Sam Thompson

The following is a guest blog by Sam Thompson with Community Southern Bank. The views expressed are not necessarily those of GeorgiaMoves.com

Here are some common credit-related questions that I hear frequently:

How do I go about re-establishing my credit if I lost my home in a short sale or foreclosure?

What should I do if I filed bankruptcy several years ago to re-establish my credit and increase my credit scores?

What should I do if I was out of work for a year and have been delinquent on all of my credit-related obligations?

What should I do if I have never had any credit cards, car loans, bank loans or any kind of traditional credit?

I will answer these questions and more in this article. Let’s start by explaining

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Credit Myth 1 – Pay Collections

The following guest blog is written by Teressa McIntosh with HOPE Credit Service.

Paying collection accounts is usually the first place people start when deciding to try to fix a damaged credit report. However, the idea that paying off a collection account will boost a consumer’s credit scores is, unfortunately, very wrong. The FICO credit scoring model was built to help lenders predict the likelihood of a borrower going 90+ days past due on a loan within the next 2 years. If a borrower is likely to go 90+ days delinquent on an account within the next 2 years then a lender will probably consider the borrower to be a bad credit risk.

When a consumer pays off an outstanding

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Credit scores affect financing costs

Note: The following guest blog was written by Senior Mortgage Consultant, Sam Thompson, with Community & Southern Bank. 

The thing on the tip of most lenders’ tongues these days when we pre-qualify borrowers is this one question: what are your credit scores?   The answer to that question will basically determine the prospect’s chances of qualifying for financing as well as their interest rates. Fortunately or unfortunately, the derivation of one’s credit score is not an exact science, but attaining a minimum credit score for almost all loan programs is a must.  That score for government lending programs such as FHA and VA these days has basically evolved to a middle score of 640 while conventional loans typically require 660-680. The best interest rates are

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