Tag: Home Equity

Your Credit Score: The (Other) Key To Your New Home

On By mutualcuIn Credit score, Financial Lessons, Saving MoneyLeave a comment
     Each potential home buyer dreams of the day they’ll finally get the symbol of independence, security and prosperity: the key to the front door of their new home. Before you get that one, though, there’s another key you need to craft. Your credit score, a numerical representation of your credit history as an indicator of your ability to pay your bills, will determine a lot about your housing situation, from how much house you can afford to the interest rates you’ll receive.
     Your credit score is determined by three different credit monitoring agencies: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. Each has its own method for determining which events are most important to your score, so your number may vary depending upon the agency. Paying debts off, making payments on time and using only a small percentage of your available credit make your score go up. Missing payments, opening many credit accounts or carrying a significant balance of debt from month-to-month will decrease your score.
     Less important than the actual score is your score grouping. Lenders tend to lump borrowers into four categories: sub-prime, near-prime, prime and super-prime. Different lenders break these categories down at different score points, but the terminology and treatment are fairly universal. Super-prime lenders get the lowest rates, because they represent the lowest level of risk for the lender. Sub-prime and near-prime borrowers will have a lower cap for the size of the loan they can take and will generally pay a higher interest rate. If you’re working on raising a low credit score, a good target number is 640. This will generally put you in the prime group and ensure you don’t have to pay extra on your mortgage because of credit. If you’re building good credit, 740 is generally the lowest super-prime score, which will give you access to some of the best rates and terms available.
     If you’re going house-hunting in the next year, there are three steps you can take right now to improve the terms of your mortgage. Check your credit score, take steps to raise it and manage your loan in other ways. Taking these three steps will put you on the fast track to affordable home ownership!
Check your credit score
     You can check your credit report for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Note, though, that there may be a nominal fee to receive your actual score along with the report. There are many similar websites, but many of them will charge you. Annualcreditreport.com is the site created by the three credit companies to provide consumers with transparent access to their financial information.
If your score isn’t at the level you think it should be, there may be errors or inaccuracies that are dragging down your good name. Look for accounts you don’t recognize or balances that are not up-to-date. You may even catch an identity thief red-handed! The report comes with instructions for challenging any item. In most cases, you can leave a note for lenders in the file explaining the item under dispute.
Boost your credit score!
     There are no simple tricks to bump your credit score in advance of a mortgage. You need to develop a 6- to 12-month plan to boost your credit score before getting your mortgage by making sound financial decisions. Demonstrate to lenders that you can use credit responsibly, and your score will increase.
     One of the biggest drags on a credit score is percentage of utilized debt. If you’re carrying a balance on credit cards, this tells lenders that you may be using credit to pay for your day-to-day expenses, and that lending you more money would not be a smart move for them. Getting balances to zero should be goal number one!
     Also, take care that you don’t make any major purchases using credit right before you attempt to qualify for a mortgage. Even if you’re expecting a major windfall, such as an overtime check or a tax refund, creditors don’t see that on your report. Hold off until you have the cash in hand before you splurge on a new TV or car!
     If it’s a lack of credit history that’s hurting your score, Mutual Credit Union offers “credit builder” loans. These involve borrowing a small amount of money and making regular installment payments on it.
What else?
     If your credit score is low, and there’s nothing you can do about it, you may need to take other steps to get a better position on a loan. You might try boosting your down payment or shopping for less expensive houses, so you’re borrowing a smaller sum of money. A co-signer, another responsible party willing to take on the risk of the loan, can also improve your terms. If your debt is a serious problem, perhaps moving into a new house isn’t a good short-term priority. Focus instead on paying off debt and saving up for a down payment. This can keep you from getting stuck with a house payment you can’t afford before you’re ready for it.

Nightmare On Your Street – Finances And Horror Movies

On By mutualcuIn Financial LessonsLeave a comment

As Halloween gets closer and you want to avoid the chilly darkness of October evenings, grab a blanket and stream a marathon of scary movies.  Horror flicks are article image2classic fun, whether they’re good enough to keep you up all night when you’re home alone or bad enough to laugh at with a group of friends- because you all know what’s going to happen next.  The classics follow a simple formula, but it works.

