Mortgages

Getting A Mortgage With Bad Credit

Posted in Mortgages on February 23rd, 2011 by Jim – Comments Off

Many of us are finding ourselves in situations we never thought we would be in because of the economy. We are in a bad recession, something that was not even a thought a few years ago. Because of this, many have lost jobs because of so many businesses closing their doors. Of course with no job, keeping up on payments become even more difficult, which makes your credit suffer. Many who had excellent credit not too long ago, are facing the task of now trying to re-mortgage their home with bad credit now. That is not an easy thing to do. You will have to do a lot of searching but they are out there, finding them is a challenge but with determination you will.

One thing you cannot do is give up. It may be difficult to get a mortgage with bad credit, because of the risk involved, but it’s not impossible. These days with so many facing the same situation, many mortgage lenders are starting to work with people with low credit scores. Shop around and keep looking until you find one. It may be a lot of work, but it will be worth it, once you are signing the paperwork for your new mortgage.

Another thing that you must do when searching for a bad credit mortgage, is to go to as many lenders as you can to get quotes. This way, you can shop around and find the best deal you can get. You don’t want to go with someone who is going to charge the highest amount of interest that they can. Find someone who will work with you to make your payments affordable for you. Don’t let yourself get into a situation where the payments are so high that you can’t possibly afford to make them.

Is it Possible to Find a Good Interest Rate for a Bad Credit Mortgage?

Posted in Mortgages on September 21st, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

Bad credit mortgages are taken as being synonymous with high interest rates. By deciding to lend a person with bad credit, the mortgage lender is taking on a very huge risk, and for this, they expect to be rewarded with a higher interest rate. Sometimes, interest rates on bad credit mortgages can be as much as double what conventional mortgages are charged!

As a detached observer, looking from the sidelines, all this might seem very reasonable. After all, if a mortgage lender is giving their money to a high risk borrower, isn’t it only reasonable that they be rewarded with a commensurate interest rate?

Learn how to pay your mortgage by converting your pounds to dollars (if you have any).

If you are the person with bad credit in question, however, the matters are not likely to be so clear-cut. You will tend to feel that being charged too high an interest rate is somehow unfair – because truth be told, the factors that push people into the ‘bad credit’ status tend to be factors well beyond their control. Some people with bad credit are in fact very honorable people, who wouldn’t dream of running away with anybody’s money. It is just the circumstances of life, things like sudden job losses while modestly indebted or mistakes with credit cards made in one’s youth, which force them into the bad credit status.

It is from this background, then, that the question arises, as to whether it is possible to find a good interest rate for a bad credit mortgage.

And counterintuitive as it may sound, it is indeed possible to find a reasonably good interest rate for a bad credit mortgage.

The first key to finding such a good interest rate for a bad credit mortgage is shopping far and wide. Unlike conventional mortgages, ‘sub prime mortgages’ (the sort given to people with bad credit) vary greatly in terms of interest rate, from lender to lender. And a difference of a fraction of a percentage point, say something like a difference of 0.3% can translate to a considerable sum of money in repayments. The key here, again, is shopping far and wide.

The second key to find a good interest rate for a bad credit mortgage is working out just how bad your credit score is – because it is not always as bad as it looks. You may consider a score such as 650 low, only to realize that this is actually considered a decent credit score, one that can have some conventional (rather than sub prime) mortgage lenders to consider lending you.

The third key to finding a good interest rate for a bad credit mortgage is working towards raising as much in terms of deposit as possible, while also working on other parameters that mortgage lenders – conventional or sub-prime – look at in working out interest rates. Good scores in things like proven income stability, a low debt to income ratio and so on can go a long way towards lowering the interest rates you are charged, your bad credit score notwithstanding.

Getting A Remortgage

Posted in Mortgages on September 15th, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

Does it ever seem that no matter what you do, your lender just won’t work with you? They’ve already got you signed to a contract, and they see no reason to lower your interest rate, never mind that it’s killing you. Fortunately, there’s always the option of going to a different lender! In the case of a mortgage, that means getting a remortgage, which is just a replacement mortgage with a different lender.

The nice thing about a remortgage is that while your original lender won’t want to lower your rate as they’re already making money off of you, the new lender is interested in earning your business, and (assuming rates have dropped and your credit rating has held up since you got the original mortgage) should offer you a better deal.  Of course, lower interest rates aren’t the only reason to take out a remortgage. You might be having financial troubles and need a lower monthly payment, which you can achieve by extending the terms. You might also need to draw down the equity in your home, which you can do by taking out a new mortgage for more than you currently owe on the home.

You do have to keep an eye out for some potential problems. First off, make sure there’s no early payment penalty on your original mortgage, or at least that you’re outside the early repayment charge period; otherwise, the fees can easily cancel out the benefits you’re getting from switching. Also, if you’re extending your payments (or rolling in other types of debt), you can easily end up spending more money in the long run due to taking longer to pay off what you owe. Also, if your original mortgage was at a fixed rate and you end up switching to a variable rate, you could easily end up owing more money if interest rates increase significantly in the future.

