For many citizens, the chance to own a home is not something to pass up. Owning a home is the best way to build wealth over time and a true measure of a person’s accomplishments. However finding home loans with bad credit may make this chance more elusive than ever. For borrowers with poor credit, home loans may seem like just another dream. However, there are ways to get the mortgage loan you need through online lenders who specialize in high risk lending.
Credit Is Still Important
Many people wonder why a simple three-digit score is so important when trying to buy a home. It’s just a number after all, right? Wrong. The Fair Isaac Corp. (shortened as FICO) developed the credit scoring system as a means to help lenders assess the likelihood of default on loans. The system take several aspects of your credit: your asset to debt ratio, your past history of repayments, bankruptcies, foreclosures, etc. and uses that to generate a score that tells lenders a lot about you with little fuss.
Basically, the point of a credit score is to serve as a short cut for borrower evaluation. Bad credit means that the borrower has had problems with money in the past and may have problems in the future. Therefore, when looking for a home loan, poor credit is an important element that a lender will use to assess whether or not you will be able and willing to repay the loan on time and in good standing. If you do not do this, the lender loses money.
Lenders Willing to Take the Risk
Even if you have reformed bad habits or, worse, your poor credit score is a result of factors out of your control (such as lay-offs or medical bills) most traditional lenders will still consider you a rick when considering you for a home loan. With bad credit, no matter the reason for that poor credit, you are at a disadvantage with most lenders.
There are clear exceptions to this rule, however. Many lenders who operate online are willing to work with people whose credit scores are lower than ideal. Why? Many of these lenders understand that in cases where bad credit is a thing of the past, a second (or even third) chance is warranted. These lenders will give home loans to those with bad credit because they believe you have the ability and willpower to succeed.
There Are Still Penalties
This does not mean that you are on even playing ground with other borrowers however. Because of your bad credit, home loans will come with certain penalties or other circumstances that will offset the risk your bad credit creates. Principally, this means that your interest rate will be higher than those low rates you see advertised all the time. There may also be certain fees for late or missed payments that are higher than those on traditional loans. It is important to read all the fine print on your final loan papers in order to understand all of these circumstances.
The good news is that borrowers with bad credit can still get home loans. With poor credit, it is easy to get discouraged, but it is not necessary. Consider all the options in front of you and start your search today!
