tag:searchlightcrusade.net,2024:/mt//feed/credit 2024-04-20T08:52:48Z Movable Type 4.21-en 86 1 86 tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.3791 2024-03-19T14:00:00Z 2024-03-19T14:38:59Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ People sometimes ask how they can improve their credit if they have old collections on their credit record. Well, the answer is NOT to simply pay them. Paying off a five year old collection can cause your credit score to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4835 2023-10-23T14:00:00Z 2023-10-23T16:28:51Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Our home isn't worth what we owe. So say you were just an average person selling and buying a house, meaning you put your house up for sale, get a contract to purchase on it then go put in offer... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4834 2023-10-16T14:00:00Z 2023-10-16T15:14:22Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ I am currently living with my parents and they wish to deed of gift their house to me but they still have a remaining mortgage on it. Is it possible to do this or do they have to pay off... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3741 2023-09-11T14:00:00Z 2023-09-11T15:27:56Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ >broker incurred 19 inquires in 1 week dropping my score. B.S. I'd go the full Penn and Teller on this one if I wasn't trying to stay family friendly. The law is clear on this one, and practice is fully... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3730 2023-07-31T14:00:00Z 2023-07-31T16:15:16Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ What happens if a home you signed to purchase goes into foreclosure before the closing date? We were supposed to close on a home four months ago. On the day of closing we get a call from the seller's... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4810 2023-04-10T14:00:00Z 2023-04-10T14:35:35Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ The answer is "Yes." You don't have to lose your home in bankruptcy. I've done loans for many clients who kept their homes through bankruptcy. But they kept their mortgage payments current, or close enough to current. The condition... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3657 2022-10-24T14:00:00Z 2022-10-24T15:54:38Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Every so often, someone who thinks they're a wit sends me a copy of The Rules For Relationships According To Women. Unlike those rules, which might have been funny around the time Nefertiti was a debutante, there are very few... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3573 2022-03-21T14:00:00Z 2022-03-21T16:01:13Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Okay, I did an article called Why Renting Really Is For Suckers (And What To Do About It). Fairness demands that I do a companion article on situations where buying is not a good idea. There actually are some. First... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4721 2021-12-27T15:00:00Z 2021-12-27T13:54:05Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ This is a pure scam throughout, but it's legal as far as I know. I'm not going to go into more details than I can avoid. The universe knows there's enough people pulling this right now, but the bad guys... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2010://3.5023 2021-11-15T15:00:00Z 2021-11-15T13:02:07Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ This is one of those things that trips up people to buy a house or refinance it: student loans. First off, Form 1003, the Federal Uniform Residential Loan Application has the following relevant questions on page 4, among the... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3532 2021-11-08T15:00:00Z 2021-11-08T13:25:36Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Got a search for that, and it occurred to me that it is a valid question. The answer is yes. The degree varies. You can simply contact the bank to make yourself responsible for payment. They are usually happy to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4735 2021-10-22T14:00:00Z 2021-10-22T12:48:32Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ How do I keep my home after filing bankruptcy. The Mortgage company wants to foreclose? I want to know if there is anyway to keep the home even after filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. I want to know if there... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2007:/~searchli//3.2916 2021-10-06T14:00:00Z 2021-10-06T14:02:23Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Many folks have no idea how qualified they are as borrowers. There are two ratios that, together with credit score, tell how qualified you are for a loan. The more important of these two ratios is Debt-to-Income ratio, usually abbreviated... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4656 2021-10-03T14:00:00Z 2021-10-03T15:12:31Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ It has become very trendy to ask for pre-approvals on loans, because so many escrows are falling through. Unfortunately, as I have explained in the past, Loan Pre-Approval Means Nothing, and prequalification means even less. Both are literally wasted paper.... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2007:/~searchli//3.2908 2021-09-30T14:00:00Z 2021-09-30T13:49:43Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ (This is a reprint originally from December 2005. I have reasons for reprinting it even though these loans are not currently available) My article on Option ARM and Pick a Pay - Negative Amortization Loans is one of my most... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2007:/~searchli//3.2883 2021-09-10T14:00:00Z 2021-09-10T14:20:59Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ "I am married but want to refinance my house only in my name. What do I have to do?" Refinancing in one name only is actually pretty easy, and there are at least two ways to potentially accomplish this,... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4619 2021-09-07T14:00:00Z 2021-09-07T15:28:45Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ A high percentage of buyers out there have no idea of how qualified they really are themselves. They have no clue as to any of the major factors in determining credit-worthiness. To be fair, there are dozens, if not hundreds,... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2007:/~searchli//3.2861 2021-08-21T14:00:00Z 2021-08-21T13:44:50Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Every so often I get questions about loan cosigners. The main borrowers do not qualify on their own, so they get someone - most often mom and dad - to cosign. Cosigners are a different thing, or so I understand,... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2010://3.4981 2021-06-10T14:00:00Z 2021-06-10T12:57:14Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Agents rationalize this in all sorts of interesting ways, so let's just start by quoting the cold hard federal law. It's pretty damned clear: RESPA no person shall give and no person shall accept any fee, kickback, or thing of... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2007:/~searchli//3.2779 2021-06-09T14:00:00Z 2021-06-09T12:29:32Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ As of July 1, 2005, mortgage providers have to have explicit written authorization to run credit. I am not certain of the political forces that made this bill, and it is still not clear to me whether this extends to...