Melbourne Florida Homes for Sale

Many Americans are in the process of fighting with their bank or mortgage lender dealing with loan modifications. Most of these Americans are losing too. I have heard many stories about banks never sending paperwork, telling your approved for a program but never actually able to get you qualified. New programs rear their ugly head and homeowners are starting the process over again.

Americans are throwing their hands up and pitching in the towel.

Well, not all is lost and these people do not have to give up. They do have an option. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC was originally designed to break up trusts during the Wilson years. However, as time has passed, the FTC has stood as the organization that can fight big corporations that have deceptive, fraudulant practices that are unfair to the American consumer. The FTC reported in 2009 that there were a cumulative 32,442 complaints against banks or lenders. These reportings only accounted for about 2% of complaints. If Americans continue to fight the battle and lose against the financial institutions, file a complaint with the FTC and see if they will step in and save the American public from the financial monsters.

The president announced a plan to funnel $1.5 B to housing agencies in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. The plan is designed to help the states that have been impacted the most over the downturn in the real estate market and rising unemployment rates.

Florida currently tops the nation in loan defaults with more than 20% of all mortgages that are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure. The idea is that although this amount is a drop in the bucket, that it will encourage states to think creatively and find solutions to the struggles in the housing market.

The Making Home Affordable Program has struggled to help unemployed homeowners who can not qualify for modifications based on their income. It is also an attempt to tackle the thorniest issue to come from the mortgage meltdown – how to cope with homeowners in upside-down loans.

The $1.5 B is coming from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and can be used to help negotiate with lenders to write down mortgages on underwater loans. The money will be distributed to states based on a formula that considers home price declines and unemployment.

The hopes are this new program can help the states that are in the most trouble based on local conditions.

From: Liz Pulliam Weston

Thirty years ago, first-time home buyers were often encouraged to stretch as far as they possibly could to buy a house. Back then, that advice made some sense but, today, it can be a recipe for disaster.

A too-big house payment can, at the very least, leave you with too little money for other goals: retirement, vacations, college funds for the kids. At worst, it can leave you vulnerable to foreclosure and bankruptcy. What’s more, you can’t count on your real estate agent, a mortgage loan officer, your friends and family or an Internet calculator to know what you can really afford. That’s a decision you have to make yourself after reviewing your finances, your future obligations, your goals and your gut. Yet many first-time buyers still find themselves pushed into mortgages that are bigger than they can handle, based on old-fashioned advice.

Here’s what’s changed in the 30 years (or more) since your parents bought their first house:

1. Inflation. Rapidly rising prices in the 1970s and early 1980s meant you could count on hefty annual raises. Today, you can’t rely on double-digit income boosts to make your mortgage payment less of a burden each year.

2. Two-income couples. A generation ago, single-income families were more common. If the breadwinner lost a job, the other spouse could go to work to save the house. With more two-income families needing both paychecks to make the mortgage payment, there’s no one on the sidelines to take up the slack — unless you put the kids to work.

3. The lending industry. Thirty years ago, it was pretty tough to get a mortgage for more than you could really afford. While lenders have learned their lesson after years of “liar loans’ and other easy-money tactics, they sometimes still push, knowing that the vast majority of their borrowers will do whatever it takes to pay their mortgage — even if it means trashing the rest of their financial lives.

4. Retirement. A much bigger proportion of the work force was covered by traditional, defined-benefit pensions 30 years ago — which means they didn’t have to save massive amounts of money on their own to have a decent retirement. Today, the onus is typically on you to carve enough out of your budget to fund 401k’s and IRAs.

So how much should you spend on a house?

The traditional way to calculate that is to add up all your income and make sure that your housing expenses — mortgage payment, homeowners insurance and property taxes — don’t exceed a certain amount of that total. The traditional limit, still used by many lenders, is 28% of gross monthly income. Some financial advisers recommend capping your outlay at 25%; others suggest stretching to 33% or more.

