Do I have to have good credit to get a loan? 

No, but it helps of course. Lenders look at many things when they are considering someone for a home loan, credit is only one of them. Lenders understand that sometimes bad things happen to people (lose a job, divorce, unforeseen medical bills, etc.). Because of this, they look at other indicators of the applicants credit worthiness such as job stability, length of time in residence, how much money do you have in savings, how many credit cards do you have, how many late payments have you made, etc.

Of course, the ideal situation would be someone who has worked at the same job for several years, has lived in the same residence for several years, has always paid all of their bills on time, has several thousand dollars (or more) saved up in the bank, and has little to no credit card debt. This scenario would most likely provide the person with an excellent credit rating and a high FICO score.

However, most people do not have perfect credit. Even if you have bad credit (a low FICO score), it is still possible to obtain a home loan. Basically, the better your credit is, the lower your interest rate and fees will be. The worse your credit is, the higher your interest rate and fees will be. People with low FICO scores are generally categorized as B or C paper loans. What this means is that they can still get a loan but will probably pay a much higher interest rate than other people and will also have to pay higher loan fees upfront. Sometimes they are also required to pay a much higher down payment in order to "secure" the loan for the lender in case they run into trouble again and stop paying on the mortgage.

To find out what your FICO score is you can go to www.annualcreditreport.com to obtain a FREE copy of your credit report. To obtain a copy of all 3 credit reporting agencies (Trans Union, Experian, Equifax) go to www.MyFICO.com and you can purchase the report online.

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The information contained on this page and website was written and produced by Dave Turnquist and is the sole property of San Jac Real Estate. No unauthorized reproduction or use of this information is permitted without the expressed written consent of Dave Turnquist, Broker/Owner of San Jac Real Estate