Photo courtesy of phatman’s photostream via Flickr

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of this series, here are the links for your convenience.

Interviewing Mortgage Providers:

1. Leave with a “Loan Worksheet” in hand or with the promise of one over the next 3 days.Note: The “Good Faith Estimate” is no longer an estimate. As of January 1, 2010 it became a legally binding document. Lenders still using it are forced to ask you to pay up front for pulling your credit report. Essentially, this restricts your ability to shop around unless you’re willing to pay for multiple lenders to pull your credit report which would also affect your credit score each time.
2. Are your personalities a good match? Getting a loan can be very stressful and going through it with someone who gets on your nerves or intimidates you is not a good idea. I suggest face to face interviews because they give your instincts a better chance to kick in than phone interviews.

What you need to know before the interview:

For the record – it’s true that if multiple credit checks are done by a specific type of creditor, all within a 2 week period, each inquiry temporarily lowers your FICO score by approximately 5 points for around 6 months (after which it will bounce back up). They will also be visible to future people checking your credit. And, yes, there are hard and soft hits.

Bottom line: credit checks cost you one way or another. So why not play it safe? Especially since lenders Read the rest of this entry

Photo courtesy of phatman’s photostream via Flickr

Schedule interviews with 3 mortgage providers

Think of it as shopping for the best deal. You already know how to shop for the best deal on a stereo or TV or even a car. Shopping for the best mortgage deal for your particular financial situation is even more important because it’s one of the largest purchases of your lifetime.

A major mistake many homebuyers make at this stage is assuming every mortgage lender has access to every type of loan out there. That’s one mistake you won’t be making since we covered it in part 1 of this series.

Important tip about FREE credit reports:

On December 4, 2003 President Bush signed into law the right of every person to receive one free credit report per year.

The catch: Your score is NOT included.

Here’s how you get started:

Read the rest of this entry