California is a beautiful place to live There is no doubt about that. But, to live in California you must pay the price, which is sky high real estate prices. Renting, as opposed to buying in California, can save a little bit of money. However, renting has the disadvantage of not building any equity. As home prices in California continue to rise, you may want to be a homeowner and take advantage of the home appreciation factor. If you’re going to be paying a lot of money to live in California anyway, you might as well be making some money on top of it too, right?

Now, if you have bad credit and are trying to get a home loan for California home prices, this may seem like an impossible situation. Home prices are high and if you already have poor credit, the fact that you need to be approved for such a high loan amount can be an added difficulty when trying to get a home loan.

However, there is hope. There are so many programs available today to help people with recent bankruptcys, collections and even foreclosures, obtain mortgage financing. There are nationwide mortgage service companies that can either approve you directly or get you in touch with a lender who can approve you.

Here are some suggestions of things you can do to aggressively help yourself get qualified for a mortgage loan in California, with a bad credit history:

1. Pull your credit and review it – Pulling your own credit will not negatively affect your credit score like having someone else pull it will. For a list of the links to the three major credit bureaus, click on the link at the bottom of this article. Look over your credit history and make sure that everything is reporting accurately. Sometimes, something as small as an account being reported as currently being due as opposed to being included in a past bankruptcy can be the difference of 10-15 or more added points to your credit score.

Make sure every account that is closed is reported as being closed. Make sure that every account that was reported in a bankruptcy is reported that way, and not being reported as money still owed. If you have small collection accounts, try to pay them off and then fax confirmation that the account was paid off to the major credit bureaus so that they can adjust your credit report right away. Editing this information on your credit report is easier than ever today because all three major credit bureaus now make it possible to dispute and inaccuracies online. You could pull all three reports, dispute all inaccuracies and be done in less than an hour now. Just a few years ago, it used to take hours or days to fill out all the necessary paperwork.

2. Find a seller who is motivated to pay closing costs or carryback a percentage of the loan – If you find a seller who is really motivated to work with you, that may help you get approved with a lender. If the seller can pay your closing costs, this can free up that money so that you may have a small down payment. If the seller is willing to carryback a percentage of the loan then the loan-to-value may be low enough that the lender may consider that as good as a down payment. If the seller is motivated to work with you, they may be willing to work through a down payment assistance program to help you make a down payment. It is illegal for a seller to give you the down payment for their house, but through down payment assistance programs like Neighborhood Gold and the Nehemiah program, it is totally legal.

3. Borrow or ask for a gift from relatives toward a down payment – After you have financed the house, you can usually take out a 2nd or 3rd mortgage up to the full value of your house, and then you would be able to repay the relatives. Keep in mind that if you intend the money to be as a loan only from the relatives, you would need to disclose that to the lender before you close. Lenders usually have regulations about where the down payment is coming from and if you are not honest, it could be considered defrauding a lender.

Unfortunately due to the recent global financial crisis, folks everywhere are having trouble making credit card payments and as a result, lose their credit cards. Along with losing the card, they develop a bad credit history. Anyone who has struggled with this knows how hard it is to come back from it. The only way to re-establish your good credit is by having a card, but how do you get one with poor credit.

Today there are a number of credit card options, like the First Millennium Platinum Card, who are willing to give those with bad credit a second chance. You don’t have to worry about your bad credits because there is no credit check. With First Millennium Platinum Card, applicants are approved in about sixty seconds. Simply fill out the short application form.

Choose the right credit card for your personal needs carefully. Thoroughly read all of the terms of service and policies. Different types of cards have various fees like per transaction fees, monthly fees or percentage of balance. After you are approved be sure to use the card responsibly. Don’t spend right up to the limit your first month. Remember that you got the card to fix your bad credits in the first place.

Try applying for a store credit card or contact your bank or credit union. If you have history with them, they may be more than willing to help you out. If you can, ask someone to co-sign for you. This will guarantee you approval. They can be family or friends and must not have a bad credit rating.

If you don’t qualify for a bank credit card, prepaid credit cards can be a great alternative for people with a bad credit history. They prevent you from getting back into debt but do not have an impact on your credit rating. It really depends on your ultimate goal and what the card will be used for. I’d suggest making sure your card repairs your bad credits while you spend.

Secured and unsecured credit cards on the other hand, do help rebuild your credit. You may be asked to put a small amount of money into a savings account for the secured cards. It’s a small effort to make in exchange for saying goodbye to bad credit. Unsecured cards don’t have a deposit requirement, hence the term unsecured.

In a lot of cases, a credit card provider that issues cards to people with bad credits history will charge a higher interest rate the those offered by the banks. Sometimes the interest rate is in the teens. First Millennium Platinum Card offers zero percent APR.

Maintaining a good credit history is almost a requirement in today’s world. It’s essential to anyone who expects to make major purchases, start their own business or rent themselves an apartment. Now is the time to start rebuilding your credit history. It can be accomplished with a little hard work. First Millennium Platinum Card is there to help you work towards your financial goals and rebuild your life.

What is a credit rating?

A credit rating reflects the credit worthiness of a person. It helps a lender or an insurance company know what are the loan dues or arrears he has had in the past. Are there any bankruptcy filings, has he filed for county court judgment etc? In case he has dues, his scores will be negative. This is used while adjusting the policy premiums, determine a person’s capacity to pay back etc. Even a mortgage lender considers this score before determining the loan rates or EMI.

How can this be obtained?

Your credit worthiness level can be obtained from a credit report agency. These will maintain a record of your loan dues, bankruptcy filings, arrears and county court judgements if any. In case you have paid back all your pending bills, you must get in touch with them and obtain a positive score.

What affects these scores?

These scores will be affected when you have a lot of pending bills, be it mortgage, loan, credit bills etc. Any bankruptcy filing and county court judgements will also affect your credit worthiness.

These scores are affected by:

- Your saving pattern
- Your expenses
- Ability to pay back
- Debt
- Arrears
- Bankruptcy filings etc.

How does this affect your car insurance premiums?

If your scoring is negative or poor this reflects your poor credit worthiness. Your car insurance company will consider you as a risky candidate who may default on the payment of insurance premiums. Hence, you will be charged a higher premium due to this negative scoring. Therefore, get your scores corrected in case there are any discrepancies it will affect your policy premiums.