Understanding Your Credit Score

What Is A Credit Score?

When lenders evaluate a loan application, a process called underwriting, they try to evaluate your ability and willingness to repay the loan. They judge the borrower’s ability to repay by reviewing the income and stability of past earnings. This practice helps the lender to determine if the borrower can afford the loan payments. The review of past credit history is used to judge the willingness of the borrower to repay the loan.

Lenders want their evaluation to be as accurate, objective and consistent as possible. To help achieve this goal, home mortgage lenders use credit scores to assist in the underwriting process. Credit scores are numerical values that rank individuals according to their credit history at a given point in time. A credit score is based on past payment history, the amount of available credit, and other factors. According to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two large investors in mortgage loans, credit scores have proven to be very good predictors of whether a borrower will repay his or her loan.

Credit scores are just one of many factors considered in the underwriting process. The lender will review the many components that make up the financial situation of a borrower. Even when a credit score is low, there are other factors that could overcome the negative credit issues and satisfy other underwriting criteria.

What is a FICO Score?

"FICO" scores are a type of credit score developed by Fair Isaac & Company. FICO scores use credit bureau information to obtain a score which indicates how likely someone is to pay their loan payments on time. FICO scores range from approximately 350 to 900. The higher the score, the lower the probability of default on the loan.

How Can Credit Scores Affect the Price of the Loan?

Just as credit scores are one factor in determining loan qualification, they may also be a factor in determining the price of the loan. The price of a loan means the interest rate and the points charged by the lender. The price charged for a loan will be higher or lower depending on various factors.

Credit scores are used in determining the price of a loan because they are believed to be good predictors of a borrower’s ability and willingness to repay the loan. Therefore, applicants with lower credit scores may pay higher prices for their loans because of the higher risk of default and loss on the loan. Many home loans are sold to investors, and investors will pay a more favorable price for loans they feel have a low risk of default.

There are many other factors relating to an individual borrower’s situation that may also affect the price of a loan, often even more than credit scores. These include the type of property securing the loan, the amount of the borrower’s equity in the property, the value of the property compared to property value in the area, the lender’s cost to make the loan and the type of loan selected. For example, a loan secured by a single family residence may have a lower price than a loan secured by a condominium because condominiums may be more difficult to sell than single family residences. Similarly, the price of a loan for which the borrower has made a 20% down payment may be less than a loan for which the borrower has made a 5% down payment because the first borrower has more equity in the property and, thus, a greater incentive to make the payments of the loan.

Estimate Your Buying Power

Lenders use two standard (but somewhat flexible) guidelines to determine how much of a monthly mortgage payment you can afford. The first guideline is that your household should spend no more than 28 percent of its gross monthly income (before taxes) on monthly housing expenses, including: mortgage principal and interest, hazard insurance, real estate taxes and private mortgage insurance, if applicable. However, some lenders will stretch that figure to 33 percent. The second guideline is that your monthly household expenses (as outlined above) plus other debt should not exceed 36 percent of your gross monthly income, although some lenders will stretch this to 38 to 40 percent. How can I estimate how much of a monthly mortgage payment I can afford? First, calculate your monthly household income, including that of your co-borrower, if you have one. In addition to regular wages, don’t forget to include overtime, bonuses, commissions, dividends/interest, alimony/child support and any other income. A. Your Maximum Allowable Housing Expense After you total your gross monthly income, multiply it by 28 percent to get your maximum allowable housing expense. 1. Gross Monthly Income $ 2. Multiply By 28% x 28% 3. Your Maximum Allowable Monthly Housing Expense $ B. Your Debt Now, determine your debt. Credit cards, car payments, student loans, alimony or child support should be included here, as should any debt incurred by your co-borrower, if you have one. 1. Installment and revolving debts (credit cards) $ 2. Car Loans $ 3. Student Loans $ 4. Alimony/Child Support $ 5. Other Long-Term Monthly Debts $ Total Debt $ Now that I know this, what can I afford relative to my overall debt? Most lenders generally will allow you to allocate up to 36 percent of your household income to overall debt, although some lenders will allow you to go up to 40 percent under the right circumstances, including a larger down payment. You can calculate your maximum allowable combined housing and monthly debt in the space below:

Income vs. Debt Ratios

As you think about applying for a home loan, you need to consider your personal finances. How much you earn versus how much you owe will likely determine how much a lender will allow you to borrow.

