house-building.com NEWSLETTER
#216
New House Building: Money Saving, Convenience and Healthy House Tips
James Todd.
July 2003
Beginning with this edition, newsletters
will now be archived
online at: http://www.house-building.com/newsletters/newsletters.html
CONTENTS:
- Credit Rating: How your credit rating can save or cost you money
- Credit Cards: They don’t always have to cost you money
- Useful Links
- Thought for the Day
- Subscription Information
Please forward this newsletter to anyone whom
you think may be interested!
1. Credit Rating: How your
credit score can save or cost you money.
Several years ago credit scoring had only a modest impact on
home mortgages. That has all changed. Lenders studied the relationship
between credit
scores and mortgage delinquencies and found a definite relationship.
Almost half of the borrowers with FICO scores below 550 became 90 days
delinquent, at least once, during the term of their mortgage. Compare
this to borrowers with FICO scores of over 800 – here the delinquency
rate was only 2 in 10,000.
FICO stands for Fair Issac and Company and is the credit scoring system
used by the three major credit agencies in the U.S. These three companies
are Trans-Union, TRW (Experian), and Equifax.
How does you FICO score impact you mortgage application? In two ways.
One way is in the acceptance or rejection of your application. The other
is in the rate/amount that you get charged. For example, some lenders
establish a base price and will reduce the points on a loan if the credit
score is above a certain level. Other lenders, instead of reducing costs
for good FICO scores will add on costs for lower FICO scores. The net
result is the same. A lower FICO score may result in more costs or charges
to the borrower.
Because of the impact of FICO scores on your mortgage it is important
to understand those items which have a negative impact on it. Some of
these are:
-
Deliquencies
-
Short Credit History
-
Revolving Credit accounts (credit cards/charge accounts),
maxed or near limits
-
Bankruptcies, judgments, or liens
-
Too many revolving accounts
-
Too few revolving accounts
-
Too many credit inquiries
Protect
your FICO score. It is an important factor in getting the
best rates and lowest charges. What is the best way to
do this. Live within your means, don’t open needless
or an excessive number of charge accounts, and pay your
bills on time.
Now that you have an understanding of the importance of
credit scores, you can also understand why it is also a
good idea to run a credit report on yourself. You may not
think you have bad credit – and you may not – but
what about that person who is using your social security
number fraudulently, or the bill you never paid to that
thief of an auto mechanic. It is well worth your time and
money to take a look at your credit history and clear up
any problems before you go talk to your friendly banker.
The following link will allow you to run a free credit
report http://www.consumerinfo.com/cic/affiliate/aff_landing.asp?sourceid=00402763276652579025 on yourself.
Once you see your personal credit information, you can
determine if you have a problem, and begin to take the
necessary steps to clear this up before apply for financing
on your home. If you want to see you credit score this
page also will give you the option of ordering a report
that shows your current FICO score for a cost of $14.95.
How big of a house are you going
to build?? Find out what size of
mortgage for which you qualify. IndyMac
Bank is your best online source for
home mortgages. Online applications, quick
approvals.
Don’t
let your credit history become a headache
in
your new home building process. Check
your credit. Get
your free credit report today.
Considering a Hot Tub in your new
Home?? Look no further. ThermoSpas
Hot Tubs are offering up to $900.00 in cost savings discounts
for House-Building visitors.
Dream Home
Source, Inc.- Search
through over 12,400 professionally-designed
stock house plans, from over 82 of North
America's top architects and designers. Easy
and fun to search
for that "dream
home".
2.
Credit Cards: How they can SAVE you money!
Before you start your building process, make sure
to find at least one credit card that pays you cash back.
There are several available, however the best one that I
have found to date is the American Express Blue Card. It
has no annual fee and a 0% APR for the first six months.
However the big attraction of this card is that it will pay
3% cash back on purchases. Actually it pays up to 5% but
that is only if you have an unpaid balance in your account,
which means that you will be paying interest, so I recommend
you stick with the 3%.
What’s 3% worth? Well at least several hundred dollars.
When you start your building project you will be purchasing
a lot of items for your house, in addition to what your
builder is buying. These can quite easily add up to thousands
of dollars in purchases. Three percent (3%) of $5000 is
$150. It's not a fortune, but it will definitely pay for
a faucet, or several gallons of paint, a dinner for two
or the purchase of the House Building Guide.
Want other useful money savings tips for building your new
home? Purchase the House
Building Guide today. It comes with a 100% money back guarantee.
3.
Useful
Links
The
following
are
useful
links
relating
to
the
housing
industry
and
the
topics
covered
in
this
newsletter
and
may
be
of
interest.
FICO
Saver
for
Home
Buyers
http://www.myfico.com/myfico/FICOMortgageSaverDetails.asp
Credit
Land – Your
Credit
Portal–
http://www.credit-land.com/cashback.php
Eye On Credit–
http://www.eyeoncredit.com
4. Thought For The Day - Human Dignity
Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of a man
is an ideal worth fighting for and worth dying for. ---Robert
Maynard
5. Subscription Information
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