The real estate market has been filled with turbulence the last few years. The pinnacle came when news outlets were posting daily horror stories about bidding wars with offers thousands of dollars over the asking price, no-condition offers, foreign investors purchasing homes sight unseen, and the like. It left regular people feeling hopeless about the prospects of ever owning a home. Luckily, the market seems to have evened out considerably; the frenzy abated. Buyers now have the convenience of time and are able to go back to the old ways of looking for a house. Time for home inspections, the ability to make offers with conditions that make a buy more advantageous, and even the opportunity to make offers below asking when reasonable to do so.

However, in the aftermath of the real estate fever it seems a new challenge has arisen; inflation. Although the home prices have gone back to normal for the most part, the price of everything else has gone up. People seem to be overextending themselves and if they didn’t have poor credit issues before, they likely do now.

As a side note and with respect to the word ‘discount’ as it applied to mortgages: for those in the market to shop for a home, and looking for a discount mortgage in Brampton it is a pretty safe bet that after some brief research on the internet they have discovered that ‘discount’ doesn’t exactly mean discount when it’s applied to mortgage products. Rather, a discount mortgage really means the ability to find and secure the best rate possible for an individual’s situation and financial standing.

As mentioned, many people are now finding that their credit scores may have taken a turn for the worse. The good news is that even the poorest credit scores can be improved with time and diligence so that buying a home in Brampton can once again be an attainable goal.

The best way to start is to understand the fundamentals of credit, like how ‘good’ and ‘bad’ credit affects you, what a credit score actually means, how it is determined and what the different numbers actually mean and why these things matter, especially when looking for a discount mortgage.

Finding out what your score consists of is as easy as contacting TransUnion and/or Equifax. There are the main two credit bureaus in Canada. You’ll request a credit report which is an overview of your current and past relationship with credit as well as a number grade between 300 and 900. This grade correlates with a rating and is laid out as follows:

• 300-599 = poor
• 600-649 = fair
• 650-719 = good
• 720-799 = very good
• 900-900 = excellent

No matter what score is reported, the first thing you should do when you receive your report is take a good look at all the information provided to ensure it is accurate. This includes your personal details, and financial account details. Errors and inconsistencies can be detrimental to your score, but can be resolved with little effort.

Your credit score matters because the score, is a way that lenders can gauge how much of a financial risk you are at a glance. And more often than not, if you have a less than desirable credit score, you may be able to get financing, but it will always cost you a lot more money than if your score was higher.

Again, discount mortgage is a term for a mortgage that has the best possible rate for you, so the better your score, the better and the discount mortgage. However, if you are looking to make your money go even further, it is suggested you look for an online consumer buying and savings platform that rewards members for connecting with professionals.

Shop2Save, a leader in the industry of volume discount savings connects its members with Dominion Lending Centres, the leading Canadian mortgage company. Dominion has access to over a hundred trusted lenders. This means that getting a discount mortgage in Brampton has never been easier. Further, when you arrange your mortgage through Dominion, Shop2Save will reward you with real cashback dollar rewards. Visit Shop2Save today to discover this benefit and many more!