Obtaining Your Credit Report and/or Score

The first thing you need to do before shopping for a mortgage is review your credit reports for errors. Because if you have incorrect or outdated information that's lowering your score—and, therefore, raising the interest rate you'll have to pay—it can be removed, but it takes at least 60 to 90 days.

There are three national credit-reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Your credit report (not the score) from these agencies is free thanks to the Federal Trade Commission that ruled every American is entitled to a free credit report from each agency every 12 months. See www.annualcreditreport.com. The free report will be mailed to you and could take 15 days. If you wish to have a report from each of the three credit companies you have to request them individually.

For the most detailed explanations on your FICO scores, go to the credit education area at www.myfico.com. For about $40 you can purchase all three reports with credit scores. It's useful to buy all three because large lenders either average the scores or take the middle one. You'll want to check your FICO scores once a year or several months before you apply for a loan.

As a general rule, a negative report stays on the record for seven years, a bankruptcy for 10 years. The Federal Trade Commission’s web site presents a concise summary of your rights, written in language that’s easy to understand. See http://www.ftc.gov/freereports

Copyright 2010 Writers Opinioin LLC