Accredited Home Lenders to acquire Aames Investment

Enhance your business during a slowing marketSherene CostanzoSlowing mortgage market The market is gradually slowing, lenders are tightening credit and rates are on the rise. This results in less mortgage activity and will most certainly bring more competition among lenders and mortgage businesses. This means you will have fewer well qualified clients. It may be time to start focusing on all possible prospects, even those with credit scores below lender guidelines. What can you do to bring these clients' scores up to industry standards? Credit education is most important when it comes to consumers and low credit scores. The government is currently taking action to educate consumers on credit reports and scores, as well as bring awareness to consumers, regarding their credit reporting rights. A recent survey by the Government Accountability Office, using a sample of 1,578 consumers, displayed that many consumers understand some of the basics about credit, but do not understand the complexity of credit scores and reports or, even more importantly, their rights. The survey also found that many consumers knew what a credit score was, with about one-third knowing their actual credit scores, but did not understand how certain credit behaviors affect their credit histories and scores. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission is active in educating consumers. You or your clients may visit their Web site at www.mymoney.gov for more important information about credit education for consumers. Keep in mind that you can use credit improvement methods as a loss leader to turn bad credit prospects into future clients. When the mortgage market was booming, well qualified clients were abundant. Now, amongst a slower market, there are fewer prospects, so hanging onto all of them is extremely important to your success. With the mortgage business slowing, finding a niche to make you or your company stand out from the others is more important than ever! Don't let possible clients turn around and walk out the door because they have bad credit. Review their reports and explain why their scores are low. Give them alternatives and steps to improve their scores quickly. Be sure to follow up, so you are sure to keep them as clients. Using credit improvement as an incentive can help draw clients to your office. Offer them free credit evaluations when they apply for a loan. Maybe you can give them free credit restoration with all mortgage closings. Give credit restoration as a gift to past clients and offer to refinance them once their credit scores have improved. These incentives are great tools to reinvigorate your customer base. Express the importance of credit education to your client. The first step for your client is to understand what his credit score is and why. Many consumers have low credit scores, because they lack knowledge about credit reports and scores. The government is currently taking steps to improve consumers' understanding of their credit rights and remedies, as well as provide education to consumers of how credit behaviors affect credit history. Consumers are entitled to one free credit report from all three major credit bureaus at least once a year. This free report, however, does not include the consumer's credit score. All three credit bureaus offer this score for a few dollars. Anything below 700 could use a boost. There are several Web sites promoted by the government to aid consumers with credit education. Doing the following may help your clients get a quick score boost: Refer your clients to a reputable credit restoration company. You may choose to provide them some information on your own or you may want to refer your clients to a credit restoration company. Credit restoration companies can help them improve their credit scores and educate them about credit improvement and maintenance. Many of these companies can provide this service to them at an extremely low cost and can save them the time and aggravation of trying to improve their credit scores on their own. This service is extremely valuable, since it can save your clients thousands of dollars in interest over time. It will be their best investment ever. In turn, you will be able to finance them, once their scores have improved. That is better than turning them away! Maybe you will gain a few extra loans just by referring them to a reputable credit restoration company and leading them toward improving their credit scores. Of course, it is important for you to stay in contact with the credit restoration company. You should choose a company that will notify you that your clients have completed the process, in order to be sure to have them return to you for their mortgages. Sherene Costanzo is vice president of Credit Consultants Inc. She may be reached at (888) 522-7007 or e-mail [email protected]