Word: loan
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...professional financial planner, New Yorker Melissa Levine routinely helps clients guard against unpleasant surprises. But even she has been rattled by the wild ride that mortgage interest rates have taken recently. Since setting out in early June to refinance the loan on her co-op apartment, Levine has watched interest on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage shoot up from 5% to 6%. Although she initially locked in the lower rate, a delay in the processing of her application could have meant missing the 60-day processing deadline--and getting stuck with the higher prevailing rate and a bigger monthly...
...important? Because the first thing banks and other lenders do when you apply for a car loan, a new credit card or that mortgage for your dream house is check out your credit report and ranking. Your credit score, often called a FICO score after the Fair Isaac Corporation, which calculates the number, gives lenders a snapshot of your financial life and can determine whether you'll qualify for that loan and how much you'll pay for it. The scale ranges from 300 to 850; the average consumer's score...
When Rowe discovered she had landed an abysmal 519, she logged on to Fair Isaac's website, www.myfico.com to find out what she could do about it. Her report said she had defaulted on a student loan twice (it happened only once) and listed credit cards she didn't have. By correcting those mistakes and continuing to pay her bills promptly, she raised her score to 700 within a year...
...rate of 6% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage last week, compared with a rate of more than 9% for someone whose score was in the low 500s. The difference could be very costly--translating into $162,177 in extra payments over the life of a $200,000 loan...
...your score, including paying bills on time, keeping a low balance on your cards and getting new credit only when you really need it. As a rule you should order copies of all three of your credit reports and scores at least three months before you apply for a loan, so that you have time to correct any errors...