The Importance of your Credit Report

The most important first step in the home buying process is to pull a credit report to see if there are any errors. If so they will need to be resolved prior to making an offer on a home. Errors can lower your credit score and cause you to have a higher interest rate.

Are you considering a purchase? Have you had your credit checked? Did you find any errors?

RISMEDIA, March 12, 2009-Over 70% of consumers identify errors on their credit report. Twenty-five percent of those are serious enough to deny consumers and business owners access to credit, preferred interest rates or even a job. With over 54 billion credit updates occurring each year, it’s very likely you-or your clients-may have errors that are negatively impacting the ability to get credit and/or causing you to pay unnecessary interest expenses.

Identifying a credit report error is only the first step. Most consumers don’t know they have an error on their report because they rarely, if ever, review it until they need to get a loan. By the time this occurs, a consumer typically has less than 45 days before they need their loan funded, and their ability to get a single, valid error corrected within this timeframe is marginal at best.

The need to proactively understand, evaluate and optimize your credit profile has never been greater. So what should a consumer do? Become educated and informed about how credit works. Your clients should continually review and evaluate their credit profile. When a questionable activity is identified, he/she should make sure they understand it and correct any valid errors. In most cases, consumers begin by filing a dispute with the applicable credit agency who is reporting the information. RE

Jeff Mandel is president and CEO of iQual and Marlin Brandt is COO of ApprovalGUARD. For more information, please visit www.iqual.com [2] or ApprovalGUARD.com [3].

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com [4].

How Sellers Value Their Homes

The latest HomeGain survey, however, underscores that while homeowners may be aware of falling home prices around the country, many believe that the slide doesn’t apply to their homes. Our survey shows that homebuyers and Realtors are telling homeowners their homes are worth considerably less than homeowners think they are.

Do you currently have your home on the market? Do you feel that your listing agent has suggested a price lower than you feel is correct? Did you list it higher anyway? Have you had much activity on your home?