Low Credit Score Home Loans

For the most part, you can obtain a home loan with fair credit. In some cases, you may even be able to get a low rate. Unfortunately, if your credit score falls below 500, homeownership may be impossible. Even with a credit score below 600, your loan options are limited. It's important for anyone contemplating buying a home to improve their credit rating.

Lenders will carefully review your credit report and score before approving your mortgage. Late payments, collection accounts, excessive debts, and inquiries contribute to having a high or low credit score. Mortgage rates are based on credit rating. Therefore, if you're hoping to get a great mortgage rate, which equals lower monthly payments, now’s the time to improve credit.

Save Enough Money for a Down Payment

Because it's difficult for hard-working people to save money for a down payment and closing costs, various loan programs will incorporate fees into the total loan amount. However, if you have bad credit, a down payment can improve your chances of getting approved for a home loan.

The ideal down payment is 20% of the home price. However, lenders are willing to accept smaller amounts. If possible, attempt to have a down payment of at least 3% to 5%. Aside from boosting approval chances, a down payment may help you secure a lower rate.

Use the Right Lender for a Bad Credit Loan

To obtain the best mortgage loan with a low credit score, you need to use a sub prime or high risk lender. Some traditional lenders offer sub prime loans. However, choose a lender that specializes in bad credit loans. You may obtain better rates with a bad credit mortgage lender.

If you have any questions about low credit score home loans, please use the comment link below to ask. Your email address will never be published here.

Bailouts Galore

Is anyone out there besides us sick of all the government bailouts? Everyone and their brother seems to be getting in line to ask the government to "bail them out."

As the printing presses for the bailouts run at full speed, those in power are no longer even pretending that the new giveaways will fix our problems. Now that we are used to rewarding failure with taxpayer-funded bailouts, we are being told that this is “just a start,” more funds will inevitably be needed for more industries, and that things would be much worse had we done nothing.

The updated total bailout commitments add up to over $8 trillion now, and is anyone really thinking it will stop there?

HELLO!!!

The brutal truth that no one in Washington dares acknowledge is that our economic problems can only be solved by a reduction in consumer borrowing and an increase in savings.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

Barcode Shopping

Using the new smart phone from Google, shoppers can instantly scan barcodes to find the best prices on almost any product. The technology is still in its infancy, but here is just a hint at how we might all be doing our Christmas shopping in the future. (Video runs 1:24)…

You might want to hold off on asking Santa for one of these phones THIS YEAR… and wait for the price to drop. After all, how much are you willing to pay for a phone that helps you save a buck or two using the barcode scanning technology?

Tips for Keeping Costs Down During the Holidays

The economy is struggling and so are many of us. Home values are down in many parts of the country, credit has tightened and unemployment is rising.

So what do we do about it? Make sure you have a good grasp of your budget and expenses, as compared to your income. If you need to cut back on spending, it can be tough. Especially as we approach the holiday season. But there are some things you can do to keep your spending down before, during and after the holidays.

Here are Six Tips For Keeping Home Costs Down During the Holiday:

1) Keep your thermostat as low as possible – in a typical home, just lowering your thermostat a few degrees may save you hundreds of dollars each heating season.

2) Turn cool stuff in your house into gifts – we aren’t talking about giving old nasty items away, but if you’ve got something vintage and cool that you no longer need or use, someone on your gift list might just like it. And it won’t cost you anything out of your pocket.

3) Make your gifts at home – again, use supplies from around your house to make nice gifts for your friends and loved ones. Maybe you’re a great cook. Whip up some bacon/chocolate chip cookies that will have them begging for more. Or if you’re an artist, design a cool piece for their home.

4) Eat in and keep your money in your pocket – if you’re like many Americans, you eat out a lot. It might be fun for your taste buds and stomach, but it’s hard on your pocketbook. Cook at home, buy foods in bulk and the cash will grow in your wallet. And eating at home is almost always more healthy.

5) Shop online – yes, that may seem like some pretty self-serving advice from an online mortgage company, but shopping online can really same you some cash. No one is advocating not supporting local businesses and shops. Especially in today’s tight economy, supporting your community is vital. But you’ll probably be surprised to find that even your local favorite merchants are online and may be offering discounts and deals for online purchases. And you can always take a deal you find online to your local store and see if they’ll match it. Even if they have to offer you a discount, they’ll likely be willing to meet you somewhere between "no deal and deal" to get the sale.

6) Refinance and GREATLY lower your mortgage payment – the #1 way to keep cash in your pocket and have more for the things that you really care about is to take advantage of mortgage rates that are dropping to near historic lows. Just about any mortgage professional out there can do a quick analysis of your current mortgage and find out if refinancing makes sense. It probably does right now. And if you think you are paying too much for your mortgage and have a rate that is over 6%, you probably are. And an added bonus for anyone who refinances this month is that you’ll likely get to skip a mortgage payment in January, giving you badly needed money to help with the crunch of holiday bills.
These are just a few tips and ideas that can help with your finances during this holiday season. Some may make sense for you, some may not. And you may even come up with some other or better ways to cut costs and still have a wonderful holiday season with your family, friends and loved ones.

We'd love it if you have any other ideas to share. Just use the comment link below to tell us about your ideas. Your email address will never appear here to protect you from receiving unwanted email.

Foreclosure Relief: Not Until Obama Takes Over

Any use of $700 billion in financial industry rescue money to aid homeowners will come after President George W. Bush leaves office next month. That word came recently from Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.

While the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has proposed to use $24 billion from the financial bailout to help borrowers, Frank declined to specify how much should be spent but said it won't require new legislation.

Frank also threatened to tie up the remaining half of the $700 billion financial industry rescue money unless the Bush administration provides some of it for borrowers facing foreclosure.

Data released recently shows that more than half of all homeowners who had their loans modified to make the payments more affordable in the first half of the year already are in default again, raising questions about whether government money may be better spent on creating jobs, rather than averting foreclosures.

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