credit report - Can an Ex Hurt Your Credit?

There are a lot of people out there that don't believe that a spouse's credit can affect theirs. But it can. A loan applicant may look great -- good income, history of savings and strong employment -- but the credit report looks a little off. There are some late pays, even a charge off, on a few accounts. A little code indicates that the applicant's spouse has the credit problem, not the applicant. This often happens when a couple is divorced. Even though the divorce decree clearly states who is responsible for which debt, including credit cards, mortgages, debits and defaluts. Yet these items are still showing up on the applicant's credit report. You, the innocent party, may still be viewed as a responsible party. If you have a situation where you were jointly obligated with someone else to repay on a car loan, a boat or a credit card, you need to do some things before you go in to apply for a mortgage. You have to understand that a divorce decree will do little to remove any joint debt from your credit history. You have to take care of it yourself. The first step is to obtain your credit report to see if your ex is actually hurting your credit rating or not. Even though you make your monthly payments on time, if any joint debt is reported as a derogatory account, your credit rating and ability to obtain a mortgage will seriously be affected -- especially if you wait a long time to change the information. If you find that your credit rating is harmed by someone in your past, you need to be prepared to document everything for your lender. For example, you will need to provide your divorce decree that shows who is responsible for what. If you have agreements from your ex's credit companies releasing you as a responsible party, be prepared with those as well. Sometimes joint accounts can create other problems. For example, your ex agreed to keep the house, take title and make the mortgage payment. Unless the mortgage is refinanced into the single owner's name, you are probably still responsible for paying the mortgage -- regardless of what your divorce decree states. If you see that a mortgage is showing up as active on your credit report in your name, you may find that you aren't able to secure another mortgage. Why? Your credit report shows that you are already responsible for a mortgage payment. You will need your divorce decree in this case. If you can get copies of canceled checks from your ex showing timely payments to the mortgage company for the past 12 months, this will show that you aren't the one making the payments. But the canceled checks will only help you if the mortgage payments are on time. If there are several late payments on the mortgage, your ex may have to refinance the old debt entirely before a lender will give you a new mortgage. Don't be surprised if your old agreements aren't being followed. Before you go to apply for a mortgage loan, take the time to review your credit report. It will save you a lot of trouble later on. Martin Lukac, represents http://www.RateEmpire.com, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more. Find low home loan mortgage interest rates from hundreds of mortgage companies! Visit http://www.RateEmpire.com today. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Lukac credit report - Free FICO Score Reports If you are in the market to buy a new car or a house, or even to rent property, your FICO score will be checked. The main benefit of credit scoring, lenders argue, is that they can make decisions faster by using automated systems. You may now ask, "What is a FICO score?" A FICO score is a scoring method developed by the Fair Isaac Corp. to aid the three major credit bureaus, namely, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. It is a computer model that assesses your credit worthiness against several other customers. In the past, when you applied for a credit or loan, you were in complete darkness about your credit score. The lender would request the score from one or more credit bureaus and, if you wanted to access such information, you were required to a certain amount of fee. At the present, you can access your credit reports without any charge. You can also have your credit score report send to you via email or post mail free of cost, at a regular time period, such as once monthly. In the past, if there were too many inquiries made on your credit, your credit scores use to go down. However, when you access your credit report now, it doesn't affect your credit score. Scores also vary based on current credit activity. Since credit bureaus only calculate your score at the lender's request, it will be based on the information in your file at that particular credit bureau, at that particular time only. There are also many website and companies that now help customers understand and get their credit reports for free. They guide the customer through the process and teach them how to access such information. You would have seen the popular television advertisement of "Freecreditreport.com" You also see a lot of banner advertisements on the web about the subject.

