This year has been a complete whirlwind for us. I honestly can’t believe it is almost the end of September and we are moving into the holiday season and into the next year in a blink of an eye.
2016 has brought us our first child. This has changed our life in so many ways. It is the best thing that could have ever happened to us, but life really is so different than it was before her. One thing we have really noticed with all her baby stuff, is it almost feels as though the walls are closing in, literally. Who knew this tiny little being required so much stuff!
My husband and I decided that we could use more space and should probably start to shop for a new home for our growing family. We started house shopping in May of this year. We made the mistake of starting our venture at the beginning of summer here in Arizona. Trekking around Phoenix and walking in and out of homes in 115 degree weather is not my idea of summer vacation. But, this was important to us, so we strapped my little baby into her carrier and every weekend throughout the summer we looked at house after house to see what was a good fit for our little family (that will hopefully grow).
During this summer of searching, behind the scenes my husband and I were figuring out our finances, getting our house ready to put on the market and figuring out what size of a home loan we would get approved for. Of course, one of the main and most important parts of making a huge purchase like a house is what your FICO® Credit Score is.
Luckily for me, I have been checking my FICO® Credit Score for quite some time because I have been a Discover Card member since 1999, so I knew where I stood and in what areas I could change to improve my score. However, the hubs isn’t a Discover Card member and he didn’t know what his FICO® Credit Score was and if there was. Not only was he unaware of his score, he didn’t know how, or if, he could improve it.
But Discover Card just changed that with their new online service called Discover Credit Scorecard. Their Scorecard enables everyone, including those who are not Discover customers, to check their FICO® Credit Score for free.
Since they started this program, my husband was able to see his FICO® score too and we knew where we stood in terms of what we needed to do to move forward.
The awesome thing about knowing your FICO® Credit Score is that you feel empowered to unlock your future and what you can or cannot do. You can find out if there are some things that need to change to make your score higher and you have the knowledge to do that to work towards a better future, rather than it being this big secret.
Another great part of Discover Credit Scorecard is that it is a “soft pull” of one’s FICO® Credit Score, meaning it will not impact your credit score in any way. So we can check it as often as we like, and it doesn’t hurt our score that we are working so diligently to improve.
By working on small milestones to impact our score in a positive way, we can work to build our score for the important things we want like a nice home to raise our young family in.
Once we knew where we stood, we have since decided to put a pin in buying a new house as of now. Our scores are so close to the next tier, that if we do just a few things, we can raise it and it will really help us get the lowest interest rate for our mortgage. And that is saving thousands of dollars over the years.
It is knowing what our FICO® Credit Score is and what we can do to improve it that unlocks even better opportunities and easy loans for us to get. It is all thanks to Discover Card and that they care about their customers and even their non-customers.
Side note, I have been a cardmember with Discover Card since 1999 for a reason. In fact, they are the only credit card I own. There is nothing like their customer service and no other credit card company can come close to them, which is why I closed all my other cards. They really make an effort to care about their customers. I actually know from experience as I used to work for Discover Card for 8 years. They are one of the best companies out there that are genuine and work hard to treat their employees amazingly as well as their customers and now non-customers through their Credit Scorecard offering.
So over the next few months, we will work on some of the things we need to do to raise our credit score a few points and get back to pounding the pavement to find our dream home, and hopefully we will start doing that before the summer months hit us again.
If you are thinking of buying a new home, leasing an apartment, buying a car, refinancing any of your loans, you want to know where you stand to qualify for the loan or the lease and to get the best rates. Go ahead and try Discover Credit Scorecard and see for yourself where you stand and take your future in your own hands.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Discover Financial Services. The opinions and text are all mine.
It is so important to stay on top of your credit score, because you never know what you might find. I think it’s really great that the Discover Card offers such a service to their customers and to others as well.
I remember feeling very overwhelmed when I bought my first home. There are so many important details.
It’s always exciting when you’re looking for a new home for your growing family but you would always have to consider your credit score, so good job on keeping track of it all the time! I hope things work out for your guys and that you find a new home soon!
My son had a hard time finding a house because everything was selling so fast. He did have a credit check first so that he could jump on something when he finally found it.
Keeping an eye on that credit score does help. Discover Credit Scorecard sound super helpful!
I remember the feeling that we find our own home, Feeling overwhelmed and exciting
These are wonderful tips. I remember the very first time my parents bought a house.
Oh, these are very helpful tips. We are not buying a home but we want to build a home in my father’s land.
Oh, I haven’t knew about this. I will consider it when I buy a house.