House-purchasing Q&A: Credit score and housing selection area

House-purchasing Q&A: Credit score and housing selection area Q: Why are credit reports and credit scores important to home buyers with loans? Answer: For banks, credit...

Home Buying Q&A: Credit Scores and Housing Selection Question: Why are credit reports and credit scores important to home buyers with loans? Answer: For banks, credit reports and scoring systems are important basis for measuring a person’s credit worthiness. In other words, whether the bank is willing to lend money, whether the interest rate you get is high or low, personal credit report and score play a big factor, so before taking out a loan, please check your credit report. According to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, everyone can get their own free credit report once a year. This report is provided by three major credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The easiest way is to go online to AnnualCreditReport.com to apply for a free credit report of your own. If you want to know your credit score (Credit Score), you need to spend money to purchase, please inquire with the above three companies or their agents. Currently, there are many agents on the market that provide integrated inquiry solutions. You can unlimitedly inquire your credit reports and scores from the above three companies for more than 100 yuan per year. Please rest assured that inquiry of your own credit record will not affect your credit score. Therefore, in order to avoid becoming a victim of credit theft, and to avoid surprise when buying a house with a loan, it is recommended that you check your credit record at least every few months. Question: When buying a house, you must choose an area carefully. How can you know the economic and security conditions of a certain area, whether the environment is safe, etc.? Answer: A lot of information can be obtained for free on the Internet, such as: www.CrimeReports.com, www.FamilyWatchDog.us For these two websites, as long as you enter the address of the house you want to query, a map will display nearby criminal activity locations, photos of sex offenders, crimes, home addresses and other data. As for the economic and demographic status of the area, you can find information on the website www.BestPlaces.net.