About: Maggi Pritchard

Soft inquiries, sometimes known as a soft credit check or a soft credit pull, do not impact your credit scores because they are not attached to a specific application for credit. They can occur when a credit card issuer or mortgage lender checks a person’s credit for preapproval purposes. Examples...

When the situation arises that you have a lump sum of cash to pay down your existing mortgage, there may be different options available. Pre-paying principal on a fixed-rate mortgage shortens the term of the mortgage but the payment stays the same. Conversely, recasting a mortgage with a lump-sum principal...

The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits are adjusted annually to keep up with cost of living but with the appreciation experienced in many markets, it may not be enough. When the conforming loan limit is not enough, qualified buyers can turn to a jumbo loan. The maximum loan...

Credit utilization reflects how much of your available credit is being used at a given time. Lower credit utilization indicates that a borrower is not heavily relying on their credit and that they are using their credit responsibly. Is calculated by dividing your total credit card balances by your total...

Some people consider a house payment as basic as monthly utilities but with a plan and some discipline, you can be mortgage free. Consider a person borrowed $300,000 at 3% for 30 years, the principal and interest payment would be $1,264.81 and at the end of 12 years, the unpaid...