Showing posts with label Points. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Points. Show all posts

3 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score by 50 Points In Less Than 30 Days

In Less Than 30 Days.

"What can you do to increase that set of three numbers on your credit report that can be so important with your financing?"

I came across this question as I was surfing discussion groups the other day. Check out my answer:

Dear Friend,

Here are 3 steps I used to take my credit score from 592 (horrible credit) to 762 (perfect credit) almost overnight. If you're interested in improving your credit rating quickly, you'll find this story helpful:

In 1995 I made a decision that would ruin my perfect credit history. I quit my salary job to become an insurance salesman. The job paid commission only. Within a few months I lost everything - house, car, credit rating and my self respect.

By the end of 1996 I was living with my mom, all my credit accounts were severely past due, and I was paying 22% interest on a broke-down green Geo Storm...I was a real loser.

Then, in 1997, I became a banker. I didn't know it at the time, but this would turn out to be the break I needed to eliminate my credit problems forever.

During my seven years as a banker, I came across several legal and highly effective ways to improve my credit rating. As a result, I was able to increase my credit scores by an average of 170 points.

Here's what I did:

Step #1: After spending hundreds of dollars on credit repair services that didn't work, I found out how to get negative accounts removed on my own.

Basically, I wrote letters to the collection agencies requesting proof that the accounts were mine. 89% of the time they had no proof that the bad accounts belonged to me. So I was able to get them deleted from my credit file.

Step #2: I opened new accounts with high credit limits and kept the balances low.

I discovered that if you keep your available credit limits high and only use 10% to 30% of the credit you have available, your credit score will improve dramatically.

Step #3: Next, I added accounts with years of perfect payment history to my credit file. This step took my credit score from 647 to 762.

While you can certainly add seasoned accounts to your credit file for free, there are companies that claim they can do it for a fee.

The problem is, they charge between $2,000 and $2,500 per account. If you want a 700+ credit score you'll need 3 to 4 of these accounts. That equates to a cost of $6,000 to $10,000.

(You can conduct a search on your favorite search engine for companies that offer this service.)

While there are several highly effective steps you can take to increase your credit scores by as much as 200 points, these are the main ones...And here's the good news: Each step can be completed in less than 30 days.

Bake Chicken Foods

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Points or No Points? A Good Mortgage Calculator Can Help

In order to get a lower monthly payment lenders will give the borrower the opportunity to pay an up front fee which lowers the interest rate thus, paying less on their month to month housing note.

A good online mortgage calculator will do all the computation and analysis for you but we'll explain it for you below....

Here's how it works:

The up front fee is called "points". You typically pay 1% of the amount borrowed for each point:

Let's illustrate:

If the amount borrowed was $100,000 then 1 point would cost you $1000 ($100,000 x 1%) This in turn will lower, or "buy down" your interest rate by .25%. For example, if you only qualify for a 6.75% mortgage rate on a $100,000 loan, paying your broker $1000.00 up front can reduce the rate to 6.5%.

Determining if this is a wise move financially for your family depends on a few factors, mainly the length of time you are planning on staying in the home. Again, a good online mortgage calculator will compare the loan with and with out points. (The online mortgage calculator will ask you for principal, interest rate and number of points)

In another example borrowing $100,000 for 30 years at 6.75% with no points would result in a payment of $648 monthly (Principal and interest only... no tax or insurance in this example)

The same loan but charging the borrower 2 points:

- drops the interest rate to 6.25 %

- lowers the monthly payment to $615.00 monthly

- save $11,880 in total interest repayment

The above scenario makes sense if you plan on staying in the home for at least 5 years (break even point).

Again a good online mortgage calculator will clearly let you compare a loan with points and without points so you can determine :

- Total interest saved

- How many years break even

Break Even Point ...Huh?

The break even point is the number of years it takes to re-coup the expense of paying for the points upfront. To get a financial benefit from buying down your interest rate by purchasing points you need to stay in your house until after the total of the monthly savings realized is greater than the total amount of cash dished out on points.

To Illustrate...

The cost for 2 points above was $2000. Each month you save 33 bucks because you lowered your interest rate. So... $2000/$33 = 125 (payments or months) which is about 5 years

After about 5 years you've paid back all the cost of the points which now gives you the opportunity to avoid $11,880 in interest had you not purchased points.

So, points are not always bad if you want to lower your interest rate, It really depends on how long you plan on staying in your home and how much cash you have at the time of closing.

Bake Chicken Foods

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