One of the requirements of getting a mortgage loan is your credit score. If you have a good credit score, you will find it easier to get a mortgage. However, what if you don’t have a credit score? Can you still get a loan without it?
Credit scores are important when taking out a mortgage because they measure your trustworthiness when it comes to repayments and debt management. A credit score is built when you apply for car loans, credit card accounts and other debts.
Getting a Loan Without a Credit Score: Is It Possible?
If you have no credit card, then you don’t have a credit score. However, don’t get it confused—no credit score is different from a bad credit score. Although a bad credit score may be worse, no credit history also is. Why?
Without a credit score or history, you are an unknown risk to lenders. Since lenders will loan you a significant amount of money, it’s only right that they have an idea about whether you can pay back the mortgage or not.
Therefore, a lot of lenders don’t grant loans to individuals without credit scores. Not all lenders will close their doors on these individuals, such as government loans.
Moreover, you can also get a shorter mortgage that is fixed for 15 years, even without a credit score.
Your lender will need to prove your creditworthiness, and with no credit score, you will be asked to provide non-traditional credit sources. The lender will ask for at least four alternative forms, such as recurring bills that can demonstrate your history of payments. You can provide a 12-month statement of the following (choose at least four):
- Rent payment
- Mobile phone bills
- Utility bills
- School tuition
- Monthly or quarterly insurance premiums
- Childcare
Once these have been submitted, an underwriter will review them, which can take a while.
Building Your Credit
If you cannot get a mortgage loan due to your lack of credit history, you can build your credit. Start now by opening a credit card account and making some purchases with it. After that, pay off your bill in full every month and make sure you keep your balance under 30% of your limit to build a good credit score.
Keep in mind that building a good credit score will take time because you need to build a solid history of on-time payments. Here are other good credit habits to build your score:
- Keep your credit usage low when using your credit card.
- Don’t apply for multiple credit accounts close together because this can cause a small drop in your score. This is because multiple applications can cause significant damage.
- Keep your credit card accounts open. You can also explore downgrading it or transferring your credit limit to another card.
Conclusion
When getting a mortgage, it’s crucial to have a good credit score; otherwise, you could find getting a mortgage more of a challenge. So, as much as possible, start building your credit before you take out a mortgage loan.
Get the best home loans in Sydney with our help here at Wealthy You. We are an Australian mortgage company that offers various mortgage solutions to meet your specific financial needs. Contact us today!
