Credit Myths: My credit isn’t good enough to get a mortgage

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This week, the Minnesota Homeownership Center is covering the second of three deeplyrooted myths that can keep you from considering homeownership for yourself–the myth of bad credit.

How can you qualify for a mortgage if you have bad credit?

The short answer is you can’t. But short answers don’t always tell the whole story. The truth is credit scores are simply a snapshot in time. They go up and down regularly based on actions you take. Most importantly, they can be improved if you know what to do.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to fixing their credit is believing they need to pay for this specialized help. You should never pay for credit repair services, as they’re available to anyone, for free, through reputable non-profit community-based agencies.

When you engage this professional help, you’ll be guided step-by-step through a process designed to permanently address what’s holding your score down. Sometimes there are inaccuracies on your record that need to be challenged and removed. More commonly, there are one or two items that can be addressed directly to affect a substantial improvement.

How to improve your credit score

Improving your credit score is not necessarily something you want to try doing on your own without specific knowledge. Because our credit system is complex and not very transparent, what might seem like a good move can actually end up hurting you.

Let’s say, for example, you have two or three old storespecific credit cards you no longer use. Contacting the vendor and closing these accounts would actually cause your credit score to decline, because the total amount of potential credit extended to you has now been reduced.

No credit is a problem too

Another problem is having ‘no credit,’ or a ‘thin credit file.’

New arrivals to this country encounter this the most, as they have not been here long enough to establish a credit record. But it’s also another

For simplicity’s sake, let’s start with the fact that the lowest credit score generally required to qualify for a conventional mortgage is 620. (Don’t forget there are other qualifying factors as well, such as your debt-to-income ratio.) While you might qualify at this level, your interest rate is going to be higher than it would be if your score was 740 (generally the level at which you can qualify for the best interest rate). Credit improvement in this range can have a huge effect on the amount of house you can afford, since less of your monthly payment will be devoted to interest.

To illustrate, if you qualify for a mortgage with a monthly payment of $1,800, an interest rate and they were like, ‘This summer, we’re gonna go down to Chicago,’” he continued. “We went up to the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center observation deck. On top of the observation deck of what’s now the Willis Tower, I thought, ‘There’s nothing better than this.’”

Garrett grew up in the Twin Cities, attended Chelsea Heights Elementary, Ramsey Junior High (now Hidden River Middle School), and graduated from St. Paul Central High School. After high school, he ferent firms around town.

Later, he went to graduate school at Parsons School of Design, in New York City, where he got a master’s degree in architecture. Ultimately, Minnesota called him back, and he left New York to start a business in St. Paul.

Since starting his architectural firm, one of Garrett’s most important projects is one that is close to home for him and his 4RM+ULA partner Nathan Johnson.

“I’d say developing the Rondo Commemorative Plaza in St. Paul has been really important and cathartic in a lot of ways,” he said. “Both of my parents, my grandparents, and Nathan’s grandparents were all displaced from Rondo,” he noted, adding that Johnson is managing the project along with Lyssa Washington, the engagement coordinator and a project manager.

“We all lost property, land, and houses to the freeway. We lost part of our birthright in terms of what our families’ munity to help them create a space that articulates that hurt and that pain, but also celebrates what has survived and what has thrived, and to create space for future generations,” Garrett said. “I think that is a really, powerful project that we’re really proud of.”

The focus on community— in particular Black and Brown communities—is what makes 4RM+ULA unique among architectural firms.

“We integrate public engagement, community engagement into all of our projects,” Garrett said. “We like to get to know not only the client, but also the community stakeholders— the community at-large. We want to create an intervention that’s going to serve everybody or be inspirational to everybody. You can’t know what people’s hopes and dreams and aspirations are unless you have those conversations, and you open up those lines of communication,” he said.

“I think I realized early on

■ See BBS on page 8 area where what might seem like a good thing actually ends up being a bad thing. improvement from 7 percent down to 6 percent will move you from being able to afford a $270,000 house to now being able to afford a $300,000 house – all for that same $1,800 monthly payment.

Let’s say you operate your personal finances on a strictly cash basis. You might not have any debt at all, since you can’t spend what you don’t have.

But when it comes to a loan, you don’t have a credit record either, and so you’re not going to qualify for a mortgage.

Credit repair professionals can guide you through establishing credit as well as repairing it.

So we know you need a good credit score in order to qualify for a mortgage and buy a home.

But how good is an important factor to understand as well.

What’s a good credit score?

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial transactions you’ll ever make. But you don’t have to navigate the home buying process alone.

