Credit Repair

When a potential home buyer comes to us looking for information on home loans or Tampa mortgage rates, we discuss their goals, have them fill out an application, pull credit, and conduct a full evaluation. If the financial picture does not stack up to a solid submission to shop to lenders, then we employ what we call the “what if” scenarios.

This is because it is important to us that people looking to buy homes are not discouraged by the process and a potential rejection, but are instead given an opportunity to fix what is broken. Our experience enables us to interpret the problem areas and to advise borrowers on what their time is best spent on correcting which weaknesses in their credit history.

Credit restoration has become its own industry because of the number of people that have gotten themselves labeled with a weak FICO due to their own mistakes or events that were beyond their control. Things can be fixed when the eye is focused on the right things.
And if for whatever reason we are not the clients’ best resource to advise them on how to go about managing their credit repairs, then we make it our business to get them to the right resources.
At the end of the day, we want our potential clients to have a clear plan on what they need to do to buy their home. Therefore, our approach at TriCounty Mortgage is to review the entire scenario and get the borrower’s financial picture to hang straight.

Happy Birthday to Cindy Walker

Happy Birthday to one of our longest standing Loan Officers with TriCounty Mortgage Corporation.

Cindy began her career in the mortgage business in 1983 at the age of just 17. She has held positions in all aspects of the business from loan processor, office manager/underwriter to her current position as loan originator. She has worked for all the different types of lenders from banks to mortgage bankers before settling into what she feels is the best place to be in regards to her clients, a mortgage broker. She can now offer the most competitive rates and closing costs because she has over 50 different lenders available to her through TriCounty Mortgage Corporation. Recently she was able to help a single mother of four children who is a retired veteran after she was denied from 3 other lenders. 

Cindy has been married to her husband Kevin Walker for several years and they have three beautiful children ages 10, 14, and 16.

Cindy's philosophy is to treat each customer with the utmost respect and as she would want to be treated so that they would feel comfortable throughout the new home purchase process. Cindy specializes in top notch customer service and first time home buyers with 27 years of experience to help make the home financing process as smooth as possible.

Mortgage Loans and Co-Borrowers

Fortunately, our mortgage-loan-seeking-clients visit our blog to get industry information, not just Tampa mortgage rates. There’s a lot more to obtaining home loans than just the rates!
For example, there are still plenty of myths in circulation about borrowing. In the home mortgage world, a co-borrower is neither a life line nor a means to get a mortgage.
Identifying and submitting someone to supplement your credit score will just do absolutely no good. Lenders are going to take the lowest credit score as the baseline for the loan approval. Assuming that the credit score of the person whose assistance you seek is higher, it will be completely irrelevant to your application.

As a matter of fact, even if you and a spouse are applying for the mortgage together, it is not a combination of the two FICO scores, but the lower of the two that will drive your rate and your acceptance.

The solution here is to work on your credit and get it where it needs to be. When a potential client comes to us for loan consideration and comes up short, we help to map out a plan and let them know what they need to focus on to get the maximum benefit out of their credit history. Credit restoration is completely achievable when the issues and the goals are clearly defined.
So at the end of the day, if you are trying to work up the courage to ask a friend or family member to co-sign your loan, don’t bother. Heal thyself.

Truth in Lending

In any industry there are unsavory characters looking out for their own gain with reckless disregard for the success of their client. This was the foundation of the sub-prime mortgage mess.
In the home loans business, the flip side of that coin is truth-in-borrowing. If you are trying to obtain a home mortgage and withhold information or intentionally try to beat the system, it will really come to no good end.
I heard about a mortgage transaction that almost fell apart a few days before closing because a woman misrepresented the status of her property holdings under the guise that her spouse was not on those loans and that the properties were being sold. However, after further investigation, they were actually distressed properties and on the market as short sales.
It basically became a twisted mess and personified that tangled web that is woven when people employ deceit to borrow money. In this case, their withholding of information was intentional, but sometimes it can be chalked up to naiveté.
Bottom line…if you are buying a home and borrowing money to purchase it, just disclose everything. If it is irrelevant, your mortgage broker will let you know. But if it is a key piece in your puzzle, it can be addressed before it blows up and you miss the window to buy that home. It pays to tell the truth.

Good Faith Estimates

While certain mortgage process guidelines have backfired, (see HVCC); there are those that work to separate the professionals from the shysters.

We’re happy to report that the new good faith estimate guidelines will eliminate the old bait and switch techniques employed by unsavory lenders. These will help to put the “professional” back in mortgage professional because now everyone has to play fair and present to home mortgage borrowers a host of fees that cannot change.

However, in typical government fashion, we have the theoretical that makes sense on some levels (the weeding out of the bad apples), and the practical. In this case there is still no real provision for giving borrowers the bottom line on the good faith estimate. Bottom line, there is no bottom line. So while we appreciate the expulsion of rotten fruit, we tread cautiously as to whether or not to jump up and down on the thin ice of yet another tactic to “fix” what is broken in the mortgage process.

And at the end of the day, policies mandating ethical behavior are the very least a home buyer should expect from a mortgage broker in Tampa Bay; a reputation and a proven track record of careful assessment, due diligence, and finding the right mortgage product to suit the wants and needs of the borrower is just as critical a component in the equation.

While bottom feeders will always seek someone upon whom to graze, our hope is that dishonest business practices that have been allowed to fester in the marketplace by the Joe’s Refinance Shacks of the industry, will go the way of all poorly constructed huts, into the wind.

Tampa Bay Mortgages and the Tax Man

Whether you are buying a home in Clearwater Fl or in Paris France, each and every home mortgage lender has their rules for the administrative side of the transition. For the legitimate lenders, the ultimate goal of qualifying a home buyer and determining the appropriate mortgage product is the same. However, each has their respective ways of how they gather and when they gather your pertinent data.

Take for example the lender practice of requesting your tax transcripts. This proof that you filed your income tax and reported legitimate income, etc. is obtained by a third party from the IRS on behalf of the lender. Once sought for only the self-employed, today’s lenders typically require this confirmation for everyone.

But…some lenders request it at the beginning of the mortgage process and others frankly order it a little too close for comfort to the scheduled closing date. Regardless, information found on this report that conflicts with your mortgage application will kick you and your application to the curb pretty fast and/or will delay the closing if you need more time to set things straight.

While I don’t use my mortgage blog too often to promote how well we at TriCounty Mortgage do our job, I am this time! One of the many precautionary steps we take is to order this tax transcript at our own expense at application so our borrowers have a heads up as to what to expect.

While we have to bow to the lender’s wishes for the duration of the transaction, we can at least give ourselves a little insight into potential problems and fix them before they do damage. There is nothing like a pre-emptive strike to keep a deal together.

Welcome To TriCounty Mortgage Corporation