What is a good FICO Score for Mortgage Loan Approval?

 What is a good FICO Score for Mortgage Loan Approval?

FICO Scores generally range from 300 to 850, where higher scores demonstrate lower credit risk and lower scores demonstrate higher credit risk (note: some types of FICO® Scores have a slightly broader range). 

What’s considered a “good” FICO® Score varies, since each lender has its own standards for approving credit applications, based on the level of risk it finds acceptable. So one lender may offer its lowest interest rates to people with FICO® Scores above 730, while another may only offer it to people with FICO® Scores above 760.

The chart below provides a breakdown of ranges for FICO® Scores found across the U.S. consumer population. Again, each lender has its own credit risk standards, but this chart can serve as a general guide of what a FICO® Score represents.

What is a Good Credit Score for a Kentucky FHA, VA, USDA, Fannie Mae Conventional KHC Mortgage Loan Approval?

What is a Good Credit Score

What is a Good Credit Score?

An established credit history and credit score often stands between potential home or car buyers and their dream. But What is a good credit score? What exactly is a credit score? What makes a credit score “good?” How to improve your credit score? If you’re new to building credit there are a few things you need to know in order to keep your credit looking stellar.

What is a credit score?
Your credit score is a numerical representation of your credit report. This three-digit number is like a badge that predicts risk, credit responsibility and determines your interest rates if you borrow money from lenders much like your CLUE Report. While you will be able to get a copy of your credit report you may not find this numerical key listed. Think of your credit score like the cliff notes version of your credit report. There are a few different measures of credit scores between divisions. Based on their own systems different scorers might view certain numbers in many ways.

what is a good credit score

Deciphering your three-digit credit score is quite easy if you know the levels. The range usually runs from 300-850. Good to excellent credit is considered anything from 700 to 850. If your credit score falls in this range you’re going great! Fair credit runs from 625-699, poor runs from 550-624, and anything below 550 is bad. Some finance experts would classify anything over 720 a good credit rating. Experts will disagree depending on their preferred credit rating systems, and in most cases the criteria you use to determine whether or not your credit score is good will not be far off.

What Does a Good Credit Score Mean?
Having a good credit score is great, but if you don’t know how to use it you could be missing out on some crucial credit building. Credit scores are used in varying ways by lenders and banks. One thing your credit score implies is how likely you are to pay back debt. Basically it announces how reliable you are as a borrower. People with good credit scores are more likely to pay back funds that they borrow while those with lower scores aren’t so reliable. Lenders like reliable borrowers, and good credit points them out.

But a credit score does much more than predict whether or not you’ll pay a loan back. When it comes to buying a house or car, there is an interest charge. Higher credit scores usually have a lower interest rate than those with bad to fair credit. Lenders not only base whether or not they’ll approve a loan by your credit score, but also how much interest to charge. If your credit is in good standing your interest rate won’t be as high as someone with bad credit. Your credit score saves you money with lower interest rates.

How is a Credit Score Calculated?
In order to build and maintain good credit you must first know how your score is determined. Once you know what goes into a credit score you can begin building your credit or nursing your score towards higher digits. Credit scores are based on your financial history only, and laws prevent your score being affected by things like race, gender, age and where you live. What is included are items such as your payment history, your current credit debts, age of your credit history, new credit items added to your accounts and types of credit used.

These five basic areas are where the bulk of your credit score is formed. All criteria have varying degrees of involvement in your score. For example:

• Payment history (35%) – How many on-time payments you’ve made, missed, defaulted and past due items
• Current amount owed (30%) – How much you currently owe – if you owe a large amount this could negatively affect your score
• Age of credit history (15%) – The average length of your credit accounts and time since last activity
• New credit (10%) – The number of new credit items on your accounts
• Types of credit (10%) – The kinds of credit accounts are you currently maintain

How to Improve Your Credit Score?
Many people avoid credit based on all the negatives they’ve heard against it, but neglecting your credit score hurts your chances of being able to make major purchases in the future. The best way to build credit is to use credit, and forming the following good credit habits early will pull your low score to higher ground.

• Pay bills on time – This is the easiest and best way to boost your credit score. Since the bulk of your credit score comes from your payment history, paying bills on time will pull you up quickly. Not only will that help, but a recent and consistent history of paying bills on time overshadow a period long in the past where you may have missed payments.
• Budget – Setting up a budget and staying within its parameters will keep you from overspending and using credit for frivolous things. Although using credit builds credit not being able to pay it off hurts more in the future.
• Use all your credit cards regularly – If you have a few credit cards try to use them from time to time in order to show that you use all of your accounts. Remember that the last usage of an account is 15% of your score.

Track a key aspect of your financial profile with your personal FICO® Score history graph. Simply navigate over any point of your score history and view the date the score was calculated. Check back each month to stay on top of changes.