credit report - Free FICO Score Reports

If you are in the market to buy a new car or a house, or even to rent property, your FICO score will be checked. The main benefit of credit scoring, lenders argue, is that they can make decisions faster by using automated systems. You may now ask, "What is a FICO score?" A FICO score is a scoring method developed by the Fair Isaac Corp. to aid the three major credit bureaus, namely, Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. It is a computer model that assesses your credit worthiness against several other customers. In the past, when you applied for a credit or loan, you were in complete darkness about your credit score. The lender would request the score from one or more credit bureaus and, if you wanted to access such information, you were required to a certain amount of fee. At the present, you can access your credit reports without any charge. You can also have your credit score report send to you via email or post mail free of cost, at a regular time period, such as once monthly. In the past, if there were too many inquiries made on your credit, your credit scores use to go down. However, when you access your credit report now, it doesn't affect your credit score. Scores also vary based on current credit activity. Since credit bureaus only calculate your score at the lender's request, it will be based on the information in your file at that particular credit bureau, at that particular time only. There are also many website and companies that now help customers understand and get their credit reports for free. They guide the customer through the process and teach them how to access such information. You would have seen the popular television advertisement of "Freecreditreport.com" You also see a lot of banner advertisements on the web about the subject. FICO scores provides detailed information about FICO scores, FICO score calculation, and more. FICO scores is affiliated with Filing Bankruptcy Online. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Josh_Riverside credit report - Pay Your Mortgage on Time All of us have trouble getting along financially from time to time. There may be a reason behind it that is simple to identify such as losing your job or having a lot of hospital bills come up unexpectedly, but no matter how much trouble that you are having there are certain things that you should never do if it is at all possible, and one of those things is paying your mortgage on time. Here is why you should worry about your mortgage before you worry about any other bill. Having a mortgage late on your credit report is one of the worst things that you can have happen. It sticks with your credit report for a long time and if you ever need to refinance your home or get another mortgage this will be something that will make it much more difficult. Of course you never want to have any late payments show up on your credit report but having a late mortgage payment is by far the worst that you can do. So protect your credit and make sure that you are paying your mortgage on time. Take a good look at your mortgage bill see if they have a grace period where you may be able to buy a little extra time before you are actually late. That might help you to make your payment on time as well even though it may not be on the actual due date. Keeping a clean credit report is very important for many reasons. If you are having problems, figure out how to start keeping it clean from this point on, and if your credit report is clean already make sure that you keep it that way. A clean credit report will follow you through your life and help you to get more of what you need.

credit report - Pay Your Mortgage on Time

Get Your Prepaid Visa Today All of us have trouble getting along financially from time to time. There may be a reason behind it that is simple to identify such as losing your job or having a lot of hospital bills come up unexpectedly, but no matter how much trouble that you are having there are certain things that you should never do if it is at all possible, and one of those things is paying your mortgage on time. Here is why you should worry about your mortgage before you worry about any other bill. Having a mortgage late on your credit report is one of the worst things that you can have happen. It sticks with your credit report for a long time and if you ever need to refinance your home or get another mortgage this will be something that will make it much more difficult. Of course you never want to have any late payments show up on your credit report but having a late mortgage payment is by far the worst that you can do. So protect your credit and make sure that you are paying your mortgage on time. Take a good look at your mortgage bill see if they have a grace period where you may be able to buy a little extra time before you are actually late. That might help you to make your payment on time as well even though it may not be on the actual due date. Keeping a clean credit report is very important for many reasons. If you are having problems, figure out how to start keeping it clean from this point on, and if your credit report is clean already make sure that you keep it that way. A clean credit report will follow you through your life and help you to get more of what you need. For additional information on housesforsale, businesscreditcards or creditcardapplications visit our website. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Miers credit report - What Are Junk Fees In A Mortgage Deal Basics A junk fee or a garbage fee is a fee that is either: an unnecessary fee a legitimate fee that is too high Unnecessary Fees You should not have to pay an application fee. This is a basic fee that you should always avoid. No mortgage broker or lender that is competent and fair needs to charge a borrower up front just to apply for a loan. The most you will need to pay is a fee to cover the cost of your credit report. This is an expense a mortgage broker or lender will incur to check your credit. A credit report usually costs less than $50. The mortgage broker or lender should only charge you what the credit report costs them, and not markup this cost. Legitimate Fees That Are Too High There are many fees that you will be charged that a mortgage broker or lender can control because these are items they directly charge you. You generally shouldn't pay a processing fee over $1,500. Check to see if this can be lowered. You also generally shouldn't pay more than 1-2 "points" up front on your loan. A point is one percent of the loan's size. If your property is very small in value there may be an exception to this. You shouldn't have to pay very much to have your appraisal report evaluated. Although you may need to pay for an appraisal report (usually around $350) you can pay this directly to the appraiser. The mortgage broker or lender should not charge high fees to analyze the appraisal report to see what kind of loans you may be eligible for. This fee is almost always only charged by the lender because they have a staff that reviews the appraisal for accuracy. Saving Your Money You can save money by carefully evaluating competing loan offers. Make sure your loan offers are comprehensive, and that the offer represents all the costs you will incur. It is easy to get a lowball offer. Just because an expense is not listed on an offer doesn't mean you will avoid it. The offers are usually only estimates.

