Big news this week… We went ahead and locked in our mortgage interest rate. My husband called the lender on Wednesday, and we’ve since faxed back the agreement. We’re locking in our 30 year fixed rate mortgage at a 5% interest rate with a 1.017% origination fee.
To be honest, I’ve been anxiously watching our [...]

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Some good news has come up in the last couple of weeks, as I’ve happened upon a temporary job for the next couple of months. Since we’re buying a house, we looked at what we can do with the extra income.
For background, we’re getting a 30-year fixed rate FHA mortgage for our town house. This [...]

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With the $8,000 first-time homeowner’s tax credit deadline approaching, many people are still trying to get in on the deal. If you’re in this boat, don’t assume that just having a down payment is enough (even though it’s a big help).
Applying for a mortgage involves a thorough check into your finances to see if you [...]

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A reader that I’ll call Mary recently wrote in with the following question about dealing with a collection agency:
We were in a horrible car accident last year and our car insurance just now paid the car towing company. This company turned our bill over to collection agency which listed this on our credit report. Now… [...]

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This is a guest post from Kevin Mercadante of Out of Your Rut. Kevin is a former loan underwriter, and also author of Lighten Your Load, an e-book focused on reducing living expenses while still maintaining a comfortable lifestyle.
The housing market has been down for two years or more in much of the country, but [...]

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As many of you know, we’re in the process of buying a townhouse. We recently received the paperwork from our lender, including our truth in lending disclosure, a disclosure book, and our good faith estimate. The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requires that we receive these things within 3 business days of submitting our [...]

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I recently received an e-mail from a reader who is interested in paying off her mortgage early. In it, she asked the following:
Is it better to pay money monthly that is applied to your escrow or your principal? I would like to pay the equivalent of one extra mortgage payment a year, but I’m not [...]

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A reader named Mary recently wrote in to ask about my thoughts on getting a mortgage from ING Direct. She’s heard that they have competitive rates and low fees, and is seriously thinking about refinancing her mortgage with them.
I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of ING Direct mortgages, but I was curious enough to go [...]

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This is a guest post from Jim Wang of Bargaineering. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
Credit scores are becoming increasingly important each and every day. While some people check them compulsively, almost as frequently as they check their investment portfolio, others check them infrequently, like the [...]

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About a month ago, we had a pretty lively discussion about whether or not you should pay off your mortgage early. A number of readers made great points on both sides of the debate. Since that time, I put together some thoughts on how to pay off your mortgage early for those that are interested [...]

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