When it comes to lifetime markers getting a first mortgage is a major event. With a mortgage you”re magically transformed from occupant to owner and from tenant to titleholder.
Applying for a mortgage used to be seen as a battle of sorts, a competition where the only winners were those who sold headache remedies and paper by the truckload. But now finding the right mortgage is faster and easier than ever — but only if you know how to make the system work for you.
If you compare loan applications today with the ordeals of even ten years ago you can see a marked difference.
It used to take days if not weeks to obtain a credit report. Meanwhile a mortgage lender could not act on a loan application because information regarding debts and credit history were simply missing so loan processing times have been greatly compacted.
In 1995 both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said local lenders should use the credit scoring system developed by industry-pioneer Fair Isaac to evaluate consumer credit. With credit scoring, a rigorous mathematical profile drawn from a huge number of credit reports is used to measure credit history — and thus...