Important items to note:

• We may not receive a new score for you each month. You won’t see a score if we did not receive one for a given month.
• Remember, FICO® Scores are based on data in your credit report, so changes to your score may be a result of changes in your credit report. You can request a free annual credit report from Equifax at www.annualcreditreport.com.

Please refer to our FAQs or Useful Links sections for more information.

FICO® Scores: What You Need to Know

Score Deciding Factors

35% payment history, 30% amount you owe, 15% length of credit history, 10% new credit opened, 10% type of credit.

 

Understanding Credit Reports and Credit Scores

When it comes to getting a home loan, does your credit report and credit score really matter? Can you use the free credit score you got off the internet to apply for a loan?  What if your credit score is low, can you get a mortgage? What if it is high, will you get a better interest rate? And what the heck is FICO?

So many questions. You’ve searched the internet and are still confused. If you are new to getting a mortgage and are overwhelmed by understanding your credit score you are not alone. Your credit score has a big  impact on your ability to qualify for a loan and get a favorable interest rate. Therefore, you should take the time now to understand it.

Here’s the good news. We’re here to explain things simply and clearly. Step by step we will walk you through all things credit. When we’re done, you’ll know what you need to know to understand how credit impacts your ability to get a mortgage so you can make smart home buying decisions.

Below are the important items we will discuss:

• What is a credit report?
• What do mortgage lenders use to determine my credit score?
• What does FICO stand for?
• What determines my FICO score?
• What’s a good FICO score?
• What if my FICO score is below 620?
• Can I get a copy of my credit report?
• Ah Ha! Now I understand all things credit and I’m this much closer to owning my home!

What is a credit report?

A credit report record’s your credit history including information about:

• Your identity: name, social security number, date of birth and possibly employment information.
• Your existing credit: credit card accounts, mortgages, car loans, students loans etc.including credit terms, how much you owe, and your payment history.
• Your public record: Judgments against you, tax liens or bankruptcies.
• Recent Credit Inquiries: Requests for your information from companies extending credit such as credit card companies, auto loans, etc.

Be aware, credit card companies, car companies and mortgage lenders use slightly different models to determine credit risk. Today we are focusing on Mortgage related credit.

How do lenders calculate my credit score?

Your credit score is the key to your castle. Your home is most likely the most expensive purchase you will ever make. Therefore, when buying a home, lenders use a different system for assessing risk than credit card companies or even auto loan companies use.

Mortgage lenders use a comprehensive system of checking credit called a Residential Mortgage Credit Report (RMCR), commonly called a “Tri-Merge” report. The RMCR report combines your three credit reports from the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Each credit reporting agency calculates your credit score or FICO Score differently. Therefore, pulling from all three bureaus gives lenders a more complete picture of your credit behavior.

Once pulled, lenders use the average of these three scores, usually the middle score, to determine loan qualification and interest rate. For example, if Equifax gives you a 720, Experian a 730 and TransUnion a 740, the lender will use the 730 FICO Score to help determine the terms of your mortgage. If you are applying for a loan jointly, your partner’s three reports will also be pulled.

What does FICO stand for?

FICO stands Fair, Isaac and Company. Over 25 years ago, lenders began using FICO’s scoring model, or algorithm, to fairly and more accurately determine a person’s credit risk. Since it’s inception, FICO’s continually updates its’ algorithms to reflect more current lending trends and consumer behaviors. Today, FICO Scores are used by over 90% of enders. Importantly, your FICO score can impact your loan interest rates, terms, approvals and more.

What determines my FICO score?

A Mortgage FICO score is determined by an algorithm that generally looks at five credit factors including payment history, current level of indebtedness, types of credit used, length of credit history and new credit accounts.

What’s a good FICO score?

To qualify for a conventional loan, most Mortgage lenders require a FICO score of 620+. The best interest rates go to borrowers with a 740+ FICO score. For each 40 point drop, borrowers can expect to see a slightly higher interest rates by about 0.2 percentage points.  If a borrower drops below 660, the increase is likely to be twice as big, a 0.43 percentage point increase. If your credit score is below 620, it is very difficult to get a conventional loan in today’s marketplace. However, don’t be discouraged. You may still be able to buy a home.

What if my FICO or credit score is below 620?

If your score is below 620, you may still be able to buy a home. There are several options:

• Put more money down. Some lenders offset a weak credit score with a higher down payment. A higher down payment gives you more equity in your home, lowering the lender’s risk.  
• You may qualify for a non conventional government issued loan such as an FHA, Veterans Affairs and/or U.S. Department of Agriculture loan which have less stringent lending requirements.
• You may work to get that credit score up!
  • Correct any errors on your report. Analyze your credit items line by line. If you notice a mistake, dispute it right away with either the credit bureau providing the report or the company that providing the incorrect information to the credit bureau.
  • Make all your payments on time. Late payments are the No. 1 way to lower  your credit score.
  • Pay down revolving debt. Keeping your credit balances low helps to raise your score.  
  • Sit back and relax. As long as you're paying down debt and making payments on time, your credit score will eventually rise on its own.