The Minnesota Homeownership Center and our partner advisors are here to help with homebuyer education classes and free, nonbiased, one-onone advisory services that include credit counseling and repair. These services are accessible and available to everyone, free of charge.

Homeownership is possible. We can show you how.

For more information on the Minnesota Homeownership Center and its advisor and education services, go to www.HOCMN.org.

Roof Depot

Continued from page 1 sites with the Roof Depot site. Residents and activists are worried about the increase in diesel emissions the project may generate, as well as its potential to disturb arsenic buried beneath the building.

Although it has already completed an environmental review and the project is ready to begin construction, the City cannot begin demolition until the Minnesota Court of Appeals finishes reviewing the proj-

anchoRs

Continued from page 1 decision to fire him. Lemon’s termination comes during a year in which the longtime anchor and host had repeatedly run into controversy. ect and issues its opinion.

A spokesperson for the City said they spent “at least $16.7 million [from a fund dedicated to building out the city’s water infrastructure] to purchase, plan, develop and prepare the site.” EPNI would have to raise that amount to purchase the building.

Rachel Thunder, an East Phillips community leader and member of the American Indian Movement, said in a statement that the opportunity to buy the building from the City is a victory for environmental justice and initiatives by government agencies to return land they took from Indigenous settlers. “This is a win for the land back movement, for our com-

In February, Lemon startled viewers and co-hosts when he implied that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was past her prime. Earlier, Haley made comments suggesting that political candidates over 75 should submit to mental competency tests, remarks Lemon and co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins didn’t appear to agree

MetRo tRansit

Continued from page 1

Service changes needed

The agency says change is necessary. The agency’s average weekday boardings hovered around 125,000 in March 2023, half of February 2020 levels. Meanwhile, with the opening of the Orange and D Lines, bus rapid transit routes appeared to exceed pre-pandemic ridership at the end of 2022, while local bus retained 55 percent of its pre-pandemic ridership and commuter express route ridership retained 15 percent of its prepandemic ridership.

Metro Transit also struggles with hiring drivers as they address how to ensure that drivers are not assaulted while on the job. Even though the agency’s hiring events have been successful, as of February they remain 200 drivers short.

Hypothetical routes

To provide service where people need it the most, the agency could make the following hypothetical changes. To provide service where people need it the most, the agency could make the following hypothetical changes. They could keep service as it is now, running the 11, 17 and 18 every 15 minutes, even though the 18 carries more riders than the 11 and the 17. Or they could choose to provide as many trips as possible in transit-dependent areas and make people walk farther to a bus route by eliminating all of Route 11, as well as Route 17 service in Minneapolis, to increase Route 18 service so that it runs every five minutes, and extend it to run in northeast Minneapolis to Columbia Heights. Route 17 ser-

Yia Xiong

Continued from page 1 with.

“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime—in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.”

“Prime for what?” Harlow replied. Lemon then challenged his colleagues to Google when a woman is past her prime.

Harlow provided Lemon with an out, offering that he may have been referencing childbearing years. “Don’t shoot the messenger; I’m just saying what the facts are,” Lemon replied. “Google it.”

In March, a story published by Variety listed allegations against Lemon that he mistreated female colleagues at CNN.

“I am stunned,” Lemon tweeted: “After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought some- munity, and sets a national precedent for community-driven initiatives in urban areas overcoming environmental racism,” said Thunder. one in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.

Rep. Hodan Hassan and Sen. Omar Fateh, both DFL-Minneapolis, have introduced bills in their respective chambers to provide $20 million for EPNI to purchase and prepare the site. Both bills have been heard in committee and can be included in a larger bill addressing capital investment, although time is of the essence with the end of the session only four weeks away.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@spokesmanrecorder.com.

“It is clear there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run.”

CNN countered Lemon’s statement, stating on Twitter, “Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.” vice could then run every 15 minutes between Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park and the Uptown Transit Station.

Stacy M. Brown is the NNPA Newswire senior national correspondent.

Park, the agency could increase service on the 721, 722, 723 and 724 and make them run later into the evening while eliminating the commuter express routes that serve it, like the 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 766, 767 and 768.

Increasing Route 721 service and having it run later on the weekend was something many Route 721 riders desired when they spoke with the MSR on a rainy Thursday afternoon. They complained that limited service on Route 721 prevented them from being able to get to and from work and to spend time with family.

“I can’t work on the weekends, because I can’t get home [with the 721 not running]. I spent time with my kids on the weekend and I [had] to rush back to [Brooklyn Center Transit Center] to get home. It’s not fair. We can’t get out, if the bus don’t run,” said Mya Major of Crystal, adding the alternative to taking the 721 involves walking 12 blocks from the 724.

