• Make sure you shop around for the lowest fees.  Different banks charge different fees, and some banks charge outrageously high fees for their secured credit cards.  Call at least 3 or 4 banks to compare fees before opening a secured credit card.
• A secured credit card is NOT the same as a pre-paid debit card.  With a pre-paid debit card, you do not have a line of credit - you just have a card that has some money loaded on it.  It will not improve your credit scores.

Want some great news regarding mortgage insurance for conventional loans? How about this?


• The maximum allowable debt-to-income ratio (DTI) for mortgage insurance is being increased from 41% to 45%, regardless of the borrower's credit scores.

• Mortgage insurance monthly premiums are going down by a little more than 10% for borrowers with credit scores above 760.

These changes are for conventional (non-government) loans only. The mortgage insurance guidelines for FHA loans remain the same, meaning anyone who qualifies for an FHA loan automatically qualifies for FHA mortgage insurance. No additional underwriting is required.

Getting a loan approved is easy - if you know what to do. The Mortgage Experts know what to do!!!

Make sure you check out our web site:
www.mtgsupportservices.com

By the way, don't forget to refinance your current mortgage. Rates are very, very low right now. Don't miss out! Call us today to get the details for your particular situation.

CHFA (Colorado Housing and Finance Authority) offers down payment and closing cost assistance for Colorado home buyers and they only require the buyer to contribute $1,000 of their own money to the transaction.

However, if a buyer pays more than $1,000 in earnest money, they are NOT allowed to get the amount that is in excess of $1,000 back at the closing. So make sure that when your buyer is getting a CHFA loan, they only pay $1,000 in earnest money.

Have a buyer who needs a CHFA loan? Send them to us and we'll take care of everything for you.


Getting a loan approved is easy - if you know what to do. The Mortgage Experts know what to do!!!

Make sure you check out our web site:
www.mtgsupportservices.com


By the way, don't forget to refinance your current mortgage. Rates are very, very low right now. Don't miss out! Call us today to get the details for your particular situation.

After a bankruptcy, a foreclosure, or a short sale, a potential home buyer must wait a certain period of time before they are eligible to get a mortgage.

In addition, the underwriting guidelines state that they must "re-establish" their credit. Many buyers are unaware of this additional requirement, and it prevents them from getting a loan.

Here's what re-establishing credit means: for the 12 months preceding the loan application date, the borrower must have a perfect payment record on all of their existing credit accounts. In other words, they can't have any late payments for one full year before applying for the mortgage.

If you have any prospects who have had a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or short sale, do them a favor and tell them to make sure they are paying all of their bills. Even one late payment will prevent them from getting a loan.

This "no late payments" rule ONLY applies to people who have had a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or short sale. Everyone else is allowed to have late payments on their credit report and they can still get a mortgage.

Getting a loan approved is easy - if you know what to do. The Mortgage Experts know what to do!!!

Make sure you check out our web site:
www.mtgsupportservices.com

By the way, don't forget to refinance your current mortgage. Rates are very, very low right now. Don't miss out! Call us today to get the details for your particular situation.

It's almost tax refund time. Many people ask us if tax refunds can be used to pay for a mortgage down payment or closing costs.

The answer is YES! All a borrower needs to do to document the tax refund is to provide a copy of the refund check and a bank statement showing that the refund has been deposited into their account. If the refund was automatically deposited into their account, they won't have a copy of the check, but the notation on their bank statement will show that it is a tax refund. In the case of automatic deposits, the only documentation necessary is the bank statement.

The money does NOT have to be "seasoned", meaning it has been in their account for 60 days. As soon as the refund has been deposited, it can be used to pay the down payment or closing costs.

Getting a loan approved is easy - if you know what to do. The Mortgage Experts know what to do!!!

Make sure you check out our web site:
www.mtgsupportservices.com


By the way, don't forget to refinance your current mortgage. Rates are very, very low right now. Don't miss out! Call us today to get the details for your particular situation.

By popular demand, one of the greatest ways to expand your sphere of influence is BACK!

If you're a Denver area real estate agent and you have a question about mortgages or credit reports, send us the question. If we choose your question, we'll answer it in our next email newsletter, AND we'll deliver a $25 Starbucks card to you as a way of saying "Thank You" for helping to expand the knowledge base of our local real estate industry.

We'll also include your name and contact information in our newsletter, which goes to more than 6,000 local people. We'll also post your question and contact information on our blogs, giving you outrageous exposure to thousands of people interested in real estate - buyers, sellers, and people who work in the industry.

Here's what you get, just for asking a question about mortgages:

• $25 Starbucks card - delivered to you personally.
• Your name and contact information sent directly to 6,000 Colorado Front Range people.
• Your question and contact information on our mortgage blog. We had 20,446 people visit our blog in 2011 - that's an average of 56 visits per day!
• Your question and contact information on our blog at Active Rain, a real estate blog with more than 210,000 members.The correct answer!
• A chance to help expand the local real estate knowledge base.

The debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is the ratio of your debts divided by your income, and is one of the main things that determines how large a mortgage you can qualify for. But do all of your debts count against you?

The answer is no, not all debts count against you when determining the size of the mortgage you can get. Here is a list of some of the things that do NOT count against you when a lender calculates your DTI:

• car insurance
• electricity
• water
• gas
• sewer
• phone - land line
• phone - cell
• Internet 
• cablecollection accounts
• health insurance