Buying Your First Home? Top Home Buyer Questions To Consider

• Do you need to know about some of my bills that are not on my credit report?
• Does it make a difference if I apply for credit cards or other credit accounts even if I don’t take the credit card?
• Does it make a difference if I buy a new refridgerator with my credit cards or money from my bank account before I get my mortgage?
• Will it make a difference if I transfer money between my different bank accounts before I buy my house?
• I just financed a car loan for my kid who still lives at home. Is that a problem when getting a mortgage?
• In being self-employed how long do you have to wait in order to apply for a mortgage?
• How many times can I have my credit pulled before my scores lower?
• I recently financed a car but I do not think it is on my credit report will that impact my mortgage qualification?
• Now that I am approved, does it matter if if I didn’t make my last credit card payment?
• Does the lender look at your credit history after you have been approved?

The reason for the previous questions is to get you consider your finances and credit before you do something that could hurt your chances of qualifying a mortgage if you are in the middle of buying a home. It is likely that if you ask your mortgage broker about any of these questions or if you are considering doing any of these things above – your mortgage company will say that you should refrain until you go to your mortgage settlement. If you have not figured it out by now, even after you get your loan approval you should be cognizant about your finances and credit until you got to settlement and get your keys.

Since you may owe more than your house is currently worth, you’re looking at a big judgment against you. And, in many states, deficiency judgments are good for twenty years which means that the bank’s going to make your life miserable for a long time – taking money from your bank accounts, grabbing income tax refunds, and dipping into assets that you might accumulate.

What should you do? Either hire a lawyer, or file an answer yourself. (a ‘hardship letter’ isn’t the same as an ‘answer’!) In answering a complaint, many lawyers ‘admit that the borrower (you) own the property, but deny all other allegations of the complaint’. In their answer, lawyers also typically raise certain defenses, such as, since the original note has been lost, and the plaintiff (the company suing you) doesn’t have a complete copy of the original note, the plaintiff cannot maintain the foreclosure action.

For adjustable rate mortgages that have interest-only payment periods, and/or the option of making a variety of payments such as a minimum payment, interest only, or interest and principal, and/or have a prepayment penalty, many lawyers say in their answer that the loan violated state unfair and deceptive trade practices laws because the originating lender didn’t explain to the borrower that negative amortization and payment shock would result from the structure of the loan.

Those same lawyers will also file a written request for the court to refer the case to mediation. The advantage of mediation is that you get an opportunity to sit down with a representative from the lender who has the authority to settle the case without a foreclosure. Before going to mediation, you should know exactly which solutions are available to you. Do your homework. To find the best solution for you, make sure you research all of the options.