All that math making your head hurt? Here’s the short version: You’ll probably be most comfortable using the 25% lid. You may want to go even lower if:

1. You plan to have children. Kids can be expensive, and many couples discover they want to have the option of one partner staying home or working part-time once kids arrive. That’s tough to do if you need every penny of both incomes to make ends meet. If you really want to be conservative, do your calculations based on the income you think you’ll have post-baby.

2. You have an expensive hobby, like travel. Most homeowners are willing to put their wanderlust on the backburner to buy more house. If that’s not you, buy less house.

3. Your income varies considerably. Most American workers have variable incomes, thanks to the prevalence of overtime pay and bonuses (and, these days, pay cuts and reduced hours). If yours swings wildly from year to year, though, consider basing your calculations on your average earnings over several years or (even more conservative) on the minimum you expect to make.

Wait a minute . . . did you say USDA as in the U.S. Department of Agriculture? Well, yes, I did. The USDA has a rural development program with funds available to help you buy a home in select communities. There are stipulations but the program provides 102% financing of the purchase price. Here is how it works:

1. The 102% financing is correct, however, 100% is obviously the purchase price of the home and the additional 2% covers funding fees that have to be paid to obtain this type of loan program. If a buyer makes a full price offer and can get the seller to cover 3% cost to close that is allowed, then the buyer gets to purchase and close the home with a very small amount of cash.

2. The home has to pass FHA standards. There can be no cost to cure items such as broken windows, torn out cabinets or roof repairs.

3. The home has to have a water test and the home must have potable water. In most areas that have residential development in outskirt rural areas, this is not a problem but it is a condition of the funding.

4. In Central Florida along the beaches, there are only two areas that fit within the geographic boundaries of these programs. Those areas are Port St. John (pretty much just zip code 32927) and areas in Sebastian. The USDA has a mapping system (found here) on their website that can give you a rough idea if a property would qualify for this type of funding. However, the information is not guranteed and will need to be confirmed by the lender providing the program.

5. Right now there are lenders that can work with a credit score of 620. There are some that can do a score of 580 on a case by case basis but those opportunities become less and less each day.

USDA programs are not for everybody but they can definitely be an opportunity to explore if other funding programs are requiring too much cash to close. This is an alternative that requires little cash and allows a buyer to get a new home.

You have heard this phrase repeatedly from the National Association of Realtors, NAR, and any of their members for the last two years now that “Now is the Time to Buy!” Yet, the NAR has come under fire from lenders and its own members saying “STOP IT!! Markets are declining and now is not the time to buy.” However, what I think these agents are saying is “Now is not a good time for my longtime business partner/investors to buy and make 30% profit in 30 days with a quick flip!”

The home investors in the market were definitely part of the driving force that caused the crash of the housing markets nationwide. Think about it. We have a simple case of supply and demand that went WAY wrong. Normally in supply and demand, as demand increases, prices increase and theoretically supply increases to match up with demand and balance the price tag yet still deliver the goods that are being demanded. Builders were ready to ramp up and meet supply, the lenders jumped in and changed their lending requirements to fund the supply that was being demanded but their never truly was a demand out there to purchase the homes in the long run other than investors with the intention of selling to this mysterious pool of buyers that were really no where to be found. And in residential construction, because building a supply to match this “increasing level of demand” there is a lag. It takes a year or so to build and permit a home locally.

So, what happens on the downside of supply and demand when there is no one demanding the goods at a price that they are being offered for?? Well, no one buys them and their prices have to be lowered to meet what people are willing to pay for them. Prices begin to decline and eventually find “buyers” in the market. Some are wanting to be home owners and some are those investors that think now they can find new bargains and make money off them again. So, there was this huge supply, little demand and prices dropped, sounds like supply and demand at work.

