Debt Consolidation Credit Counseling In Phoenix

Having a poor credit record doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have to be a renter for the rest of your life. On the other hand, what it does mean is that you're going to have to educate yourself about credit scores and their impact on mortgage loan rates.

Bad credit lenders are all over the place. They compensate for taking on bad credit lenders by charging them high interest rates. So it might be quite a challenge getting a somewhat reasonable offer from one of them. But no matter what, be prepared to hand over a lot of documentation as a way for them to try and assess what kind of risk you represent.

Because the FICO score (developed by Fair Isaac & Company) is the one that pretty much all lenders use, before you go out there and try getting your home loan, it's good to know what yours is. Once you do, you'll have a good feel for what to expect from the people you'll be submitting your loan application to and what your chances of approval are.

All financial institutions do not use exactly the same version of the FICO score. Specific examples of this are the credit card, insurance, and auto loan industries which all have their own little variation of the credit score that specifically meets their needs. Yet they all share the characteristic that says that the higher your score, the better a deal you'll be eligible for.

You might be surprised to learn that you have more than one credit score. That's right! You have three of them, as each credit bureau has their own. While common sense might dictate that they'd all be identical, it's absolutely not the case, because the companies that report our credit activity aren't required to do so to all the bureaus. In order to get your complete credit profile (and not 1/3 of it), you should get your score from all three bureaus.

Another thing to look out for is errors on your credit report. The figures vary by a wide margin, but the consensus is that a large proportion of credit reports carry errors. When you get your credit report, go over it line by line to spot any errors and/or omissions. Highlight anything you spot and make sure you contact the credit bureau to have it corrected. Followup one month later to check if your report has been updated.

When people have bad credit, they often don't bother knowing how the credit system works, because they think that they're not going to need that information. As it turns out, getting to know the basics of the credit scoring system can prove beneficial. You'll either know what to expect from bad credit finance companies, or you'll decide to take the time to clean up your credit and apply for a loan when your credit profile looks better. In both cases, you come out ahead because an informed customer is always better off than an uninformed one.