Can I get a copy of my credit report after a lender has pulled it?

Yes! In fact, you can get one free credit report every twelve months from each of the nationwide credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You may also purchase your credit score at any time from any of the credit bureaus. Some Mortgage lenders will tell you your score when you apply for a loan or even give you a copy of your report but they are not required to do so. However, if a lender denies you credit, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you are entitled to a free copy of your personal credit report if you have received notice that in the past 60 days you have been declined credit

Joel Lobb
Mortgage Loan Officer

Individual NMLS ID #57916

American Mortgage Solutions, Inc.

10602 Timberwood Circle 

Louisville, KY 40223

Company NMLS ID #1364

Text/call:      502-905-3708
email:          kentuckyloan@gmail.com

http://www.mylouisvillekentuckymortgage.com/

Text/call 502-905-3708 kentuckyloan@gmail.com

Disclaimer: No statement on this site is a commitment to make a loan. Loans are subject to borrower qualifications, including income, property evaluation, sufficient equity in the home to meet Loan-to-Value requirements, and final credit approval. Approvals are subject to underwriting guidelines, interest rates, and program guidelines and are subject to change without notice based on applicant's eligibility and market conditions. Refinancing an existing loan may result in total finance charges being higher over the life of a loan. Reduction in payments may reflect a longer loan term. Terms of any loan may be subject to payment of points and fees by the applicant  Equal Opportunity Lender. NMLS#57916 http://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/

-- Some products and services may not be available in all states. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. The content in this marketing advertisement has not been approved, reviewed, sponsored or endorsed by any department or government agency. Rates are subject to change and are subject to borrower(s) qualification.

We’ve dropped our minimum FICO score to 620 for Kentucky Mortgage Loan Approvals

We’ve dropped our minimum FICO score to 620 for Kentucky Mortgage Loan Approvals for FHA, VA, USDA and Conventional Mortgage Loans in Kentucky!

Now that’s refreshing!

Call me today to qualify your borrowers with one of our great programs:

KENTUCKY FHA MORTGAGE LOANS

Minimum credit score
620 AUS approved
640 manual
Non-Credit Qualifying Streamline refinances allowed
Gift funds allowed for down payment and closing costs
Cash out 80% LTV

KENTUCKY VA MORTGAGE LOANS

Minimum credit score
620 AUS approved
640 manual/640 High BA
Cash-out up to 90% LTV
Foreclosure/Short Sale/Bankruptcy <2 allowed="" approval="" aus="" p="" with="" years="">
KENTUCKY RURAL USDA MORTGAGE LOANS

Minimum credit score: 620
100% maximum LTV
Manual Underwrites
No maximum loan amount
Rate/Term refinances allowed


KENTUCKY CONVENTIONAL MORTGAGE LOANS

620 min score
Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac
Standard and High Balance
HomeReady
HomePossible

Joel Lobb
Mortgage Loan Officer

Individual NMLS ID #57916

American Mortgage Solutions, Inc.

10602 Timberwood Circle 

Louisville, KY 40223

Company NMLS ID #1364

click here for directions to our office

Text/call:      502-905-3708

fax:            502-327-9119
email:          kentuckyloan@gmail.com

https://www.mylouisvillekentuckymortgage.com/

Credit Scores Required for Kentucky Mortgage Loan Approvals for FHA, VA,...

Most lenders will wants a middle credit score of 620 for KY First Time Home Buyers looking to go no money down. The two most used no money down home loans in Kentucky being USDA Rural Housing and KHC with their down payment assistance will want a 620 middle score on their programs.


If you have access to 3.5% down payment, you can go FHA and secure a 30 year fixed rate mortgage with some lenders with a 580 credit score. Even though FHA on paper says they will go down to 500 credit score with at least 10% down payment, you will find it hard to get the loan approved because lenders will create overlays to protect their interest and maintain a good standing with FHA and HUD.


Another popular no money down loan is VA. Most VA lenders will want a 620 middle credit score but like FHA, VA on paper says they will go down to a 500 score, but good luck finding a lender for that scenario.


A lot of times if your scores are in the high 500’s or low 600’s range, we can do a rapid rescore and get your scores improved within 30 days.

New FICO changes could lower your credit score

New FICO changes could lower your credit score



 

The newest version of the FICO credit score unveiled on Thursday will have a broader view of how you manage your debt and will boost as many scores as it will hurt. 

