You need to be on top of your game when getting a home loan. Your credit score is an integral part of being able to purchase a house or refinance a house. Here are some things to know when it comes to credit…

The free credit score you get from Credit Karma or your bank does not necessarily mean that is your actual credit score. Many of these free credit reporting services or consumer credit reporting services only give you one or two credit scores from one of the bureau’s not a tri merge.

Mortgage lenders require a full trimerge credit report when reviewing your loan application for a loan approval. It’s a requirement that credit reports are also specific to the company that pulls them, put another way, you cannot transfer your credit report from one credit company to another.

Don’t dispute any credit accounts at all. If you dispute any credit accounts you are unable to get a mortgage until you take those accounts out of dispute then the lender will rerun automated underwriting to determine how much you qualify for

Paying off debt it might in some cases make more sense to pay off debt to qualify which also might increase your credit score in the process but do this at the advice of your lender not because you’re an expert on credit scoring. The advice of your lender carries far more weight and significance in determining how much you can qualify for

Pay all your bills on time including your mortgage and all your credit cards. Any accounts that have past due balances almost certainly are guaranteed to have to be bought to current or paid off in full specifically.

When you buy a house for the first time your credit score will automatically go up 40 points in most cases making you more credit-worthy. You heard that right buying a house will make you more credit-worthy which is why when you purchase a house for the first time you start getting solicited with direct mail from various credit card companies saying you’re pre-approved.

The ideal credit situation that you want to put yourself in is to have three or four credit cards that you use and pay in full each month while having a mortgage in your name with ongoing monthly consumer debt.