First, determine your gross monthly income. This will include any regular and recurring income that you can document. It is the average income of a 2 year time period. Unfortunately, if you can't document the income or it doesn't show up on your tax return, then you can't use it to qualify for a loan. However, you can use unearned sources of income such as alimony or lottery payoffs. And if you own income-producing assets such as real estate or stocks, the income from those can be estimated and used in this calculation. If you have questions about your specific situation, any good loan officer can review your documents.

Next, calculate your monthly debt load. This includes all monthly debt obligations like credit cards, installment loans, car loans, personal debts or any other ongoing monthly obligation like alimony or child support. If it is revolving debt like a credit card, use the minimum monthly payment for this calculation. If it is installment debt, use the current monthly payment to calculate your debt load. And you don't have to consider a debt at all if it is scheduled to be paid off in less than ten months. Add all this up and it is a figure we'll call your monthly debt service.

In a nutshell, most lenders don't want you to take out a loan that will overload your ability to repay everybody you owe. Although every lender has slightly different formulas, here is a rough idea of how they look at the numbers. Typically, your monthly proposed housing expense, including monthly payments for taxes and insurance, should not exceed about 28% of your gross monthly income. If you don't know what your tax and insurance expense will be, you can estimate that about 15% of your payment will go toward this expense. The remainder can be used for principal and interest repayment.

In addition, your proposed monthly housing expense and your total monthly debt service combined cannot exceed about 36% of your gross monthly income. If it does, your application may exceed the lender's underwriting guidelines and your loan may not be approved.

There are a number of factors within your control that affect your monthly payment. For example, you might choose to apply for an adjustable rate loan that has a lower initial payment than a fixed rate program. Likewise, a larger down payment has the effect of lowering your projected monthly payment.

A lender takes into account many factors that reflect the financial condition of a homebuyer. With a variety of loan programs, buying a home is possible.

What Can I Afford?

There is a rule of thumb that says that if you have the capacity to repay the mortgage, you can afford a single-family house that costs up to two and one-half times your annual gross income. (Annual gross income is the amount you make before taxes are deducted.) Like other rules of thumb, this is a general idea of how large a mortgage you can afford. But, because it is so simple, it doesn't take into account all the information that will help you feel comfortable with your mortgage payments.

If you are buying a house with someone else (spouse, parent, adult child, partner/companion, brother or sister or other relative), you should consider your co-purchaser's earnings and existing debts as well. Remember, if you apply for a loan with somebody else, you and your coborrower are both legally responsible for repayment of the mortgage.

Your buying power depends on how much you have available for the down payment and how much a financial institution will agree to lend you.

Your down payment
If you are a first-time home buyer, the price you can afford to pay for a house may well be limited by your ability to come up with the required down payment and closing costs. If you haven't accumulated much savings, you may want to set aside funds for a down payment on a regular basis from your paycheck. Monies in your checking and savings accounts, mutual funds, stocks and bonds, the cash value of your life insurance policy, and gifts from parents or other relatives may all be suitable sources for a down payment.

Private Mortgage Insurance
Depending on the lender and loan type, you may be able to get a mortgage with as little as 3 percent or 5 percent down. However, putting less than 20 percent down often means you will be required to purchase private mortgage insurance. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) helps protect the lending institution in case you fail to make payments on your mortgage.

Avoiding PMI
It is possible to get financing with 0-10% down and not pay PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance). This is why 80-10-10 financing was created. It is called 80-10-10 because a lender provides a traditional 80% first mortgage, a 10% second mortgage, and makes a cash down payment equal to 10% of the home’s purchase price. The same principle applies if the borrower can only afford to make a 5% down payment: 80-15-5 financing is also available.