So, after this long drawn out economics lesson . . . what does it all mean? Well, it just means that the real estate market is returning to a level of normalcy and that it is a good time to buy. It is especially good if people treat real estate like they traditionally did meaning that people would save some money, put in a sizeable down payment and plan to live in the house for at least 3-5 or sometimes 7-10 years. If someone buys now or next year they are going to be in a healthy situation to see returns on their investment but in the Brevard County market it is going to take maybe 3 years or more to get there.

So, believe the hype. Now is the time to buy if you are in a healthy financial position to do so. Don’t buy a home just because you are a first time buyer and you think a free government check of up to $8,000 is worth it. Really?!?! You are going to take out a $100,000 loan or higher to make back $8,000 in cash. Not a good plan and not a good investment. Be in a position to buy, shop around, make a sound offer and go for it. After several years you will find a return when you have saved up and are ready to become a second-time, move-up buyer.

By SmartMoney
Mortgage lenders may be offering loans at record low rates, but that doesn’t mean the loans are coming cheap.

In fact, borrowers may see much of the savings they’d realize from lower rates wiped out by closing costs, fees that are on the rise as lenders seek to pad their bottom lines.

“Frankly, lenders are struggling to make mortgages on a profitable basis in order to ensure survival,” says Keith Gumbinger, a vice president at mortgage information firm HSH Associates. “And you can, as a lender, help to increase your profitability by an increase in fees.”

As homeowners rush to lock in those rock-bottom mortgage rates, lenders’ costs of doing business increases, says Brian Smith, a senior loan officer at Republic Mortgage in Seattle. For example, whenever a lender locks in a rate for a prospective borrower, that action incurs administrative costs, even if the loan doesn’t close. Should the borrower fail to get approved, change his or her mind or jump on a lower rate elsewhere, the lender is still on the hook for the costs.

“As these locks fall out, each loan gets more expensive for you (as a lender), so you pass on that cost,” Smith says.

As a result, borrowers may encounter higher underwriting or administrative fees, along with bigger charges from appraisers, mortgage insurers and mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

When shopping for a mortgage, ask lenders to provide you with written good-faith estimates so you can compare costs, says Frank Ruzicka, a mortgage banker with Cornerstone Mortgage in St. Louis. Here are four fees to watch for:

1. Processing fees
Whether they’re called administrative, application, underwriting or processing charges, these fees are on the rise as lenders compensate for the lower-rate loans that they offer to be competitive. A lender may offer a borrower a $140,000 loan at an attractive 4.875% and no points, for example, but slip in a $350 underwriting fee and a $350 processing fee in addition to its regular application fee, Ruzicka says.

While charging an application fee of several hundred dollars is normal, piling on several additional charges for the same amount of work is not. Be sure to compare several lenders’ fees and question anything that seems redundant.

2. Fannie’s and Freddie’s cuts
On April 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yet again increased fees for loans they purchase or insure. Depending on a borrower’s credit scores and the size of his or her loan relative to the home’s value, these so-called loan-level price adjustments can range from 0.25% to 3% of the loan. Another 0.25% to 3% is added for cash-out refinancing (when borrowers refinance with loans that are bigger than what they owe on their existing loans so they can have some cash left over).

For someone in the credit score range of 660 to 679, a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage that is 85% of the home’s value would incur 2.5% in fees. (Before April 1, that same loan would have cost 1.75%.) And if the borrower took out cash, another 2.5% would be added, for a total of 5%.

To figure out if you’ll be hit with these charges, ask your lender or mortgage broker whether your loan will be sold to or insured by Fannie or Freddie. Today, that’s the case for 56% of all outstanding mortgages.

3. Appraisal fees
Thanks to the Home Valuation Code of Conduct — a set of regulations on property appraisals that went into effect May 1 — lenders that deliver loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now prohibited from selecting or communicating with appraisers. This may cause them to collect appraisal fees upfront whether the loan goes through or not, Republic Mortgage’s Smith says.

If a borrower wants to refinance a home she thinks is worth $300,000, for example, but an appraiser values it at $200,000 and the loan doesn’t go through, the appraiser still has to be paid.

