What is the best way to improve your credit in order to purchase a home.?
96532
This is a tricky question to answer because it depends on the problems you have on your credit, what your scores are (you might not need to do anything to get the intitial mortgage but your rate will be higher), how long ago the problems occured, what the ballances of your good revolving accounts are, how many open lines of credit you have, and how long you have had credit.\n\nThe first thing for you to do in my opinion if you are looking for a mortgage is to go into a a mortgage company and have them pull your credit. This will give them an idea of what they can, or can't do for you,a nd give you an idea of what your credit looks like. Alot of times the LO can run simulators that will show what to do to improve your score. Then you can do a rapid rescore if you want it done quick.\n\nSome words of caution about credit: \n1- paying off old bad debt is not in your best interest when you are getting ready to apply for a loan. Once you make contact with the creditopr again and try to resolve the problems you change the bad debt from being old to being current. The older the derog. credit, the less impact it has against your score.\n\n2- bringing your you used credit to available credit on your revolving accounts (charge cards) below 50% on each account will improve your score. The lower from there you take it the better.\n\n3- Once you have obtained a home loan, if you have a choice between paying your mortgage or paying on another loan, always choose the mortgage. Mortgagge lates count against you more, and are the main thing that lenders look at when determining if you qualify for future home loans.\n\nIf you have any questions feel free to contact me at the e-mail below and I will try to help you out.
60080
If you have the cash and available credit, buy one home with the cash and put your availble credit towards a rental property, which will eventually pay for itself. Just a thought. :)
828921
That has nothing to do with moving or a new job and everything to do with your credit score, check it out, you want to be above 700, the higher your score, the easier it will be for.you. You are entitled to one free per year, If it's not good, you need to work on getting that cleaned up, before you think about buying a home. Good luck.
145885
Start by getting a credit card-a gas card will even work. Just charge a tank of gas or so every month on it and pay it off as soon as you get the bill. This will start helping you to better establish credit. You may want to go ahead and talk to a real estate agent. You don't pay them. All of their fees are paid by the sellers of the house. They can go ahead and tell you what to do to build up your credit and get you pre-approved. Sellers deal more readily with pre-approved people because they don't have to wait as long to finalize the deal. My realtor helped me find a state program that gave me a $2500 down payment assistance loan that had to be paid back at $36 a  month for 7 years. I ended up getting into my house with only $300 out of my pocket if you can believe it!
377586
Do not take out a credit card if you are trying to raise your credit score.  The credit check they do on you will actually in the short term have an adverse affect on your score.\nThe best thing you can do is take out a small personal loan from a bank and pay it off in about six months.  Then do it again.  As long as you haven't done anything to further hurt your credit, it will improve your credit a great deal.
1055269
There are definitely some things that you can do to improve your credit score. I tried to do this recently and came across this site, http://www.webcredithelp.com
175499
Since everyone who is going to offer you credit uses credit scores (many based on FICO), your best bet is learn how it works.\n\nThe link below has a lot of information about how your score is put together, and what you can do to improve it.  \n\nGo right to the source!
156362
You can't.  If you have bad credit, you are a high risk.  You WILL pay more for a loan, PERIOD.
335845
Since we do not know why the credit rating is low, here are a few tips to assist in getting your credit score up. \n1) If you have any charge-offs and judgments against you, you need to pay those items off. Once you have done that, you need to request a letter of satisfaction. You will want to hold onto this letter for at least 7 years, just in case they fail to update your file as paid.\n2) If your current credit card balances are 50% more than your credit limit, pay down the balance to 50% and continue to pay the minimum monthly payment.\n3) You need to have 4 active trade lines in most cases that have a history of more than 12 months. So cutting up and closing your accounts might harm your over all credit recovery. \n4) If you do not have credit, your going to need to establish credit by obtaining secured credit cards. Even though your interest rate will be crazy high, we're not trying to consolidate your bills to reduce your monthly debt obligations. Establish at least 4 secured cards and utilize only 50% of the credit allowance. \n\nUnfortunately you not going to be able to get a high credit score fast, however these steps can help you in correcting your credit and re-establish your credi profile. Hope this helps..
913744
Use the money for a down payment on a house and use the credit score to your advantage by getting a low interest rate. You might consider buying a duplex that has good potential, and then charging over what you owe on the loan. Then you could eventually save up enough money to buy another house and rent it out. \n\nIt's just one idea that has worked for people that i know.
