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Don’t Let FICO Scores Throw You a Sucker Punch

filed under: Fairfield, Ohio, For Buyers, West Chester Ohio posted on August 1st, 2008

FICO Score sucker punch

Real Estate buyers still don’t understand the impact of FICO scores. 

To understand how FICO scores impact a home buyer in West Chester, Fairfield or Cincinnati today- look at the numbers from  myFICO.com:

FICO Scores

A home buyer financing a $200,000 30 year fixed mortgage with a FICO Score between 500-579 will pay $502 a month more than the buyer with a FICO Score between 760-850.

myFICO.com has a wealth of information and tips for today’s home buyers and if are unsure about your FICO- set aside some time to work your way through the site. 

Buyers, even ones with excellent credit scores need to “shop smart” for mortgages: 

 The best way to protect yourself from paying to much for a loan is:

  • Use a reputable lender (if you need the name of my favorite one- call or email).  Good lenders have a wide variety of loan options available which is a win/win for buyers

  • FICO Scores- know your score before you start house hunting.  If you are not sure, the loan officer, your banking institution or credit union may be able to assist you.

  • Shop rates- but understand how to compare “apples to apples”.  Many times fees are not properly explained and the “lower rate” ends up costing more.  (that is why using a reputable lender is so important).

  • Understand the consequences of locking or floating your loan rate.  Many borrowers speculate that rates will drop during before the closing date- so they allow the loan rate to float- only to find out the rate actually went up.  If your financial boat will sink with a higher payment- lock the rate at the time you apply for the loan.

Many things impact your FICO score.  For example if you’ve been thinking about buying a home or a car and made repeated inquiries (not in the last 30 days) about loan amounts- this will impact your score.  Other activities that impact FICO are financing purchases of large items (washer/dryer) , opening new credit card accounts and leasing a new car or truck.

Need help or direction- or the name of a great lender- just send an email or call.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am and is filed under Fairfield, Ohio, For Buyers, West Chester Ohio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  1. Can Joe Six Pack Obtain a Mortgage? said at October 15th, 2008 at 11:01 am

    [...] A good loan officer will do a thorough credit review, and if it needs to be improved- offer you counseling on how to improve your FICO score. [...]

  2. How to Get Six Pack Fast said at April 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am

    If you ever want to see a reader’s feedback :) , I rate this post for 4/5. Detailed info, but I just have to go to that damn msn to find the missed parts. Thank you, anyway!