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Buying a Home

The 10 most important do’s and don’ts while appling for a mortgage!

Ok, you are buying a home or just wanting to refinance your current mortgage, you have submitted the application and you have been approved!

Great, your home free; nothing can go wrong now, right? 

Well not exactly; depending on how long it is until you take possession of your house (the closing date), or when the refinance is to be complete you still need to keep your financial affairs in order.

The biggest reason for this is, that your bank or lender may do another credit check before you take possession of your home. Most lenders want the credit bureau they have on file to be within 30 days of the closing date. 

So if you applied for your mortgage before you started shopping for a home, and the closing date for your new purchase is 45 – 90 days in the future, you can bet your last dollar that the bank will do another credit check and the consequences of any changes to your financial position could mean your mortgage may need to be altered, you may be asked for a larger down payment, or it could be flat out declined.

So to avoid any headaches, lost sleep and unnecessary stress, just follow these simple tips and you will be fine.  

  1. DON’T APPLY FOR NEW CREDIT OF ANY KIND
  2. DON’T PAY OFF COLLECTIONS OR CHARGE-OFFS
  3. DON’T CLOSE CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS WITH ZERO BALANCES
  4. DON’T MAX OUT OR OVER-CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS
  5. DON’T CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT ONTO 1 OR 2 CREDIT CARDS
  6. DON’T DO ANYTHING TO CAUSE A RED FLAG TO BE RAISED BY THE SCORING SYSTEM
  7. DO JOIN A CREDIT WATCH PROGRAM
  8. DO STAY CURRENT ON EXISTING ACCOUNTS
  9. DO CONTINUE TO USE YOUR CREDIT AS NORMAL
  10. DO CALL YOUR MORTGAGE BROKER

DON’T APPLY FOR NEW CREDIT OF ANY KIND

This includes those “You have been pre-approved” credit card invitations you receive in the mail. 

Every time that you have your credit pulled by a potential creditor or lender, you lose points from your credit score immediately. Depending on the elements in your current credit report, you could lose anywhere from 2-50 points for one hard inquiry.

This also includes car loans, you may be surprised at how many people get into the spending mode after finding a home, and they go out and buy a new car too.

If the lender finds out, they will incorporate your new car payment into the application, and this new payment will lower the maximum mortgage you qualify for.

Not a big deal if you have lots of room between the maximum mortgage you qualify for and the value of the home you buy. However, a massive deal if there is not much room, and even worse, if the new maximum mortgage is lower than the value of your new home purchase your mortgage to be declined days before closing.

This is the most important rule, just don’t add any new debt during the home buying/refinancing process unless you talk to your mortgage broker first. 

DON’T PAY OFF COLLECTIONS OR CHARGE-OFFS

This may sound counter-intuitive, but paying collections will decrease your credit score immediately due to the date of the last activity becoming recent. 

So wait for your mortgage broker to instruct you when to pay off the collection; follow their guidance and they will help to ensure that it will not impact the mortgage process. 

Don’t get me wrong, the bank will likely ask you to pay it off before they give you a mortgage, but it’s the timing that’s important. 

Bonus Tip: Make sure you confirm the debt is yours, you would be surprised how many times I have seen people with accounts registered to their name that aren’t theres!

DON’T CLOSE CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS WITH ZERO BALANCES

If you close a credit card, line of credit or Store account with a zero balance, it could cause your utilization ratio to increase. Debt Utilization is calculated by dividing the amount you owe by the amount you have available, and it is a crucial ratio that helps drive your credit score.

Example: 

Amount OwingCredit Limit
$3,000.00$5000.00
$0.00$5000.00
$0.00$5000.00

Utilization = 20%

In this example, after closing your 2 Accounts with zeros balances, your ratio jumps to 60%. This is a simple example, but I hope you can see that it is easy to negatively impact this ratio. 

Bonus Tip – Change any unwanted credit cards to a no-fee option instead, the rate may be higher, but honestly if you’re not going to use the card don’t worry about the rate. Just leave the card in place and let it help lower your utilization ratio.

Plus, closing a card will affect other factors in the score, such as length of credit history; keeping your cards open shows great stability over longer periods of time. 

DON’T MAX OUT OR OVER-CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS

This is the fastest way to immediately bring your score down 50-100 points. Try to keep your credit card balances below 30% of their available limit during the loan process. If you decide to pay down balances, do it across the board – divide the amount of the extra payment across all your cards or choose the card with the highest utilization ratio and bring it into line with your other cards.

DON’T CONSOLIDATE YOUR DEBT ONTO 1 OR 2 CREDIT CARDS

It seems like it would be the smart thing to do, however, when you consolidate all of your debt onto one card, it appears that you are maxed out on that card, and the system will penalize you as mentioned above for high utilization. If you want to save money on credit card interest rates, wait until after closing.

DON’T DO ANYTHING TO CAUSE A RED FLAG TO BE RAISED BY THE SCORING SYSTEM

This would include adding new accounts, co-signing on a loan, changing your name or address with the bureaus. The less activity on your reports during the mortgage process, the better.

DO JOIN A CREDIT WATCH PROGRAM

If you join a credit watch program, you can check your reports weekly, or even daily depending on the program you select. 

This way, if something does show up on your reports that has caused your score to go down, you’ll know it immediately, and you may be able to take care of the problem before closing. They are also a great way to detect fraudulent transactions and identity theft. 

Don’t worry, when you use this service to pull/check your own reports, you don’t get dinged at all, there are no negative consequences for these type of programs.

DO STAY CURRENT ON EXISTING ACCOUNTS

This one may sound obvious, but it still needs to be said. One 30-day late can cost you anywhere from 30-75, and CMHC has a requirement that you have no missed payments within the past 12 months, so please keep your credit clean!

DO CONTINUE TO USE YOUR CREDIT AS NORMAL

Don’t worry, too much! If you are pre-approved feel free to continue to use your credit as you normally would. Use your card, make your payments, and keep your balance low!

DO CALL YOUR MORTGAGE BROKER

If you have any questions, call your Mortgage Broker! We see tonnes of credit reports and we can likely give you some straight forward advice on almost any credit situation, trust me, I have seen it all.

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