Building Trust by Helping Consumers Build Credit

This week, Dan Smokoska and Sue Buswell provide loan officers with practical advice they can use in their marketing to build trust while helping consumers build and repair their credit.

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Show the Score (and keep scoring points with your audience)

Dan Smokoska

Founder of WinSocial

Credit scores play a big role in the loan approval process. You know that. But you know who probably doesn’t??

Potential borrowers (at least not to the level they probably should).?

You have incredible insights into a part of the mortgage process that your audience needs, and your audience is searching for it. That means you’ve found the perfect recipe for creating valuable content that can make a real difference to people.?

That’s how you start building trust and start being seen as a reliable source of information — which is also how you start building relationships with people.?

So, how can you get this educational information out to the people who need it most (so they’ll call you when they’re ready to secure a home loan)?

Here are a few tactics and ideas for you to use how you see fit:

1. Make Your Points, Help Others Win: Video is how people prefer to learn and gain new information these days. That’s why you should start posting videos about why credit scores matter, explain the different levels of scores that would be needed for certain loans, and showcase why you’re the person that can give them the information they need when they need it. Credit Education Month is a great reason to start.

2. Send and Score: Don’t ignore the leads in your CRM. Maybe they're just leads because they don’t know they can qualify for a home loan with their credit score right now. Create an email campaign that takes your leads on a credit score journey that might help them realize they may be able to get into a home right now.?

3. Gain Credit With Your Followers: When someone is getting serious about buying a home, they’re jumping on social media to find the best loan officer to work with. So make sure when they find you, you’ve got the information on your platform to help them. Create a social media campaign where you give insights into credit scores a couple of times per month. One could be about the different credit score levels, another could be an infographic on tips to improve credit scores. You know it all… give the people what they want. ??

People may not always be excited to hear about credit scores, but when they hear information that could help them improve their score or get them a home loan, that energy changes quickly.?

Start changing that energy for potential buyers today!?

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Rebuilding Your Credit Following Late Payments

Sue Buswell

Credit and Score Consultant, #sueknowsthescore

The time it takes to improve your credit score after a late payment can vary based on several factors, including the severity of the late payment, your overall credit history, and your financial behavior following the late payment. Here are some general guidelines:

30-Day Late Payment: If you've missed a payment by 30 days, the late payment will typically be reported to the credit bureaus. While it will have an impact on your credit score, the effect may not be extremely severe.

If the late payment was the result of mail delivery delay, or other circumstances out of your control, call your creditor and ask for a Courtesy Deletion. This is a one-time only option typically and will not be provided if you’ve been historically late with your payments.

A single late payment may not cause a significant decrease, but it will lower your score.

To avoid such issues, set up auto payments with your creditors to ensure a solid pay history.

60-90 Day Late Payment: If the late payment is more severe, such as being 60 or 90 days overdue, the negative impact on your credit score will be more significant. It can take several months of consistent on-time payments to start seeing improvement.?

Late payments are weighed by the score by recency, severity and frequency.

A single 60 day late will impact your credit score more than a single 30 day late.

Recovery Period: In general, late payments can remain on your credit report for seven years. However, their impact on your credit score tends to diminish over time, especially if you continue to make on-time payments and demonstrate responsible financial behavior.

That same 60 day late from 2 years ago will have little impact, but one that just happened? That can cause a score drop of 30 or more points.

Credit Utilization: If your late payment was associated with a credit card, reducing your credit card balances can also positively impact your credit score. Credit utilization, or the ratio of your credit card balances to your credit limits, is a crucial factor in your credit score.

When trying to recover from late history, having other items of concern in your file will keep your score low.

35% of your FICO mortgage score is your payment history, so if you have delinquencies, you can help your score by getting and keeping your balances at 20% or less of your credit limit.

Important - paying your revolving debt off is not recommended - it can often result in a lower score, so work with the ratio that fits your credit profile.

Establishing Positive Credit History: Building a positive credit history with a consistent pattern of on-time payments and responsible credit use can help offset the negative impact of a late payment over time.

It's important to note that every individual's credit situation is unique, and the exact timeline for improvement can vary.

If you're working on improving your credit score, patience is key. Consistently making on-time payments and practicing good credit habits will contribute to the gradual improvement of your credit score over time.

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?Thanks to all the Contributors representing

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