Instead of relying on just a snapshot of your financial behavior, the new score, called FICO Score 10, will be able to peer into your financial habits for the past 24 months and determine – based on that history – if you’re a risky borrower.

About 40 million Americans will see their FICO score increase by 20 points or more because of the change, while another 40 million will experience a decline by at least 20 points, said Dave Shellenberger, vice president of product management at FICO. Another 30 million will notice smaller changes either way.

“These are the most predictive scores FICO has developed to date,” Shellenberger told Yahoo Money. “They really do an excellent job of reinforcing good consumer financial habits – making payments on time, not running up balances, taking out credit only when you need it. Those types of behaviors are rewarded strongly.”

FICO unveiled a new credit score that will help the credit scores of some Americans and hurt some as well. (Photo: Getty Creative)

Who will the new FICO score hurt?

The new score will judge certain risky behaviors more harshly.

For instance, if you build up balances on your credit cards over the last 24 months, that will hurt your score. Before, the FICO score could only see your current balance, and not the history of your growing credit card debt.

Another potential red flag is personal loans. If you consolidated credit card balances into a personal loan and then subsequently racked up new credit card debt, your score would reflect a riskier borrower.

This is especially timely, given the rise in personal loans over the last five years and increases in credit card debt, according to Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst with CompareCards.com.

“Personal loans have grown to be such a popular tool, it’s good that FICO is going to address that,” he told Yahoo Money. “We certainly have seen a lot of credit card debt move into the personal loan space.”

Building up credit card debt over time will hurt your score more under the new FICO version. (Photo: REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz)

Who will the new FICO score help?

The new score will be more forgiving of other behaviors that may be considered risky by earlier score versions. 

For example, if you run up your credit card balances over Christmas or on a summer vacation, but it’s a one-time spike, that won’t hurt your FICO 10 score as much. That’s because the model can look back on historical balances and see this is not a consistent pattern.

“In the past, the FICO score would focus on the most recent data,” Shellenberger said. “FICO 10 gives a more holistic picture that can help during an aberration. That sudden spike’s impact on your score softens considerably.”

Change ‘bound to happen’

A number of changes in the credit landscape prompted FICO to rebuild its score, an undertaking the company does every five years or so. Its score is the most widely used by lenders to determine who to lend to and at what interest rate.

The new score now utilizes so-called trended data in a person’s credit report that shows a person’s credit performance over the last two years. It also provides more granular data, such as the amount you paid toward your credit card.

Previous FICO scores didn’t take into account this trended data, but its competitor – VantageScore – uses the data in its latest score version.

FICO 10 also reflects major changes in credit reports in the last few years due to regulations and settlements. Tax liens, judgments, and medical collections paid by insurance have been removed from credit histories altogether, while defaulted medical debt can’t show up on a report for at least six months.

“This was bound to happen,” John Ulzheimer, a credit expert who formerly worked at FICO and Equifax, told Yahoo Money. “When you take away highly predictive attributes, the scoring models are going to more heavily weigh other attributes that haven't been watered down or removed from consumer credit reports.”

If you pay your bills on time and keep credit card balances low, your credit score will still be high, even under the new FICO score. (Photo: Getty Creative)

Same old credit score rules apply

No matter which FICO score is used, the three pillars of maintaining a high credit score remain the same:

• Pay your bills on time, all the time. 
• Keep balances on your credit cards well below their limits. 
• Don’t apply for too much credit, too often.

“If you do these three things over and over again,” Schulz said, “over time your credit will be just fine.”

Janna is an editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @JannaHerron.

Can you get a Kentucky Mortgage Loan with a 600 credit score in 2014?

In order to get a Kentucky FHA Mortgage Loan with a 600 credit score, you must meet the following requirements to qualify.

Note. some lenders require additional credit overlays that may affect your mortgage loan approval.

 

3 active trade line reporting to the bureaus (rent can count as one).

43% max debt ratio

2 most recent bank statements with 2 months piti in reserve

No bankruptcies or foreclosures in last 3 years  

Verifiable rent history from management company or cancelled checks if you rent from individual for last 12 months with no 30 day lates

3.5% down payment required. Cannot do the Welcome Home Program

***We require a 620 credit score for Kentucky USDA Loans and a 620 credit score for VA loans.

Fannie Mae Mortgage Loans require a 620 credit score. If mortgage insurance is needed for Fannie Mae loans, the minimum credit score is higher and subject to investor  mi approval.

Joel Lobb
Senior  Loan Officer

(NMLS#57916)

American Mortgage Solutions, Inc.

800 Stone Creek Pkwy, Ste 7,

Louisville, KY 40223

 phone: (502) 905-3708

 Fax:     (502) 327-9119

kentuckyloan@gmail.com

 Company ID #1364 | MB73346

http://mylouisvillekentuckymortgage.com/

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