Your closing costs
In addition to the down payment, you will also need to consider closing costs. The closing is the final step during which ownership of the house is transferred to you. The purpose of the closing is to make sure the property is ready and able to be transferred from the seller to you.

Closing costs generally range from 3 percent to 6 percent of the amount of the mortgage. So, if you were to buy a $100,000 house with a 5 percent ($5,000) down payment, you could expect to pay between $2,850 and $5,700 on your $95,000 mortgage. Sometimes, you can negotiate with the seller of a property to pay some of your closing costs, which will reduce the amount of money you will need to bring to closing.

How much a financial institution will lend you
Apart from having available funds for a down payment and closing costs, the other major factor limiting how expensive a house you can buy will be how much you can borrow.

When you apply for a mortgage, the lender will consider both your earnings and your existing debts in determining the size of your loan. Lenders generally use the following two qualifying guidelines to determine what size mortgage you are eligible for:

The amount of money you owe for mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and condominium or co-op fee, if applicable, should total no more than 28 percent of your monthly gross (before-tax) income. This is called the Housing Expense Ratio. The amount of money you owe for the above items plus other long-term debts should total no more than 36 percent of your monthly gross income. This is called the total Debt-to-Income Ratio.

Basically, lenders are saying that a household should spend no more than about one-fourth of its income (up to 28 percent) on housing and no more than about one-third of its income (up to 36 percent) on total indebtedness (housing plus other debts). Lenders feel that if they follow these guidelines, homeowners will be able to pay off their mortgages fairly comfortably.

These lender ratios are flexible guidelines. If you have a consistent record of paying rent that is very close in amount to your proposed monthly mortgage payments or if you make a large down payment, you may be able to use somewhat higher ratios. Some lenders offer special loans for low- and moderate-income home buyers that allow them to use as much as 33 percent of their gross monthly income for housing expenses and 38 percent for total debt.

Don’t Despair, There is a Loan For You
When you go to apply for a mortgage, the lender will use all the relevant data -- your income, your existing debts, the purchase price of the house, your down payment, the interest rate on the loan, and the cost of property taxes and insurance -- and calculate whether you qualify to borrow the amount of money you need to buy the house.

Tax Credit To Expire Soon: Another Reason To Act Now

The present tax credit for move-up and first time buyers also expires this spring. Sales contracts must be signed by April 30. With low rates and lower home prices, this is the time to act. Even the Federal Reserve Board has stated that rates are likely to rise this spring as they begin to unwind their support of the mortgage markets. The following information on the tax credit was posted on the National Association of Home Builders Website.

How to Get First Time Home Buyer Credit

This article is from the Realtor.org Essentials for August, 2009:

You've decided to purchase a home and take advantage of the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. Here's what you have to do to get your benefit:
Close on your home purchase by November 30, 2009,
Ensure that you are a qualified first-time buyer under IRS guidelines,
Decide which year to file under, 2008 or 2009,
File an amended 2008 return or choose to apply the credit to your 2009 tax return.

Deciding When to Apply the Credit
If you want the benefits of your credit as soon as possible:
You might choose to file under your 2008 tax year. Since April 15 has already passed, you would have to file an amendment to your return. However, if you've already filed for an extension of your 2008 return, then you can simply claim the credit when you submit your return.

If you anticipate a drop in income next year:
You can wait to claim the credit as part of your 2009 filing. In some cases the value of the credit might be higher, particularly if in 2008 you qualify for only a partial credit because your income is over $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint).

Your Next Steps
Once you have determined which year to apply the tax credit, you will need to do two things to claim the credit:
1. Fill out Form 5405 to determine the amount of your available credit, and
2. File an amended return for your 2008 taxes, or wait and apply to credit when you file your 2009 tax return.

Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Announced

The news is full of information on the new plan to help homeowners in trouble. Click here for a link to a great chart of who will qualify per a New York Times article.

We received the update below from the National Association of Realtors that discusses in detail the latest help planned for homeowners in trouble:

On February 18, 2009, President Obama announced his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, designed to help up to 7-9 million families avoid foreclosure by restructuring or refinancing their mortgages. There are three main elements.