“I have not had to order an appraisal since the rules took effect (May 1), but I plan on collecting the appraisal fee at the time of loan application from now on,” Smith says. “Because the new rules forbid me from having any ‘substantive’ communication with the appraiser, I won’t know whether the property value will be enough to structure and price the loan.”

Appraisers are also being required to use a new form that they estimate adds 45 minutes to the time it takes to complete an appraisal. “We charge by the hour, so it will drive up costs,” says Brad Charnas, an appraiser in Cleveland.

4. Private mortgage insurance
As mortgage insurance companies move to so-called risk-based pricing, private mortgage insurance, which is required of anyone purchasing or refinancing a home with less than 20% equity, is getting more expensive for borrowers with lower credit scores, says Tom Taggart, a spokesman for San Francisco Bay Area mortgage insurer PMI. Someone buying a $200,000 home with 10% down, for example, would pay $1,000 a year in private mortgage insurance if he had FICO scores of 700 or higher. At 680, he’d pay $1,162 a year.

Taxpayers want bailed-out banks to make loans and goose the economy. But given the depths of the economic mess, that’s the last thing the banks should do.

By David Weidner, MarketWatch
Banks need to stop the charade, ignore the political and public pressure and admit they’re not lending.

It’s not because they don’t want to, but because it’s bad business.

Don’t think so? Take this pop quiz. Bank of America (BAC, news, msgs) posted smashing first-quarter profits and its chief executive, Ken Lewis, said the Charlotte, N.C., company is lending as if the good times never ended. So, in the bank’s conference call, which of the following statements did Lewis make?

A. “Credit is bad, and we believe credit is going to get worse before it will eventually stabilize and improve.”

B. “Even our internal economists are a little at odds as to the timing (of the recovery), with some seeing recovery earlier (than year’s-end).”

C. “We believe unemployment won’t peak until next year at somewhere in the high single digits.”

D. All of the above.

E. None of the above.

For a CEO whose bank is lending as if it’s 2006, you might be surprised that the Lewis who proclaims to be bullish on loans is bearish on the economy. The answer is D.

There’s only one problem. No bank CEO can reconcile more lending with a deteriorating economy — especially one in which economic conditions are the worst they’ve been in generations. But that’s exactly the claim the bank chief is making.

Lewis described a deep recession that’s going to be here for months. Still, Bank of America touts that it’s “helping” homeowners and small businesses with new loans. It claims to have added 45,000 customers and provided them credit. The reality, however, is less impressive: Bank of America loaned $183 billion during the quarter, up just 1.6% from the last quarter of 2008, when lending took a big dive industrywide.

This isn’t to single out Bank of America. All of the major big banks, including Wells Fargo (WFC, news, msgs), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, news, msgs) and Citigroup (C, news, msgs) have been doing the credit double-talk that goes something like this: These are terrible conditions to be lending in, but we’re lending in them without risk.

If those claims sound a little too good to be true, it’s because they are. Almost all the big banks that have taken cash from the Troubled Asset Relief Program have curtailed lending, according to The Wall Street Journal.

One of the intentions behind TARP was for it to be a kind of stimulus program made through the banks. After plugging holes on each bank’s balance sheet, the TARP cash was supposed to flow into new mortgages, auto loans, credit card lines and corporate lending. Six months later, it’s fair to say TARP money has helped prop up some banks, but it hasn’t flowed into the consumer credit markets the way the framers intended.

Now, critics have argued that the banks should be loaning this money to help stimulate the economy. Companies need credit to expand and hire, they say, and consumers need credit to buy products and help feed the economy.

In almost any other economy, this would be true, but not at a time when an overextension of credit created the recession we are fighting.

Credit cycles, by definition, are periods where banks overextend credit and then pull back to correct the imbalance. If the government forces banks to lend to at-risk borrowers, we’re going to aggravate an already dire credit picture and require more government intervention.