In St. Paul, Metro Transit could run the 63 every 10 minutes seven-days-a-week, while eliminating the once-hourly Route 70 service on Burns Avenue. Service on White Bear Avenue on Route 80 could also be eliminated, in favor of the agency’s long-planned extension of Route 3A to Sun Ray Transit Center as well as increased service on the 54M.

In another scenario, Metro Transit could let riders travel quickly and conveniently to busier destinations. They could eliminate the 22 and instead extend Route 722, to run from Brooklyn Center to downtown Minneapolis via the Shingle Creek neighborhood and Interstate 94, while at the same time having Route 14 run every 10 minutes in south Minneapolis.

In the western suburbs, Route

A cuaj puam is commonly used for cutting meat, wood, or plants while gardening. Herr believes Xiong was unable to explain his actions due to a language barrier.

“Yia Xiong actually did a good cause of diplomacy, a gesture to the child and the family,” Herr said. “But instead, the family translated to something else totally opposite of the intention of Yia Xiong, and it escalated to something else until Yia’s death.”

Toshira Garraway Allen, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence (FSFAPV) has been supporting Xiong’s family since the killing. Garraway Allen says she thinks the officers were wrong, and that she did not see “any immediate danger” to the officers’ lives.

“It’s really sad and it’s hurtful that we would be going through something like this at a time

645, a limited stop route that serves St. Louis Park, Minnetonka and Wayzata, could either be permanently stops only at the West End shopping complex in St. Louis Park, Ridgedale and downtown Wayzata, as well as one or two additional stops along the way. Route 645 riders would then have to take a service similar to Metro Transit’s northside micro service to get to where they need to go.

Prioritize daytime service eliminated so the agency can focus on serving busier transit routes, or restructured to be an express route for the first time since 2017, making like this, and that’s how you know the culture of policing has to change,” Garraway Allen said.

In yet another scenario, the agency could prioritize offering transit service during the day when more people are riding. This could mean overnight service on the 5, 10, 18, 19 and the Green Line, suspended when the pandemic began because the agency found a disproportionate amount of biohazard incidents happened overnight, may never return.

Riders have until May 15 to take a survey on how Metro Transit should prioritize its service. They can also participate at two meetings the agency plans to host, one at the Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center on Tuesday, May 2, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., and one at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 4, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The agency also plans to host two online meetings on Wednesday, April 26, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. and Friday, April 28, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Metro Transit plans to restore service that was cut to operate once every two hours late last year to run once an hour in June. They plan to have details available in mid-May.

“Because even while the world is watching Minnesota, that clearly there is a major problem, things like this are still happening. I know that the family just feels so disrespected.”

A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Appre-

Another scenario could allow the agency to serve the suburbs as much as they serve Minneapolis and St. Paul proper. In Brooklyn Center, Crystal, New Hope and Brooklyn vices at the BCA, contacted him on Monday, April 17, to say that the investigation would conclude in about three weeks and that the results would be forwarded to Attorney General Keith Ellison.

“I pray that they prosecute the officers who were involved in the shooting. That’s what to make sure they do their investigation thoroughly and impartially. But you never know. It could be anyone’s guess and we hope for the best—that justice prevails in this case.”

Learn more about the Network Now initiative at www.metrotransit.org/network-now.

Garraway Allen said she had “little to no trust” in the BCA and doubted that they would file charges. She also noted frustration with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and SPPD Chief Axel Henry for not discussing the killing with Xiong’s family in detail, until after the conclusion of the BCA investigation.

“All I could do was hug his wife as she cried,” Garraway Allen said, regarding supporting the family after their meeting with city officials.

“The people in these political seats, we wonder, do they see the wrong the rest of us see,” Garraway Allen said. “Are their positions more important to them than to stand up for what they know in their hearts is right?” superintendent of investigative ser- everyone in the coalition for justice for Yia Xiong pray for,” Herr said. “We have been trying to pressure the police and the government

Herr said he and Xiong’s family plan to meet with Mayor Carter and Chief Henry again after the BCA concludes its investigation.

Cole Miska welcomes reader comments at cmiska@spokesman-recorder.com.

By Evette Porter Managing Editor

Playwright Pearl Cleage’s

“What I Learned in Paris” is set in the early 1970s amidst the excitement and jubilation of Atlanta’s election of its first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson Jr. In 1972, Maynard’s election was seen as the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement and its leadership, who had emerged from the city’s established Black middle class anxiously anticipating the arrival of its own version of the