Tips for Improving Your Credit to Apply for a Mortgage

So, you are thinking of starting your search for your new home. Whether you are looking for your first home or need to find a bigger place to fit the growing family, it’s an exciting time, but also stressful. How many rooms do you need? Backyard with a pool or no pool? What are the Must-Haves on your checklist? Before you make the big decision, you absolutely need to think about one huge component – your credit score. Now if you have great credit, that’s awesome – begin your search! But for those who need a bit of work on raising their credit before applying for a mortgage, try out these tips and tricks to help you get to where you need to be:

• Check Your Credit Report Beforehand: Before going in to apply for a mortgage and finding out your credit report through the mortgage lender, check out your credit report on your own using sites like Credit Karma to see if there is anything that is affecting your credit score negatively.
• Don’t Miss Any Monthly Payments or Pay Late: This seems like common sense, but sometimes life just happens and payments happen late or you’re so busy that you missed one month. If that happens, relax – things will turn around. Make sure to make any late or missed payments prior to applying for a mortgage to help raise your credit score.
• Timely Payments Are Important: Like we said above try and make all of your payments on time. Not only will this help improve your credit score, but it will also push all those not-so-great items on your credit report further down the list making your report look better.
• No New Debt: After paying off all of your bills and checking to see what was negatively affecting your credit score, one of the most important things to do next is to make sure you don’t add on any new debt. Don’t give yourself another headache by trying to figure out how to get your credit score back up after all of your hard work. Stick to a budget – this will help you in the long run!

Once you feel comfortable with your credit score, set your budget, make your ‘Dream Home Checklist’ and start your search for your new dream home – Happy House Hunting!

Photography by [Andy Dean Photography] © shutterstock.com