Credit ratings have a direct impact on mortgage rates. Only 100 points can cost you thousands or save. Without a high credit rating, you will not be eligible for the best mortgage rates available, which could mean paying more money over the life of your mortgage. For example, the difference between 4% and 4.25% can add up, especially if you are applying for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Why Your Credit Score Is Important To Lenders

With a low debt-to-income ratio and a solid financial history, you need a high credit rating for the lowest mortgage rates. Why?

You would probably be reluctant to lend money to a friend who would normally take a long time to pay you back, or not at all. Lenders see the same thing with mortgages. You want to lend to people who have timely payments to creditors.

If someone has a high credit rating, so it shows that they have fulfilled their commitments, whether in the past with a credit card, car loan, or another mortgage. It means that we also prefer to give him a loan because we know that he will pay us back.

Your credit score is most often calculated using the FICO score model and derived from information in your credit reports created by the credit bureaus. Your reports contain a history of your credit habits. Your credit rating is “one of the most important parts of eligibility, but part,” said Michelle Chmelar, vice president of secured mortgages in New York. “You have to consider the whole package: income, sufficient assets, and credit.

The best results for conventional loans

When you start to get over 700 points, usually you get a pretty good rate, says David Lin, former director of risk management. He says that even if you still qualify for certain loans if your score is below 680, you want 700 to pay the lowest interest rates.

If you are at the top of the scale, say 720 or higher, you are in the area known to be excellent. When approaching 700, your score is considered good. Once it hits 680, it gets closer to average, and if it gets closer to 640, you might have trouble getting a conventional mortgage from a bank or online lender.

The credit industry divides the credit score scale into 20-point bands and adjusts the interest rates it offers to borrowers when a credit score increases or decreases by about 20 points. For example, if your score goes from 760 to 740, the rate offered to you may increase slightly. In the industry, it’s called “loan-level pricing,” and every time it goes down a level, costs go up, says Hoovler.

If you have a score of 760 or higher, you’re pretty good,” he says. From there you will see a little bump here and there every 20 points.

How a change of 100 points affects your rate

Let’s see how a difference of 100 points in credit scores affects a woman’s mortgage payment.

Suppose a borrower who wants to buy a house for $400,000 has a 20% down payment and requests a fixed rate loan of $240,000 over 30 years. She has a FICO credit score of 780, which represents a rate of 4%. This represents approximately $1,165 per month, excluding taxes, insurance, and owner fees. If this borrower’s score was reduced by approximately 100 points from 680 to 699, his borrower could increase to approximately 4.5%. At this rate, your monthly payment would increase to $1,217, or $61 more per month, or $745 per year.

The effect of the interest rate differential may not seem significant at first glance, but it could be very large over the years. In this example, a decrease of 100 points will result in an additional loan of $25,500 by the borrower over a period of 30 years.

At the same time, it is important not to go crazy when playing with your mortgage rate. If your score is already good, you should consider the rate at which you are eligible. The difference between a score of 710 and 750 is not so great that you should wait to increase it.