You can easily see how lending to home buyers not worthy of credit would fuel the nation’s housing woes and create more housing problems, but what about the loans most people assume are helpful to the economy: small-business loans?

It turns out that existing small-business loans are defaulting at an alarming rate. More than 4.4% of small-business loans were in 30-day default, up from 3.48% a year ago. And 1.29% were delinquent 90 days, up from 1.04% a year earlier, while 0.63% were 180 days delinquent, double the rate a year ago, according to PayNet, a small-business payment network.

It doesn’t matter what type of loan; lending into an economic downturn is an invitation to trouble.

Some of the biggest US banks posted first-quarter profits that skeptics assert are based more on accounting gimmicks than healthy operations. Are the earnings legitimate? (April 22)The steep rise in defaults and nonperforming loans suggests that the economy will make it hard for banks to simultaneously set aside reserves and lend more money out. Small businesses will lay off workers before they start missing loan payments, and the unemployed can’t pay off their credit cards and car loan payments.

Taxpayers fuming about the banks’ unwillingness to loan government money into the system might reconsider, given that the banks are actually being prudent with taxpayer cash. Now that banks have been backstopped by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department, they have less incentive to scrutinize credit. The risk of bad loans has been shouldered by Washington.

Banks have made a lot of missteps in the financial crisis — overreaching with credit, misusing taxpayer cash, imposing punitive interest costs on consumers, being insensitive — but reining in credit is not one of them.

So, when Lewis and his counterparts at competing banks brag about how much lending they’re doing, take it with a grain of salt. In most cases, this is posturing by CEOs looking to fend off criticism they’re not doing enough to help the economy.

What critics fail to acknowledge is that we all benefit from banks adhering to lending standards. When that doesn’t happen, we get financial collapses that compare to the darkest times in our history.

I have to say that first-time home buyers definitely could not have better opportunities than now to buy. I thought before the boom in 2003/2004 that the “Golden Hour” was then. However, rates are low, homes are highly affordable in our market and there are so many incentives and programs to help these people buy.

So, if you are one of those first-timers that are on the fence and unsure because of all the negative press out there about our financial system collapsing; JUMP OFF THE FENCE!! It is a great time to buy in Brevard if you are prepared for homeownership.

If you are one of those that is shopping and is unaware of the programs available, just send me a message here on the website and I could help guide you through. I would love to give you the information you need to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life.

Buying a home may seem a daunting task, but a little preparation will ease the way. Check out these 10 common pitfalls of first-time homebuyers before starting your search.

The declining home values that are plaguing homeowners are just one of the factors creating an opportunity for prospective homebuyers.

Standard & Poor’s latest Case-Shiller index, which tracks home prices across 20 major U.S. cities, reported that values dropped 19% in January from a year earlier.

Those depressed values, combined with near-record-low mortgage rates and government incentives (an $8,000 first-time home buyers’ tax credit included in the stimulus bill), are luring more first-time home buyers into the market. Indeed, a recent Real Estate survey found that more than three-quarters (78%) of potential first-time home buyers say now is a good time to buy.

If you agree, be aware that buying a home comes with plenty of potential missteps. Here are 10 all-too-common mistakes first-timers make.

1. Not knowing how much house you can afford.
Many novice homebuyers spend a lot of time researching homes — comparing kitchen layouts and backyard square footage — but very little time researching their financing options. One of the first things buyers should do is talk to a qualified lender and get preapproved for a mortgage, says Claire Clark, senior vice president of business development at Prudential California Realty. Without first figuring out how much house you can afford, you risk falling in love with one you can’t.

2. Assuming foreclosures are great deals.
Just because the previous owner owed $450,000 on a house before the bank took it over doesn’t mean it’s worth that much now. Values have slipped significantly, says Jay Michael, partner at Estate Property Group, a Chicago real-estate brokerage, so you may not be getting the bargain you think with a foreclosure. Also, most homes owned by lenders or banks have been sitting vacant for months and may have been vandalized. That could require extensive renovation or repair. Weigh the costs of fixing up the property against the savings you’ll likely reap by buying a lower-priced foreclosed home.

