Mortgage Tips, Tricks & Secrets

If I had a dime for every mortgage client who freaked out when I said “let’s look at your credit score” - I would be filthy rich.

[Note: this is reason #2 of my article series titled:
“The Top Ten Reasons You Just May Be A Stupid Home Owner“]

Part of any mortgage purchase or refinance includes looking at your credit score, yet countless people still believe that having their credit “checked” is detrimental to their overall score.

When I was a newbie mortgage loan officer, I can’t tell you how many times clients told me NOT to check their credit - and that they just wanted an interest rate quote.

They truly believed that they could just say, “hey, I have excellent credit - just give me your best interest rate.”

At first, being the honest guy that I am I would say - that’s not possible. I can’t give you a valid rate quote (at least not one I can stand behind) without knowing several details about your financial past, one of which is your credit score.

The next thing I usually heard was “CLICK” as they so rudely hung up on me.

Apparently a lot of people believe that the mortgage broker is lying to them before they ever get started.

As if me checking your credit score was the worst thing that anyone could suggest.

Who’s fault is it that consumers believe all mortgage brokers are liars and thieves?

It’s the consumers fault. Forever, clients have called mortgage brokers/lenders with statements like “give me your lowest interest rate” and “my neighbor got 5% I want 5%”.

What happend was, you as the consumer begged the broker to focus on what you wanted - which was low rate, low rate, low rate, low cost, and since everyone qualifies differently you forced the broker to play your game (you don’t qualify for what your neighbor qualified for dummy).

When the broker plays your game, YOU lose. When you force him to tell you what you wanna hear, as opposed to what you qualify for then you lose. He knows more than you do about the motgage loan guidlines. Stop forcing him to play your game and he will give you straight answers and real advice.

If you don’t believe me, pit 5 loan officers against each other and you’ll get ever decreasing rate quotes simply because the biggest liar wins and they know it (then you lose). Approach the process with a plan, and some knowledge and you’ll only have to talk to 1, 2 or 3 brokers/lenders before you get what you would have qualified for anyway.

Honestly maybe I’m too young to know exactly where that myth came from - and frankly I don’t give a damn. No matter how much you believe the sky is falling, the odds have it that it’s not.

Let me tell you up front what went through my mind when someone hung the phone up on me after suggesting a credit score check.

I thought - here’s this Stupid Home Owner, who actually owns a home and has for countless years yet knows nothing about ONE SIMPLE THING SUCH AS A CREDIT SCORE CHECK!

As my mind wondered how someone could be so rude and ignorant, after they called ME, and needed MY help - to hang up at the first mention of one of the most crucial steps in the mortgage loan business.

If you haven’t guessed by now, what I’m saying is this; Having your credit score checked is totally harmless, void of risk, and if you don’t believe me you ABSOLUTELY WITH OUT A DOUBT - ARE A Stupid Home Owner.

Listen, the credit bureaus suck - but they do have rules they have to abide by (such as the FCRA). One of them is the fact that having your “mortgage” credit score checked is expected. Along with the fact that they expect it to be checked A LOT of times because you are probably shopping around.

Don’t believe me, read a recent blog post I wrote titled “How Does Mortgage Shopping Affect Your Credit Score?“. You’ll also find some excellent third party proof from a post I wrote titled “Repair Your Credit Once And For All“.

In conclusion know this;

1. having your credit checked during the mortgage shopping process is normal and expected - even if it’s checked 50 times (in a typical 45 days shopping period) then you shouldn’t care - and you SHOULDN’T BE HANGING THE PHONE UP ON MORTGAGE BROKERS WHO ARE TRYING TO DO THEIR JOB AND HELP YOU!

2. if you own a home, evict your inner Stupid Home Owner by getting a grip on this mortgage shopping process and have a plan. If your credit sucks, fix it (see the resources section if you need help) and if you’re worried about having your credit score drop severely because 20 mortgage brokers checked it, get over it - that’s not how the credit scoring system works.

Start approaching your mortgage and the mortgage shopping process with a clear head. If you own a home you should be willing to spend the time it takes to know how the financing process works. Subscribing to updates here at Stupid Home Owner is a good start.

Together, we’ll evict your inner Stupid Home Owner - trust me on this one.

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