Tag Archive for: credit scores

Self-Employed Mortgage Guide 2026

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Getting a mortgage when you are self-employed is more straightforward than most business owners expect, but the rules are different and knowing them before you apply changes the outcome. The challenge is rarely eligibility. It is that self-employment income gets calculated differently, and borrowers who do not know the math often apply at the wrong time, with the wrong documents, or for the wrong program. Here is the full framework for 2026, including how lenders calculate your income, which loan options are available, and the moves that strengthen your file months before you apply.Read More

Fannie Mae Yanks Their 620 Minimum Credit Score Requirement; Time To Celebrate?

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We have been crushing the dreams of homebuyers all week… And – it’s not because we want to or because we’re doing something wrong. It is solely because we are telling them the truth: Fannie Mae’s removal of its 620 minimum credit score requirement will not help about 98% of borrowers with scores under 620.Read More

Hard Credit Pulls, Soft Credit Pulls – Do We Need to Care?

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Given that it was about 25 years before credit scores were widely used, I’ve always thought it was remarkably prescient – because most borrowers care far too much about credit pulls and the impact on their scores.Read More

CFPB Wipes Out $49 Billion of Medical Debt! Woohoo or Uh Oh?

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Important Reminder #1: Real estate agents buying homes for themselves can apply their commissions towards their down payment. Commissions = seasoned down payment funds. Read More

When Debt Is a VERY GOOD Thing! (& Why We Love Tradelines)

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We often have clients who come to us looking for their first home, very proud that they’ve “never had an ounce of debt” in their “entire life.” No credit cards, […]Read More

12 Tips For First-Time Homebuyers

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Many first-time homebuyers are excited about the opportunity to invest in themselves and begin building generational wealth through their home's equity. Here are JVM's best tips for first-time homebuyers, founded on our team's expansive knowledge and experience with helping thousands of homebuyers navigate the mortgage process.Read More

What Credit Score Is Needed To Refinance A House?

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Credit scores play a significant role in determining what mortgage rate you qualify for when refinancing. There is no "one interest rate" that lenders quote each day because of the many factors that affect individual rates. Credit scores can drastically change the rate that lenders are able to quote borrowers for refinances.Read More

5 Key Credit Reminders & Misconceptions; Albert Einstein On Interest Rates!

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Borrowers often share their credit scores with us, as if those scores are set in stone. Those scores, however, are often generated by online “consumer” oriented scoring models that are much less stringent than the scoring models mortgage lenders employ. As a result, the consumer-scores are often much higher than the scores mortgage lenders obtain.Read More

Rapid Re-Scores; We Can’t Charge Borrowers

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RAPID RE-SCORES We often do a “rapid re-score” to repair a borrower’s credit for a variety of reasons: (1) to raise a borrower’s score above a minimum requirement, such as […]Read More

Is 751 A Good Credit Score?

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"What is a good credit score to buy a house?" "Is 715 a good credit score? Credit scores are often at the top of every prospective homebuyer’s mind when they begin their house hunt. Mortgage lenders pull credit scores for homebuyers from three major bureaus: Transunion, Equifax, and Experian. When lenders pull credit, they correlate to the middle of the three scores. If two homebuyers are using a loan, lenders will correlate to the lower-middle score of the two.Read More

5 Key Credit Reminders & Misconceptions

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Borrowers often share their credit scores with us, as if those scores are set in stone. Those scores, however, are often generated by online “consumer” oriented scoring models that are much less stringent than the scoring models mortgage lenders employ. As a result, the consumer scores are often much higher than the scores mortgage lenders obtain. This is a problem because credit scores significantly affect interest rates, so it is misleading for us to estimate someone’s interest rate based on their consumer score. I blogged more about this here.Read More

Why Interest Rate Might Be Higher at Contract Time Than at Pre-Approval Time; Not a “Bait & Switch” :)

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We pre-approved a borrower in August and sent him numerous estimated payment scenarios, based exactly on the interest rates available at that time. When he went into contract in mid-September, […]Read More

Why Perfect Credit Scores Don’t Matter

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200 MILLION AMERICANS NOW HAVE FICO SCORES About 200 million Americans now have FICO Scores, and about 3 million have perfect scores of 850, according to this Bloomberg article:  “How […]Read More

Cracking the Perfect Credit Score? Don’t Bother…

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200 MILLION AMERICANS NOW HAVE FICO SCORES About 200 million Americans now have FICO Scores, and about 3 million have perfect scores of 850, according to this Bloomberg article – […]Read More