The same is true when it comes to your finances.  Spend less than you earn, pay off debt and invest your money with trustworthy people.  Still, we have trouble getting all of the complex parts of our financial lives sorted out.  Let’s try applying the scary movie formula to your finances so you’ll never have that heart-racing moment of panic when you check your balances again.

The scary cat.  In the first 15 minutes of all the classic horror movies, our protagonist gets startled by a cat. It’s a silly little trope that keeps coming up, but screenwriters use it because viewers tend to get bored without a scare in the first few minutes. Bringing out the monster too early can kill the suspense, so it’s an easy-to-insert moment to keep viewers on edge.  Watching scary movies in my household, I can tell you that it works: That stupid cat has caused my heart to race faster than any workout I’ve done.

Are you jumping from the cat?  Does every market hiccup cause you to change strategies?  Are you yanking money out of savings to throw at the stock market (or vice versa) every year?  It’s time to get past that initial scare.  The market isn’t going to kill you overnight, just like it won’t make you rich overnight (Black Tuesday 1929 and Google’s record-breaking July 15th notwithstanding).

If you’re trying to build a safer safety net for retirement or college savings, we’ve probably got more savings options than you’ve ever heard of, many of which have major tax benefits.  We can walk you through a few plans, help you pick the one that’s right for you, and in many cases, we can even set it up with automatic deposits so you don’t have to think about it again.

The victim who runs upstairs when she should run out the door.  Why?  Why?  Why are you running upstairs, you silly soon-to-be victim?  Of all the silly horror movie clichés, this is the one that drives me bonkers.  We always get a few establishing shots of the house early in the movie, which shows us that this house is enormous enough for a final-reel chase scene with the killer.  No one needs this much house.  It’s usually a teenage girl with a single parent (who is not at home) in a house big enough to hold the entire football team of her late boyfriend.

Do you have too much house?  Are you cleaning extra bedrooms you don’t use?  Do you have a home gym, office, or library that you never visit?  Maybe it’s time to simplify.  You can sell that house and move into something a little sleeker, and use your windfall to put in all of the custom features you’ve ever wanted on that new house.  Which would you rather pay for:  the storage room that’s basically a walk-in junk drawer or a dressing room with a walk-in closet?  Give us a call to find out how we can help you finance whichever you choose with super low home equity lines of credit and mortgage rates.

The killer who just won’t die.  In every great horror movie, there’s a killer with an uncanny ability to survive anything the protagonists throw his or her way.  In your finances, sometimes large debts can feel that way.  No matter how fast you run, they just keep coming, like Michael Myers chasing Jamie Lee Curtis through two decades of Halloween movies.  You throw cash at the balance every month, but nothing happens.  What can you do?

If you want to kill a scary movie monster, you can’t do anything that the protagonist does in a scary movie.  After all, the scary movie wants to make a sequel, but that’s the last thing you want out of your debt.  Instead, let’s adapt a strategy from the Terminator:  Even an unkillable robot from the future can’t stand up to a vat of molten steel.  You need to submerge your debts in one large vat that can consume them all:  Turn all of your high-interest, variable-rate, hidden-fee credit card debts into one simple, low-interest, fixed-rate home equity or debt consolidation loan with all of the transparency and confidence you’ve come to expect from Mutual Credit Union.  The first step is filling out an application here:  mutualcu.org

Hopefully, your finances aren’t a horror movie.  Horror movies play on our fears for entertainment, but it’s not as fun in real life.  If they are, though, it’s better to call in some help than it is to split up and try to explore the woods alone. That’s why we’re here.  With a little help, your money can look more like a swords-and-sorcery epic:  Everyone’s a hero and everyone gets a happy ending.

