Full Credit History Now Available to Lenders
While low interest rates offer a fair incentive to buyers to take the property plunge, their minutely scrutinised credit files may make the task difficult for them…..that is if they do not take due care to maintain their credit history.
Credit records available to lenders
Buyers will do well to know that their credit records are now available to creditors and utility sector and this implies that the banks can neatly assess your creditworthiness before forwarding you that much needed loan.
We are miserably ill-informed
Read in this light, it is a bad statement on ourselves that we are pretty ill-informed on our creditability. Two distinct survey reports claim that while 93% individuals do not know how to check their records, 80% have never felt the need to check them. This data does not comfort anyone- neither the creditors nor the borrowers.
Lenders have data to bank on
Banks have an inherent tendency to be apprehensive about servicing loans and now that they have data in hand, they will try to cut the risk element inasmuch as possible before dishing out money from their kitty. So the fair question is- who passes the credit history test?
Redemption is possible
The good news is that come March 2014, fresh changes in credit report guidelines will make it easier for the really delinquent file holders to redeem themselves. To elaborate, your best chances of pleasing the banks lie in your being completely clean (paying your bills ahead of time on each occasion) but you do not have to fret even if there are ‘black marks’ on your credit file.
Fresh guidelines dictate that lending institutions will be most empathetic to those individuals working hard on improving their records. Agreed that they have defaulted heavily in the past but if they have changed their stance and paying diligently on time, banks will give a good hearing to them.
What you need to do?
The credit environment building up after March 2014 will warrant a few measures from our side. As a first, we will need to be spot on with our payments. For the purpose, keeping reminders, setting up calendars, setting up apps will be crucial. In the same vein, we will need to employ electronic banking to minimise the time we lose in physically visiting the lending premises (and the laziness associated with the idea).
A good way to be one up with our payments is to facilitate direct debit on our accounts so that money is automatically deducted from our savings account on pre-stipulated dates. This is the best time, says experts, to benefit from low mortgage rates but it is crucial to give banks a good reason to lend you- a smart credit profile can be just that reason.
How often do you access your credit record?