If your credit is not so good, you can still get a remortgage, but the rates will be higher. A bad credit remortgage will still be much easier to get than a second mortgage, as you’re replacing your mortgage rather than adding to it, and the new bank will become the primary lien holder. Fortunately, interest rates are currently very low, so if you can qualify for the remortgage even with bad credit, the rates won’t be that high compared to just a few years ago, and if your credit is the same or only modestly worse than when you took out the original mortgage, you may still be able to improve your rate by quite a bit.

Is a remortgage right for you? Talk with your financial advisor and find out!

What You Can Do To Get a Bad Credit Mortgage

Posted in Mortgages on August 20th, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

Many people are trying to take advantage of the great prices in housing right now. You could be one of them, even if you have bad credit. While lenders are more reluctant to write a sub-prime or bad credit mortgage, they can happen under the right circumstances. What can you do to get one of these mortgages? Read on.

There are really three things to consider: your FICO score, your debt-to-income ratio and your down payment nest egg. These three things play off each other in different ways depending on the values of each part. If you have a high FICO but a high DTI (debt-to-income), you may be just fine. Or if your FICO is in the 500s but you have a sizable down payment, that might be just fine, as well. The thing to worry about is having a bad FICO, a high DTI and little to no down payment. You will not qualify for a mortgage, not even with bad credit mortgage rates, with all three of those against you.

To get a bad credit mortgage loan or a bad credit refinancing package, you need to work on your credit score, first and foremost. This is the key to how the lenders view you and your request. You can do a lot to improve your score and you don’t need to pay a service to for that either! These days everyone is trying to make money by helping you improve your credit score. Ignore those ads and do the work yourself. It is not hard. First, request a copy of your score, if you don’t have that information already. Look for any old lines of credit. Do you still have that Shell gas card? If not, you can write to the credit bureau and request that the account be marked closed by consumer. It is important to make sure it is not marked closed by the company. That would be a huge black mark on your score.

Next, the lenders look at how much debt you have when compared to your income. If you carry too much debt, the lenders will be reluctant to loan to you, for free that you will default. Pay off as much debt as you can, before you apply for a bad credit mortgage. Even if it is small debt, having less debts listed on the lender report is a good thing.

Last, if you do not have any sort of down payment ready, don’t waste your time. These days, no matter your credit score, you have got to have a down payment in order to buy a house. That would sound odd to our grandparents who knew that a down payment was required for a mortgage, but in the last two decades, those rules went out the window. Now they are back and to stay, most likely. So you need 20% of the loan’s value as your down payment. Accept it and move on. House prices and interest rates are likely to be good and low for a few more years, so focus on saving for a down payment and cleaning up your FICO.

Advice On Property & Buy To Let Mortgages

Posted in Mortgages on August 17th, 2010 by Jim – Comments Off

If you on the lookout for an investment to make in the world of property and considering buy to let mortgages, it takes a lot of thought and time if you are going to get the right deal for your circumstances and for it not to cause you grief anywhere along the line. There are however some pointers that will maximise your chance of finding the perfect property and snapping up the best buy to let mortgage out there for you. The following are just a few.

1. Choose the locaion of the property you are buying very carefully. The area is important as it can often decide the value of your investment, and can cause your price to fluctuate depending on certain factors such as crime amenities and local planning permission being granted. Do some research in those sectors by searching on the internet and determining if the area is worth you money.

2. Figure out how much the property you are looking to invest in will make you per month in rental yield. Do not just take the estate agent or house sellers’ word for it, as they may lie to you about the true amount so they can get a quick sale. Again, look on the internet or contact letting agencies and pose as a searching tenant.

3. Spend some time to find out what the value of similar properties to yours in the area are worth. You can find this out quite easily just by looking at estate agent listings, this is so you pay a fair price for any house of flat you look into.

4. Rule out any properties in undiscovered areas, as they are usually undiscovered becaouse of some off putting reason. The only time you should even think about it is if you are advised to do so by a reputable professional.

5. Do not leave out any estate agents in the local area when looking for a property, this ensures no offers that would be of interest to you are left out.

6. Do not restrict yourself to just a certain area, always include the surrounding areas when you are looking at properties, providing that they are good areas as well. There is no reason to be picky about the area as it will not be yourself that lives there!

7. Make sure that you take plenty of time to compare buy to let mortgages that are on the market. This is not something that can be done quickly, even if you do have an understanding of it all.

8. If there are any houses or flats that you like but they are in a state of disrepair, consider how much time and money that will take to get it back up to renting standard.

9. Do not sign anything or put any money down until the property has been inspected fully.

10. When you have finally found the one that you want to buy, bargain with the seller over the price, because there are occasions where the seller may accept a lower price if they know the sale will happen straight away.