March 5, 2018
FHA home loan resources you should know include online mortgage calculators, pre-qualification for a home loan, and the availability of free credit reports to help you in the research and planning stages of your new home loan or refinance loan.
Get Your Free Credit Reports A Year In Advance Of Your Home Loan
The government consumer watchdog agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), reminds home loan applicants that they are entitled to “a free credit report every 12 months from each of the three major consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion)” according to the CFPB official site.
Pulling your credit reports a year in advance is an excellent idea as it will give you plenty of time to deal with potentially outdated or inaccurate information, contest identity theft activity, and address credit score issues that might need seeing to before you apply for a new loan.
According to the CFPB, borrowers can request free credit reports all at once, or order them separately over time. You can request additional copies of a credit report for a nominal fee once your yearly free report has been delivered.
Estimate Monthly Mortgage Payments With An Online Mortgage Calculator
Not sure what to expect from your new house payment? Need to get an idea of how much to budget for on a monthly basis? Online FHA mortgage loan calculators can help you approximate how much you can borrow, how much your monthly payment might realistically be based on house price, down payment amount, interest rates, and other factors.
Using an online mortgage calculator is basically getting an estimate; the exact numbers will only be available once the loan is approved and will include data such as your mortgage insurance premium, interest, property taxes, etc.
Prequalify For An FHA Mortgage Or Refinance Loan
Getting prequalified for an FHA mortgage loan is not the same as home loan approval, but it is a way for you and your lender to determine how much you might be able to borrow based on your income, budget, price range, plus the FHA loan limits for your area.
Pre-qualifying for a loan tells the seller you are serious about making an offer, and it gives you and the lender a working relationship before you fully commit to purchasing a given property.
Pre-qualifying means supplying the zip code of your proposed new home, the estimated amount of your down payment, whether or not an applicant has served in the military, and some basic information about where you live now and other details as required by the lender.
Your actual loan approval will happen after an FHA appraisal happens that determines the fair market value of the home and insures it meets FHA minimum standards. Your pre-qualification checklist should include coming to the process with a steady employment history, consistent income over the last two years, and the mortgage payment you qualify for should be approximately 30% of your monthly income (gross).
Bruce Reichstein has spent over three decades as an experienced FHA and VA home loan mortgage banker and underwriter where he was responsible for funding “Billions” in government backed mortgage loans. He is the Managing Editor for FHANewsblog.com where he educates homeowners on the specific guidelines for obtaining FHA guaranteed home loans.
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