surprise, but you don’t need a perfect credit score to buy a home or get a mortgage.
In some cases, your credit just needs to be sufficient. Good, bad, ugly or indifferent, as long as your credit score matches the criteria of the mortgage size and property type you are looking for, you may be able to get financing.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet of the top three most commons mortgages and their basic credit score requirements.
Of course, a good credit score generally helps you net better terms and conditions. You can check two of your credit scores for free each month on Credit.com to see where you stand. If you have some credit challenges preventing you from getting a mortgage with competitive rates and fees, here are some strategies straight from a mortgage pro that could improve your situation.
Some mortgage lenders have a credit doctor service, known as rapid re-scoring, available through their credit reporting company. This service allows them to run statistical credit modeling: the lender plugs in a certain credit score needed, an algorithm analyzes your complete credit portfolio and outlines what can be done to get you to that aforementioned threshold.
Oftentimes, high credit utilization (the amount of debt you are carrying versus your total available credit) is the culprit for a low score. In those instances, paying down certain credit accounts could make you more creditworthy — and mortgage eligible — within short period of time.
If buying a house is a longer-term goal, time can be your friend. Credit history is a large component of a healthy credit score. Make your payments on time, keep the amount of debt you are carrying low and avoid late payments of any kind. These smart spending habits show that you are responsible with your obligations and will bolster your credit score eventually.
In order to get a mortgage, you generally cannot have any accounts in dispute on your credit reports. At the same time, simply removing a dispute from your credit report can make your credit score drop. The reason? Credit scoring models generally ignore information being disputed, like an account with a late payment, which would otherwise hurt your credit score.
In order to circumvent these problems, work to resolve any disputes. (You can find more about getting errors off of your credit reports here.) You can also consider handling any issue you may have with a lender directly in lieu of filing a formal dispute with the credit bureaus. Here are some tips for negotiating with creditors.
Putting more money down to buy a home could put you in an entirely different mortgage category and help you bypass certain credit scoring problems.
Remember, if you have been told “no” by a bank or lender, you owe it to yourself to get a second or third opinion. What’s more, your credit score could improve from month to month, depending on what’s holding you back, so keep an eye on it in the meantime.
Image: Getty Images
December 13, 2023
Mortgages