If you’re thinking of buying a home, consider these when it comes to credit…
1. DON’T DO ANYTHING TO RAISE A RED FLAG WITH THE CREDIT SCORING SYSTEM. This includes co-signing on a loan, changing your name or address with the bureaus, updating any creditor information. The less activity on your credit report during the loan process, the better.
2. DON’T APPLY FOR NEW CREDIT. We all see those “You have been pre-approved” invitations either in the mail or online, but just applying for new credit will bring a credit pull which will lower your credit score immediately, anywhere from 1 to 20 points.
3. DON’T PAYOFF COLLECTIONS OR OTHER ACCOUNTS WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR LOAN OFFICER FIRST. Unless you are required to do so for the loan, don’t pay off any adverse credit. Doing so will lower your score immediately by making an old adverse account a recent one.
4. DON’T MAX OUT OR OVER-CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTS. This is one of the fastest ways to drop your credit scores, by as much as 50-100 points. Ideally, your credit card balances should be around 30% of your available limit. When you charge your account higher than that percentage, your balance-to-limit ratio gets higher, and your score goes lower.
5. DON’T CONSOLIDATE DEBT. When you consolidate several cards by loading your debt onto just one or two cards, you are affecting your overall balance-to-ratio on all of them. You inhibit potential payment history on the zeroed accounts, and appear maxed-out on the others. See #4. If you want to save money on interest rates, wait until after closing.
6. DON’T CLOSE OUT ANY NEW CREDIT ACCOUNTS. Two Reasons. One, when you close accounts, you lose “available” credit, which affects your overall balance-to-limit ratio. Secondly, closing an account reduces your overall length of credit history, since it will effectively ignore the good credit history you’ve maintained on that account in regards to your score.
7. DON’T MAKE ANY LATE PAYMENTS. Stay current on all of your payments. Once your payment goes 30 days late, your score can drop 50-100 points, and that can takes months, if not years to recover from.
8. DON’T LET ANY ACCOUNTS GO PAST DUE – NOT EVEN 1 DAY! Most of your credit cards allow a grace period, but what the don’t tell you is that once your due date passes, they will show your account is past due, even during that grace period. Past due balances can lower your score by up to 50 points.
9. DON’T DISPUTE ANYTHING ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT. Accounts that are listed as under dispute on your credit report are hidden from the credit scoring mechanism, resulting in a false score. When an underwriter sees a disputed account, they will require the dispute removed and a new report to be pulled.
10. DON’T INCREASE YOUR DEBT LOAD. Any new debt will affect your loan application, by increasing your debt-to-income ratio, and could affect your loan approval. Don’t charge new furniture or appliances until after closing.
Go to www.outputprescreen.com at least 48 hours before you apply for your loan!
On June 1, 2010, Fannie Mae implemented a new rule which requires a supplemental credit report to be pulled right before closing to make sure the borrower’s credit situation has not changed since the initial application. Any new inquiries or new debt will need to be explained and considered, whether or not a loan commitment has already been issues.
Special Thanks to Katie Karr, Senior Loan Officer, Bank Star, 22 Years Experience, NMLS#263796 k.karr@bank-star.com
Contact The Schrimpf-Gum Team with Prudential Lake Ozark Realty for your buying and selling real estate needs. Call: 888-366-6266 Email: Info@DemandDonna.com. Also Search the MLS at Donna.PruLakeOzarkRealEstate.com
Public Workshops for Project Boundary at the Lake
Happy New Year!
As promised, Ameren Missouri has moved aggressively in developing and providing for public input on our plan for changes to the Project Boundary at Lake of the Ozarks. The plan should alleviate some community concerns over the Project Boundary issue facing property owners at the Lake of the Ozarks that have included some opinions that were based on misinformation. Ameren Missouri has committed to providing property owners with the facts about the issue and has released for public comment a draft Project Boundary amendment. The proposal is in response to an order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dated Nov. 10. The new FERC order clarifies the agency’s position regarding structures within the Project Boundary – an elevation-based, Ameren Missouri-owned strip of land surrounding the Lake’s shoreline.
The order provides a framework for Ameren Missouri to do what the company had initially proposed to resolve the issue of encroachments within the Project Boundary – namely, to redraw the boundary, where appropriate, so the vast majority of properties currently identified as encroachments would no longer be considered as such and to work with the remaining property owners on a case-by-case basis to determine a solution. In its plan, Ameren Missouri proposes setting the Project Boundary to 662 feet elevation for most lakefront properties.
The proposal is available online at www.AmerenMissouri.com/Lake. Comments may also be made by calling 573.365.9203 or by mailing them to:
Project Boundary Comments
Ameren Missouri Shoreline Management
Post Office Box 993
Lake Ozark, MO 65049
Public workshops have been scheduled for resource agencies and the public to provide input about the proposal:
* Osage Beach
January 3, 2012 – 6-8 p.m.
Inn at the Grand Glaize
5142 Highway 54
Osage Beach, Missouri 65065
* Sunrise Beach
January 5, 2012 – 6-8 p.m.
Lake West Christian Academy
17178 N. State Highway 5
Sunrise Beach, Missouri 65079
The public is invited to comment on the plan until January 15, 2012. Ameren Missouri is moving aggressively to prepare its plan and submit it to the FERC in the first quarter of 2012, well ahead of the June, 2012, deadline set by the agency. “Our plan to revise the Project Boundary will alleviate many concerns homeowners have, and we have no intention of forcing the removal of residences located in whole or in part on Ameren-owned property,” Jeff Green, Shoreline supervisor for Ameren Missouri, said. “Additionally, the plan does not call for leasing land, structures or facilities back to affected property owners. Any rumors to the contrary are simply not true.” Green added that it is important to understand that there is a Project Boundary issue and a property ownership issue as well. “I encourage property and dwelling owners to seek out information about their specific circumstances and understand the ownership and conveyance history of their lake property.”
Ameren Missouri, formerly Union Electric, has owned the land that comprises the Lake of the Ozarks since it built Bagnell Dam and the Osage Renewable Energy Center in the late 1920s. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued and administered all permits for development within the project boundary for the first 50 years after Bagnell Dam was completed. In 1983, Ameren Missouri began issuing permits for docks in 1983. The company’s license from FERC to operate the Osage plant requires the company to manage the shoreline by balancing the various recreational, environmental and operational aspects of the project. In the most recent relicensing of the project, enhanced mapping and aerial photography enabled a comprehensive identification of structures located along the shoreline. As a result, numerous unauthorized structures were found to be entirely or partially located on Ameren Missouri property.
Sincerely,
W. Jeff Green, AICP
Supervisor – Shoreline Management
Real Estate Department
T 573.365.9214
F 573.365.5773
E wgreen@ameren.com
Ameren Services
PO Box 993 (MC LE883)
Lake Ozark, MO 65049