Buy life insurance. Most mortgage lenders do not require you to have life insurance, but many will take it into account when deciding whether or not to give you a loan. By showing that you have enough life insurance to cover the mortgage, there is a better chance that they will approve your application. This is because they know there is less chance that they will have to deal with your mortgage if you die suddenly.
Don't close any accounts while getting a mortgage. Lenders are looking at your current financial situation, so closing or cancelling any accounts, no matter how much money is in them, may send up a red flag. You can close any accounts or cancel any contracts either before or after your mortgage application has been approved.
Ask the credit bureaus NOT to let people check their credit without their permission - If you're like most average Americans, you get a lot of "pre-approved" loan and credit card offers in the mail every day. This is because these companies have software that looks at people's credit reports based on criteria they think will give them a list of good people who might want to become new customers. Even though these inquiries may not directly lower your credit score, they do show up when a mortgage company pulls a copy of your report. The best thing you can do is stop these companies from getting into your credit report at all.
Don't move money from one bank account to another - Any time you move money from one account to another, you leave a paper trail that the mortgage company will want to know more about when they get your account statements. Even if the money is going between your own accounts, try not to move it if you can help it. This is especially important when moving money from a savings account to a checking account, because the lender might think you're getting ready to spend the money.
Don't use services that claim to fix your credit. Many people with bad credit are drawn to companies that say they can fix their credit in a short amount of time and raise their overall score. This doesn't always happen. Lenders don't like it when they see on your credit report that you're working with a company that helps people deal with their debt. The only way for the lender to understand this information is to think that the borrower can't pay their current bills, so how could they pay a mortgage? Your best bet is to talk to the credit card or loan company directly to set up a plan for paying back the debt.
