the most common form of mortgage fraud is occupancy fraud. An example of this is where the borrower misrepresents his intended use of the house by saying it is owner occupied when he really uses the property as a rental house. Investment loans carry a slightly higher interest rate because they are statistically more likely to end up in foreclosure. There are a few instances in which a family can legitimately have two primary residences: ask your loan professional for details.

You can also obtain a home equity line of credit or a second mortgage in order to consolidate your credit card debt. These two options both offer tax benefit’s and can lower the interest rates that you are paying on the credit cards to a lower interest rate on a home equity line or second mortgage. Most times the rates on an equity line or 2nd mortgage will be lower because these are both secured by your home, whereas a credit card debt is not secured by anything.

Consolidating credit card debt with a home loan is a great idea to lower the interest rate on the debt. However, borrowers must take great care not to run up the credit card debt again which will put them in the same position as before.

The average us home owner has over $10,000 in unsecured credit card debt! Most credit cards also carry interest rates in the mid to high teens and have high minimum payments. Not only is this unsecured credit card debt not tax deductible but in most cases it is a financial burden on most homeowners.

To pay off your credit cards much quicker and to receive benefit’s of tax deduction on the interest of your credit cards you can consolidate the credit card debt into your mortgage. This is called a cash-out mortgage refinance or a debt consolidation refinance. Consolidating your credit card debt into your mortgage can generally provide you with a much lower interest rate on this debt, save money from your minimum monthly payments, help you to possibly make this credit card debt now tax deductible through mortgage interest, and help to increase your credit scores. By paying off your credit card debt you will have a better ratio of credit card balances to credit card limit’s, which can significantly increase your credit scores.

If you are in a situation where you are unable to access the equity in your house, you have no equity in your house or you don’t own a house and would like to be able to buy one, then here is a way to pay the credit cards off in a timely fashion. Make a list of all your credit cards with balances. Put them in order of highest interest rate to lowest interest rate. Beside each card write down how much you have been paying each month and what the minimum payment is for each one. Write down the difference between the two payments. Apply this extra amount being paid on each card to the card with the highest interest rate until it is paid off. Then apply the amount that had been going towards that card to the next card on the list. Continue on down until all your credit cards are paid off.

There are many companies who offer credit repair services for relatively low costs. In the end, any dollars you spend to make significant credit repairs will come back to you in the dollars you save month to month with your newly improved scores and available interest rates.

Even if you have 2 out of three credit scores under 500, there are a few lenders that will take the average of all three credit scores to do the loan for you. For example, if you have a 485, a 490 and a 525, this will give you a 500 average score and these lenders will use that score to determine your eligibility for the loan. This is in contrast to the most common way of using the three credit scores, which is simply to use the middle of the three scores, or the lower of two when there are only two scores available. There are also lenders known as hard money lenders that do not underwrite mortgage loans based on credit scores but more based on the amount of equity in the property. Hard money loans are generally supposed to be short term loans and come with much higher interest rates and fees than more conventional type loans, due to amount of risk involved.

If you do find yourself needing to get a mortgage loan with a credit score under 500 you will probably be seeking a hard money source. Most good mortgage brokers have access to these sources. With hard money you can expect to be charged an interest rate anywhere from 5 to 10 points above the prevailing rate. You also will probably have to pay several points to originate the loan. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to get such a loan always try to get one with no pre-payment penalty so that you can refinance out of it just as soon as your credit situation improves.

Some people who are very responsible with their money and pay cash for everything may be surprised to find that they are not necessarily rewarded for their discipline when it is time to take out their first mortgage. Because lenders base your interest rate and their willingness to lend money on risk, they like to see an established payment history reported on your credit bureau. There are programs available to those who have no credit history, as well as some ways to establish your credit if you are not planning to actually buy a home for 6 to 12 months. While there are many options available to you, a handful of the programs and best techniques for establishing credit will be discussed in more detail in this article.