1. GSE Refinancing for Responsible Homeowners Suffering from Falling Home Prices.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the government sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) will refinance the mortgages for 4-5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by the GSEs. The streamlined refinancing program is designed to help borrowers with loan-to-value ratios above 80 percent up to 105 percent.

2. $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners
The goal of the 3-year Homeowner Stability Initiative is to reduce the monthly payment of homeowners to affordable levels using $75 billion from TARP and the GSEs. The program will be available for home owner-occupants “at risk of imminent default” even if they are current in making mortgage payments, as well as those already delinquent. It will only apply to mortgages at or below the GSE conforming loan limits.

Key elements of the plan:
· The lender world first be required to reduce rates, without assistance, so the monthly payment does not exceed 38 percent of borrower income (debt-to-income ratio of 38 percent). After that, federal assistance would be used to match, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, further reductions to bring the debt-to-income ratio down to 31 percent.
· After 5 years, the rate could increase gradually to the loan rate in effect at the time of the modification.
· Lenders may reduce monthly payments by reducing principal. Federal assistance would share the cost (up to the amount the lender would receive for reducing interest rates).
· As an incentive to loan servicers, they will receive $1,000 up front for each qualified loan modification. For borrowers who stay current on the modified loan, servicers will receive a monthly “pay for success” fees up to $1,000 a year for 3 years.
· As an incentive to borrowers, borrowers will receive a monthly reduction in their mortgage balance, up to $1,000 a year for 5 years.
· As an additional incentive to help borrowers avoid going into delinquency, servicers will receive $500 and mortgage holders will receive $1,500, if they modify at-risk mortgages before the borrower becomes delinquent.
· As an incentive for lenders to modify more mortgages, the Obama plan—together with the FDIC—has developed a partial guarantee initiative. The Treasury Department will establish an insurance fund of up to $10 billion to discourage lenders from foreclosing on mortgages, by limiting their lose if home prices decline more than expected. Mortgage holders of modified mortgages could receive a payment on each modified loan, linked to home price index declines.
· Treasury will establish uniform guidelines for loan modifications, working with bank regulators and the FDIC. All financial institutions receiving Financial Stability Plan assistance will have to agree to follow the guidance. The GSEs will use the guidance for their loans, and the government will work to apply them “when permissible and appropriate” to all federally owned or guaranteed loans, including Ginnie Mae, FHA, Treasury, Federal Reserve, FDIC, VA and Agriculture loans.
· The plan includes other elements, including:
o Strong oversight .
o “Allow Judicial Modification of Home Mortgages During Bankruptcy for

Borrowers Who Have Run Out of Options.” Only mortgages under GSE loan limits would qualify. Homeowners must first seek a loan modification. Legislation is needed. The plan also anticipates legislation to give FHA and VA authority to pay partial claims if there is a bankruptcy or voluntary loan modification so holders of FHA and VA guaranteed loans are not hurt.
o Funding for displaced renters and neighborhood stabilization.
o Improving Hope for Homeowners and other FHA programs.

3. Supporting Low Mortgage Rates by Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The Obama Plan beefs up the current support for the GSEs.
· The Treasury Department is doubling, from $100 billion to $200 billion for each GSE, its pledge to invest money to make sure that the GSEs maintain a positive net worth. This will further assure that the federal government is committed to maintaining the mission of the GSEs. In a statement issued today, Director Lockhart described this mission as “providing much-needed liquidity, stability and affordability to the housing market at this time.” He went on to say that doubling the commitment “should remove any possible concerns debt and mortgage-backed securities investors have about the strong commitment of the U.S. Government to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” He expects the increased commitment to help keep interest rates low, which will help both current and future homeowners. The additional $200 billion is from HERA in connection with the conservatorship, not from the Financial Stability Plan or TARP.
· Treasury will continue to buy GSE MBSs, as announced when the GSEs were placed into conservatorship.
· The GSEs will be able to increase their portfolios by $50 billion to $900 billion, and increase their outstanding debt.
· The Administration will work with the GSEs to support state housing finance agencies.