A reminder for anyone buying a home in the near future and needing a mortgage:  Brought to you by Mark Miskiel at The Lending Company (A local Sedona Mortgage Company).

As black Friday approaches and the Christmas shopping season starts, take caution to resist the store promotions where you open a new credit account and get a big discount at the register for doing so.

While it may be tempting to take advantage of the in store promotion, opening that account could potentially harm their credit score enough to preventing closing the mortgage loan or making a pre-qualification null and void.

Opening “New Credit” accounts can impact a borrower’s credit score up to 85 points because the credit bureaus take the following into the consideration.

1. Number of recently opened accounts
2. Proportion of newly opened accounts to all open accounts
3. Number of recent credit inquiries
4. Amount of time since the recent inquiries

It’s no news that mortgage lenders have been increasing the minimum credit score to obtain a mortgage.  Also, there is a new requirement for the lenders to pull a “soft” credit inquiry right up to the point of funding the loan to ensure the borrowers credit profile has not changed.  While the in store promotions may look great, the borrowers may want to carefully consider if accepting such a promotion is worth the risk of no longer qualifying for a mortgage.

I am here to help if you have questions about this or other lending topics.

Happy Holidays!

Mark A. Miskiel  –  Residential Lending Specialist
The Lending Company – Verde Valley
Office:  (928) 634-7987 (rings to cell when out of office)