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Ivory Homes Offers Credit Improvement Tips for Potential Homebuyers


WEBWIRE

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Ivory Homes, a leading provider of pre-built and custom-built homes in Salt Lake City, offers free advice on how potential homeowners can improve their credit ratings.

“The fact is, right now is absolutely the best time we have ever seen to purchase homes for sale in Utah,” said Ty Perry, sales consultant for Ivory Homes. “Low home prices and insanely low interest rates are making the American dream of home ownership more affordable than ever. But banks are making it a little more difficult to secure a loan, which makes a favorable credit score all the more important.”

According to Ivory Homes, when qualifying homebuyers, mortgage lenders primarily look at the mid-FICO score. Any score above 750 typically qualifies a potential homebuyer for the prime interest rate, whereas anything below this number could result in a higher interest rate and fewer loan options. A score below 620 would likely result in no financing options whatsoever.

“Simply put, if you want a good interest rate, you need to have a good credit score,” said Perry. “But if your credit score isn’t ideal, understand that there are some basic ways to repair it.”

Ivory Homes suggests the first step to improving one’s credit score is to know what that score is. The company recommends using AnnualCreditReport.com, which allows anyone to get a free credit file disclosure, or credit report, once every 12 months.

Beyond providing a score, a credit report is valuable because it determines what may be negatively affecting that score, which makes it easier to develop a plan for improving it. When reviewing the credit report, Ivory Homes suggests determining how much revolving debt one currently has and to look for obvious reporting errors.

“Revolving debt is money owed to a creditor that sets a monthly payment based on an overall balance,” said Perry. “The best examples are credit or retail store cards.”

When looking at revolving debt, credit agencies determine if the balance held on a line of credit is above or below 30 percent of the account’s credit limit. All accounts above 30 percent negatively affect the credit rating.

“The key is to pay down any revolving debts to get them to a point below that 30-percent mark,” said Perry. “For every card that you pay down below 30-percent, the result can be a 15 point boost on your credit rating.”

“Let’s say a person was looking for homes in Salt Lake City, but their credit score was 710 ... 40 points below the score that will get them a prime interest rate,” explained Perry. “If that same person had three credit accounts that they could pay down below the 30-percent mark, the result could be a 45-point increase in credit score, meaning the ability to secure the prime interest rate.”

Otherwise, it’s worthwhile to search for blatant errors on a credit report. “Many people assume a report is going to be accurate, but actually we find 30- to 40-percent of reports have negative items that are reported incorrectly,” said Perry. “This could include incorrect balances, inaccurate collections reports, etc.”

Though potential homeowners can do much of this work on their own, Ivory Homes also offers a service to help repair credit problems. “For anyone considering homes for sale in Utah, they can tap into our Ivory Financial Fitness services,” said Perry. “We basically go through all the credit improvement steps for you and dispute any incorrect information, while helping settle debt and collections issues.”

Ivory Homes has been Utah’s largest homebuilder since 1990. For more information, contact Ivory Homes’ corporate office, 978 Woodoak Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84117, call 801-747-7000, visit the website at www.ivoryhomes.com or check out the YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/ivoryhomes.

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 credit improvement
 home mortgage
 buying a home
 homes in Utah
 homes in Salt Lake City


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