Straight Outta Excuses: The Financial Lessons Of Dr. Dre

On By mutualcuIn Financial LessonsLeave a comment
With Straight Outta Compton being the box office surprise of the summer and a DrDrenew studio album filling America’s iPhones for the first time since before iPods were invented, Dr. Dre is experiencing a late-career renaissance.  While rappers’ careers are notoriously shorter than almost any other group of musicians, Dr. Dre is relevant for the fourth consecutive decade.  Perhaps even more surprising than his prolonged musical success is his financial success.  With the 2014 sale of his iconic Beats headphone company for $3.2 billion, his share of the company vaulted him into uncharted territory:  He claims to be rap music’s first billionaire.
Let’s take time to examine Dr. Dre’s personal narrative and see what lessons we might glean, because no matter who you are while you’re reading this, you almost certainly started with more than he did and currently have less. We could all use a prescription from this doctor.
Pursue your goals with drive and clarity.  One of the themes of Dr. Dre’s life is that he has followed his own vision, no matter what other people are doing.  The biggest rap acts when Dr. Dre started were flashy pop-infused showmen like MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, but he wanted to make serious music about the world he experienced.  When he backed Eminem in the late 1990s, the idea of a white rapper was seen as a novelty, but Dr. Dre ignored appearances in favor of his faith in his ability to identify talent.  In each case, Dr. Dre believed in himself, understood what his goals were, and did what needed to be done.
What are your goals?  Do you want to retire to the beach?  Do you want to ditch the rat race?  When you pass that billboard with the giant Powerball payout, where does your mind wander?  Let us know.  We have ways to help get you there.  We may have expert advice because we’ve been there before.  Don’t be embarrassed if you think it’s crazy: It was crazy for Dr. Dre to get a local criminal, Eazy-E, to bankroll his band, but it was still the right move.  Let Mutual Credit Union be your Eazy-E (without the criminal background, of course).  Step one to your goals is dropping us a line here:  www.mutualcu.org.
Be careful who you trust with your money.  One person who never comes out looking well in the Dr. Dre story, whether in Straight Outta Compton, Behind the Music, or even the US legal system, is Suge Knight.  The erstwhile villain of the film’s second act, Knight’s character uses violence and intimidation to force Dr. Dre to move on from his record deal with almost nothing.  Less violent is the film’s depiction of Jerry Heller, but the fictional version of N.W.A.’s manager is portrayed as similarly unscrupulous.  Everyone seems ready to steal Dr. Dre’s money.
Even among friends, money can make enemies.  The infamous early-1990s feud between Eazy-E and Dr. Dre had deep roots in questions of trust and money that poisoned the shared bond between N.W.A.’s most famous members.
Who do you really trust with your money?  We all have people close to us to whom we might “lend” money without ever expecting it back, but how many people would you trust to hold your next mortgage payment for a few weeks?  Bonds of friendship and family often fall apart when it comes to money.   As your credit union, we know you’ve put your faith in us to take care of your money.  You already know we exist by the members and for the members rather than a board of executives or stockholders, but it’s worth the reminder that our model was built to make sure you have someone you can trust.  We promise to live up to that trust every day.
Own something that matters to you.  Dr. Dre didn’t get rich working for someone else.  Dr. Dre got rich making his own label, signing his own acts, then doing it all again.  Without releasing an album between 1999 and 2015, he still made a fortune by owning the label that released albums by Eminem, among others.  He didn’t earn his mega-wealth endorsing Beats headphones; he owned a large chunk of the company.
What do you own?  Do you own your home?  Do you own a business?  Do you own a share in your success?  Risk can be scary, and hanging out a shingle can be risky. But in exchange for risk, you are entitled to the fruits of your labor, and those can be fantastic.
If you want to own something that matters and set goals based around your family, you can offer them a home that is safe, comfortable and inviting.  You could take steps to improve the curb appeal of your house, to make your home easier to sell if you pass, add a movie room to transform those Saturday night Netflix sessions into unforgettable family experiences, or even buy a pair of Jet Skis to entice the grandkids.  You can check out our fantastic home equity rates here: RATES After that, you can get some home decoration tips by looking up “Nothin’ but a G Thang” on YouTube.  Note: We do not recommend adding hydraulic lifts to your minivan.
Dr. Dre has been part of our lives for so long that we don’t really think about him much.  In a lot of ways, we forgot about Dre.  But his story is really extraordinary, and if we take a few minutes, we can probably learn some lessons from him for our personal financial health.
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