1153442
Call a local mortgage broker (check your local yellow pages) and ask for a consultation, they are usually free or may charge a small fee (< $25)  for pulling your credit report..  Do not call a bank.  Mortgage brokers have many more programs available than banks and are more experienced in dealing with folks with troubled credit.  Anyway, they can pull up your credit and see how it looks.  It may not be as bad as you think.  If it is, there are programs such as FHA that are not credit score driven.  It always helps to have money saved up for a down payment, and while 100% loans can be obtained, you will most likely need a minimum of 3% down.  If you do not have the 3%, it can be in the form of a gift from family or friends.  There are 3rd party non-profit companies that you can get the donwpayment from, although FHA has been looking down on them lately.  Mainly b/c the 3% gets financed back into the loan....sort of...but I can't say that...LOL\n\nA good mortgage broker will have all of this information.  He/she should also be able to direct you on what to do if your credit needs a little repair.  If you are not ready to buy now, they can coach on what to do to be ready in 6 months or so.  Good luck with your dream of owning a home.
1157254
You might want to try to rent from a private owner...usually these people dont do credit check..but if they do you might have to get a co-signer or pay a few months ahead of time
23261
There is no clear cut answer to this question. Your credit score is not good at all. No matter what card or loan that you apply for, you will end up paying higher interest rates. \n\nThe best way to get lower rates is to increase your credit score. To increase your score, pay your bills on time, stop charging as much as you do now, and try to pay off as many cards as possible.
68236
Purchase things you ALREADY HAVE THE MONEY FOR in the bank.  Then pay them off each month.\nEnsure your card has no annual fees, and it will cost you no more to use the card than it does to have cash.  Just be sure to never, ever, ever spend more than you have in the bank.\nOver time, this will build up your credit.\n\nIf you buy a car using a loan, your interest rate will depend on your credit.  Once you pay it off, your credit will go up (makes good on debts).\n\nBuy a house, and your credit goes WAY up.\n\nGood luck!
224192
5 steps to better credit\n\nCorrect blatant mistakes. Your credit score is only as good as what shows up in your credit report. Review your reports from all three credit bureaus for accuracy once a year as well as several months before applying for a loan. Changing a mistake on your report - such as a payment that is wrongly labeled as late -- can take 30 days to three months, sometimes longer.\n\nPay your bills on time. This is always a good practice, and it's especially critical that you make prompt payments close to the time you need a loan. That's because a late or missed payment in the last few months is likely to lower your score much more than an isolated late payment five years ago.\n\nReduce your credit card balances. A heavily weighted factor in your FICO score is how much money you owe on your credit cards relative to your total credit limit. Generally, it's good to keep your balances at or below 25 percent of your credit card limit, said Jeanne Kelly, founder of The Kelly Group in Brookfield, Conn., which helps clients improve their credit scores.\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nTry CNN/Money's new Debt Reduction Planner for help wiping out credit-card balances.\n\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\nPay off debt rather than moving it around. Since the ratio of your credit card balance to your credit limit is key, closing out an account and transferring the balance simply means you increase that ratio, which is likely to lower your score. In other words, say you owe a total of $2,000 on four credit cards, each of which has a $2,000 limit. Your total credit limit is $8,000, of which your total balance ($2,000) accounts for 25 percent. If you transfer all your balances to two cards and cancel the other two, your total credit limit is reduced to $4,000, and your $2,000 balance now accounts for 50 percent of that limit.\n\n    \n \n\nDon't close unused credit card accounts near loan time. If you have several credit card accounts but are only using a few of them, you'll only raise your balance-to-limit ratio if you close the unused ones. You also shouldn't open new accounts when applying for a loan if possible. If you have a short credit history or very few accounts, opening a new credit line may lower your score since you don't have a proven track record, said Jan Davis, an executive vice president at TransUnion. What's more, a new account will lower the average age of your accounts, another factor in your FICO score.
773962
Apply for a secured credit card.Deposit,let say $500,and your credit limit equals that amount.Use it for expenses you would otherwise make,like buying gas,groceries,phone bill,...etc.\nWhen the bill arrives,pay it in full.This way you avoid paying expensive interest while building credit.\nAfter a year or so of doing this,your credit card issuer,will raise your limit and convert you to a non secured card (you get your $500 back).\nAlso buy a CD (certificate of deposit) at your local bank say for 6months or one year term.Use that CD as a collateral to obtain an installement loan from the bank. Make the payments on time for at least six months before paying it off.\nThese two methods will certainly raise your credit profile.\nBut also important is save,save and save money for a down payment of at least 5-10% of the cost of that condo.It will make you less of a risk to lenders. Try to avoid meaningless consumerism and keep your long term goal of owning your own place permanent in your mind,and I am sure you will reach your goal.\nBTW,like tyou I am a relatively recent (legal)-chill out Lou Dobbs-LOL- immigrant to the US. I got here little bit over five years ago and own my condo,and just closed on a second house.It can be done.Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe,the Mind can Achieve.\nPeace
1136726
See if there is someone else you can pair up with who has better credit and/or can help w/ down payment. (e.g. significant other, parent, family member)  This would help reduce interest rates which will prob be very high w/ poor credit.