Preparing Your Credit For a Mortgage Loan Looking to buy your first home? Most lenders prefer applicants with a solid credit and job history. Here are a few things to take care of well before you apply for a mortgage. 1. Lenders prefer to see steady employment which means at least 2 years with the same employer. Individuals who are self-employed may have to provide bank statements and previous tax year returns as proof of income. 2. Obtain your personal credit history from the three credit bureays; Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Review the personal section for discrepancies. Is your name spelled correctly? What about previous addresses and employment information? Contact the reporting agency if there are any items which need to be corrected. 3. Review the accounts section of the credit reports and make sure that all of your accounts are being displayed correctly. If there are any inaccuracies you may want to contact the creditor reporting the information in addition to filing a dispute with all three agencies. It's generally advised to take care of credit inaccuracies and disputes well before you decide to apply for a loan. If you do have late payments you can try to contact the creditor and ask them if they can remove it. They aren't obligated legally to do so but may, especially if you've endured a hardship. 4. If you don't have established a solid credit history now would be the perfect tiem to start.One of the easiest ways to do so is by obtaining a secured credit card from your credit union or bank. Department store credit cards with lower limits are generally also relatively easy to obtain. If you have existing accounts that are not being reported you may want to contact the creditor and ask them to report the account to all three credit bureaus.
Resources: http://www.equifax.com/home/en_us http://www.transunion.com/ http://www.experian.com/ http://www.loandepot.com/Purchase/PurchaseAHome.aspx