Home buyers get new firepower from feds to help them shop for customized interest rates, terms on loan | cleveland.com

50% of mortgage shoppers never compare loan offers? Yet, I bet those same folks will check the newspaper to see who has the best price on tuna fish that week.

I haven't, but that's due to a real $h!++y credit score as a result of poor financial decisions when I got out of college that were compounded by the desire to have my wife be able to stay home with the kids when we started having them despite not really being able to afford to.

Sadly, I'm not alone and there are folks in a lot bigger holes than I dug.

Thanks to overdue diligence on my part, my credit rating has jumped up considerably over the past couple years so I'm about ready to make the move to refinance. Unfortunately, until my house doesn't look like a war zone anymore I'm not in a great position for a visit from a bank representative as far as valuation goes. I am eager and the time is finally (almost) here.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)