“I Can Make the Mortgage Payment”

I reviewed a credit report to find that Mary has been late on her mortgage 9 times this year, but called to borrow additional money to put on a new roof.

This was not going to be a comfortable conversation so I decided to ask few questions in hopes that Mary could come up with the right answers. When someone tells me they can make a larger payment and yet they are having difficulty making their current payments, well they can’t.

Mary, let me ask a few questions:

1. If we could find someone to do the mortgage, how do we explain that you have been late 9 times this year?
2.   Is your income going to be any different in the near future?

After asking these questions she said, it is probably not the right time for me to apply for a mortgage. Mary, you are correct, so I would recommend that you do everything you can to make your mortgage payments on time and work on paying off your two credit cards, the smallest one first.

The simple answer isn’t always borrowing more money it is focusing on paying off your debts as quickly as possible and not creating new debt. I know this isn’t easy, but necessary.