3. Letting your true feelings show.
No matter how much you’ve fallen in love with a house, don’t let the seller’s agent in on it. Otherwise, they will gain the upper hand in negotiations.

4. Failing to find a good buyer’s agent.
Landing a mortgage is tough these days. So buyers should rely heavily on knowledgeable agents to help them get their finances in order, says Michael. After all, buyer’s agents have a fiduciary responsibility to the buyer exclusively — and should be looking out for their best interests. Start and end your search here. I am a buyer’s agent that has been placing people in homes that fit their needs. Interview me and other candidates about our experience; ask if they’ve worked with first-time buyers before and what kind of service you’ll get from them.

5. Underestimating the costs of owning a home.
Whether it’s a rusty pipe or a leaky roof, things go wrong and need to be fixed. Many homebuyers don’t anticipate the additional costs for repair and maintenance, or for an increase in utility costs, says Erin Baehr, CFP and president of Baehr Family Financial. Consider the age of your new home and how well it’s been treated by the previous owners in your budget. Be prepared to set aside a small percentage (1% at most) of the home’s purchase price annually for repairs and upkeep.

6. Failing to budget for property taxes.
Property taxes — and the likelihood that they’ll climb over the course of your time in the house — should be factored into any home-buying budget, says Baehr. To get an idea of how much you’ll be paying, call the local assessor’s office or talk to people in the neighborhood.

7. Assuming your first offer will get accepted.
As home prices get even more affordable, competition is bound to heat up. “You can’t assume you’ll walk in there, make the offer and get it,” says Clark. Try not to get discouraged if you lose out on the first — or second — house you make an offer on.

8. Skipping the inspection.
Before signing anything, hire a professional inspector, says Justin Lopatin, a mortgage planner with American Street Mortgage Company. The seller isn’t likely to tell you there’s mold in the basement or the walls are poorly insulated. Lopatin advises buyers to find and hire their own inspector — independently of the realtor — to ensure there’s no conflict of interest.

9. Doing too much too fast.
Some buyers want to make the house their own right away, says Baehr. They overextend themselves on credit to do so, and assume the improvement will pay for itself by increasing the home’s value. But that’s not always the case — especially in today’s market. Instead, buyers need to exhibit patience and make changes over time.

10. Failing to include a contingency clause in the contract.
A mortgage financing contingency clause protects you if, say, you lose your job and the loan falls through or the appraisal price comes in over the purchase price. Should one of these events occur, the buyer gets back the money he used to secure the property. Without the clause, he can lose that money and still be obligated to buy the house, says Lopatin.

Looking to buy a house? Make sure you know what will truly hurt and help your case with lenders — and don’t fall for the misinformation mortgage lenders can spread.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

There’s a lot of misinformation being propagated about what does and doesn’t hurt your credit score, and much of it is coming from sources who should know better: mortgage lenders.

Now, let me say first that I’ve worked with several excellent lenders who really knew their stuff and kept up to date, not only on loan trends but on the information that’s available about credit scoring. That’s important, because the FICO credit score, in its various permutations, is used in three-quarters of all mortgage lending.

But what I heard from several lenders responding to my recent column, “8 big mortgage mistakes and how to avoid them,” was the kind of bad advice that can cost you money and keep you from getting the best loans.

So if your mortgage broker gives you any of the following advice, take a tip from me: Find a new broker.

Closing accounts can help your credit score
No, no, no. For the umpteenth time: Closing accounts can never help your credit score, and may hurt it.

Every time I write this, I get more e-mail from people who say their mortgage lenders told them exactly the opposite. It’s true that having too many open accounts can hurt your score. But once you’ve opened the accounts, you’ve done the damage. You can’t repair it by shutting the account, and you may actually make things worse.

The credit score looks at the difference between your available credit and what you’re using. Shut down accounts, and your total available credit shrinks, making your balances loom larger, which typically hurts your score.

