mortgage financing and programs

Archive for December, 2009

Move Up Home Buyer Tax Credit Details

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The Move Up/Repeat Home Buyer Tax credit is a $6500 tax credit available to existing home owners that purchase a new principal residence between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010. The deadline for closing on the purchase is June 30, 2010 as long as a binding sales contract is signed by April 30th. To be a qualified move up buyer you must own and have lived in your current principal residence for at least five consecutive years. For married taxpayers both spouses must qualify. The tax credit can be monetized to use for closing costs of FHA-insured mortgages. This means that buyers do not have to wait to file their income taxes to claim the credit. HUD will allow the anticipated tax credit to be used immediately for down payment or closing costs. To take advantage of the move up tax credit fill out an Chosad loan request form, or give us a call at 604-916-2321.

Credit Score Damage Points Clarified

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There was some misinformation floating around the web this week that FICO had revealed its damage points model for credit scoring. There were some hypothetical examples published by several sources that illustrated different score scenarios of negative credit events such as missing a payment, maxing out a credit card, filing for bankruptcy, ect.

Here is an excerpt from John Ulzheimer of Credit.com in which he clarifies the FICO Damage Points subject:

According According to Craig Watts of FICO, the different score scenarios “aren’t meant to reflect every consumer experience” and that your own personal experience “could vary significantly.”

The ONLY way to determine the impact of changes on your FICO scores is to use their FICO Score Simulator tool that’s within the myFICO website. The downside is that you’d have to buy a credit report from them. The upside is that the score simulations will actually use your credit data and not data belonging to hypothetical consumers.

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