Credit Lines to Help Boost your Score!

To be eligible for a home mortgage, a new borrower needs to have at least 2 lines of credit.  Lines of credit are credit cards.  Usually new potential buyers require secured credit cards.  Here are a couple of cards that we recommend:

1. Opensky Credit Card - This card is easy to open and does not require a credit check since you are opening a card with a deposit. 

2. Chime Credit Builder Card  -This is another card that is great for new potential clients who are building credit.

3. Extra - This card is very new on the market.  It is a low cost way to obtain a card (I'd choose the 8$ a month option).  They link to your bank account and act as a debit card, but at the end of each month report the debits as a credit to the credit bureau.  

3. Self.com -This final site is a set installment loan with a minimum monthly payment that is reported to the credit bureaus. 

These are important items required to start building credit.  Most clients can attain a 640 or better within 6 months. 

Disputes- How Easy It Has Become! (This is exciting)

You can dispute derogatory items, late payments and incorrect information on your credit report online.  It's easy, fast and allows you to monitor the progress.  Each of the three credit bureau has it's own online portal that you register for and then dispute! Follow the links and dispute now! 

1. Transunion Online Dispute - Click and submit your Transunion disputes here

2. Equifax Online Dispute - Click and Submit your disputes for Equifax here. 

3. Experian Online Dispute - Click and submit your disputes here for Experian

ALWAYS DISPUTE BEFORE CREATING AND NEGOTIATING A PAYMENT PLAN

Questions: Why is my credit score on Credit Karma different from the score of my Mortgage Officer?

There are two key methods for credit scores to be evaluated:

1. Advantage Score-This score methodology is a great way to track your score progress.  It is NOT what is used when a mortgage officer pulls your credit. Credit Karma and most card companies that monitor scores use this method. 

2. FICO 8- This is the most usual method used by mortgage officers when pulling your credit. This is much more difficult to find - but it's important to try to see how both compare with each other before pulling credit for a potential mortgage. 

Each uses different scoring methods, and while they roughly follow each other, at times, and frustratingly, they can be different.  Therefore, before having the mortgage officer pull your credit, it's a good idea to get at least 1 FICO score pull - which is soft and doesn't impact your credit.  Here are good sources that allow you to follow your FICO score. 

1.  Discover Credit Scorecard - this is a Discover card product that provides a free Equafax FICO score.

2.  Experian Boost - This will give you an Experian boost by counting utility bills normally not counted, and give you your Experian FICO