The score also tracks the length of your credit history. Shutting older accounts can also make your credit history look younger than it actually is, which can hurt your score.

Of course, credit scores aren’t the only thing lenders look at when making decisions. They typically consider other factors, such as your income, assets, employment history and credit limits. Mortgage lenders in particular might look at your total available credit and ask you to close a few accounts as a condition for getting a loan.

But if your goal is to improve your credit score, you generally shouldn’t close accounts in advance of such a request. Instead, pay down your credit card debt. That’s something that actually can improve your score.

Checking your FICO score can hurt your credit
Unfortunately, I heard this one from a mortgage broker who is otherwise pretty smart. He was confused about which type of inquiries hurt your score and which don’t.

Applying for new credit is generally what hurts your score. Ordering a copy of your own credit report or credit score doesn’t count. Those mass inquiries made by credit card lenders, who are trying to decide whether to send you an offer for a pre-approved card, also aren’t going to hurt you, either — unless you actually take them up on their offers.

If you want to minimize the damage from credit inquiries, make sure that when you shop for a mortgage you do so in a fairly short period of time. The FICO score treats multiple inquiries in a 45-day period as just one inquiry and ignores all inquiries made within 30 days prior to the day the score is computed.

For most people, one inquiry will generally knock no more than 5 points off a score (and scores typically run from 300 to 850, so that’s not a big percentage).

Credit counseling will hurt your score as much as a bankruptcy
The current FICO formula ignores any reference to credit counseling that may be in your file. That’s been true for the last three years, after researchers at Fair, Isaac, the company that created the FICO scoring system, noticed that people getting credit counseling didn’t default on their debts any more often than anyone else.

Your ability to get a loan could still be hurt by credit counseling, however. Your current lenders may report you as late, because you’re not paying what you originally owed or because your credit counselor isn’t sending your payments in on time. Late payments do hurt your credit score.

Lenders consider other factors besides credit scores in making their decisions, as well. The factors they look at can vary widely. Most want to know your income, for example. Some want to know how much savings you have or whether you’re a homeowner. Some will find credit counseling disturbing, while others see it as a good sign.

The mortgage lenders who don’t like credit counseling generally treat its enrollees the same as if they had filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 13 is the kind of bankruptcy that requires a repayment plan and is looked at somewhat more favorably than Chapter 7, which allows you to erase many of your debts. You might still be able to qualify for a loan from one of these lenders, although your interest rates will almost certainly be higher than if you had perfect credit.

If you plan to get a mortgage soon, and you’re not already behind on your debts, it’s probably smart to steer clear of credit counseling. If you’re already in trouble, however, a good credit counseling agency might be able to help you get back on track.

Your FICO isn’t the only score you need to check
This came from lenders who thought the FICO score is offered by only one of the three credit bureaus: Equifax.

In reality, all three of the bureaus offer FICO credit scores using the formula developed by Fair, Isaac, but they each give the scores a different name. At Equifax, the FICO is known as the Beacon credit score. At TransUnion, it’s called Empirica. At Experian, it goes by the unwieldy title of “Experian/Fair, Isaac Risk Model.”

Complicating matters further is that you’ll probably have three different scores from the three different bureaus, largely because the bureaus don’t all share the same data. One bureau may list more accounts for you than another, for example, and the differences (in types of accounts, payment histories, credit limits and balances) will be reflected in the score that bureau computes for you.

Because of those differences, it does make sense to pull and examine your credit reports from all three bureaus before you apply for a big loan like a mortgage. Many mortgage lenders take the middle score from the three bureaus when making their decisions, so fixing errors in all three reports before you shop for a loan is smart.

You can get two of your FICO scores from myFico.com. Experian no longer has an agreement with myFico.com to deliver monitored reports. You would have to get that report separately from Experian.

But the ways you improve your credit score are the same in any case: Correct errors. Pay your bills on time. Pay down your debt. And apply for credit sparingly.