credit report - What Are Junk Fees In A Mortgage Deal

Basics A junk fee or a garbage fee is a fee that is either: an unnecessary fee a legitimate fee that is too high Unnecessary Fees You should not have to pay an application fee. This is a basic fee that you should always avoid. No mortgage broker or lender that is competent and fair needs to charge a borrower up front just to apply for a loan. The most you will need to pay is a fee to cover the cost of your credit report. This is an expense a mortgage broker or lender will incur to check your credit. A credit report usually costs less than $50. The mortgage broker or lender should only charge you what the credit report costs them, and not markup this cost. Legitimate Fees That Are Too High There are many fees that you will be charged that a mortgage broker or lender can control because these are items they directly charge you. You generally shouldn't pay a processing fee over $1,500. Check to see if this can be lowered. You also generally shouldn't pay more than 1-2 "points" up front on your loan. A point is one percent of the loan's size. If your property is very small in value there may be an exception to this. You shouldn't have to pay very much to have your appraisal report evaluated. Although you may need to pay for an appraisal report (usually around $350) you can pay this directly to the appraiser. The mortgage broker or lender should not charge high fees to analyze the appraisal report to see what kind of loans you may be eligible for. This fee is almost always only charged by the lender because they have a staff that reviews the appraisal for accuracy. Saving Your Money You can save money by carefully evaluating competing loan offers. Make sure your loan offers are comprehensive, and that the offer represents all the costs you will incur. It is easy to get a lowball offer. Just because an expense is not listed on an offer doesn't mean you will avoid it. The offers are usually only estimates. Get Mortgage Rates, 25+ Free Mortgage Calculators, Mortgage Quick Tips and Much More Mortgage News from Archer Pacific Payment Option Mortgage News Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Afzal credit report - Beating Identify Fraud Here are a few tips to ensure you don't become a victim of identity fraud. Keep your pin a secret - This cannot be stressed enough. Never tell anyone your pin. Never write your pin and keep it with your credit card. If you do and your credit card is stolen the fraudster will have full access to your money and you will be fully liable for any losses. Conceal your pin at the ATM - Cover the hand keying the pin into the keypad with the other hand. The fraudsters are extremely innovative and have been known to place cameras to record the pin number. Shred - Don't throw your old bank and credit card statements and utility bills with your rubbish. Fraudsters are now sourcing dustbins to get hold of these documents with your name and address. Armed with this information they can make applications for credit in your name. Inform your bank and utility companies of your new address - When you move home and don't inform the relevant bodies of your new address the fraudster can intercept post sent to you at your old address. He can then use the name and address to prove where you live and obtain credit in your name. Check your credit report - The fraudster can only make an application for credit in your name if they have access to your bank/credit card statements or utility bills. So remember the importance of shredding the aforementioned documents and ensuring that no one else can access the same. Obtaining a credit report will reveal if any lenders have checked your credit file. The lender will only check your credit file if you have made an application for a credit. If you know you have not made any such applications report it directly to the lender so that you do not become a victim of identity fraud.