1. What Happens to Your
Credit Score After a
Lakeland FL Short Sale?
Copyright © 2012 By Petra Norris *What Happens to Your
Credit Score After a Lakeland FL Short Sale?*

2. In one of my recent appointments of
listing a Lakeland Fl short sale, the
seller asked me what impact does
a short sale have on my credit
score? Here are my thoughts and
opinion about credit score impact when
doing a short sale. Before applying for
a Lakeland FL short sale for your home,
it is very important that you enter into
this with your eyes wide open.

3. Forget about real estate agents who
have told you that short sales won’t
have any impact on your credit score. Of
course it does, but the good news is that
the damage is not usually as bad as what
a foreclosure or deed-in-lieu could do to
your credit score.

4. Loss of Points
Your FICO score goes down by a certain number of points depending
on the undesirable action you have previously taken with regard to
your financial standing or credit.
Late Payment – Before applying for a Lakeland FL short sale, you
may have already committed one of the unforgivable sins and
that’s to make late payments for your mortgage. Being one month
behind can already decrease your FICO score by 40 to 110 points.
If you are three months late, then your FICO score could go down
by as much as 135 points.

5. Short sales versus foreclosures – A Lakeland Florida
short sale can cause your FICO score to dip by
anywhere between 85 and 160 points. In many cases,
foreclosures and deeds-in-lieu cause more credit
damage than short sales.
Bankruptcy – If short selling your home is not enough
to save you from financial ruin, then you may be forced
to declare bankruptcy. This would result into having as
much as 240 points deducted from your credit score.
In worst case scenarios, you may even lose as many
as 300 points because of the various factors that have
contributed to your current financial state.

6. Waiting or Recovery Period
After having your Lakeland FL short sale application
approved and successfully sold your home, you need
to cool your heels for a little bit and allow your credit
score to gradually recover. If you apply for a new loan
the instant you have sold your house, your application
will most probably be rejected.
You need to give credit bureaus enough time to catch
up with your most recent transactions and update your
records accordingly. You also need this precious
amount of time to provide bankers and creditors
with more reasons to believe that you have changed –
for the better.

7. You need to give credit bureaus enough time to
catch up with your most recent transactions and
update your records accordingly. You also need
this precious amount of time to provide bankers
and creditors with more reasons to believe that
you have changed – for the better.
With deeds-in-lieu and foreclosures, most
homeowners have to wait anywhere between 2
and 6 years before applying for a new loan. But
with Lakeland FL short sales, you can wait for as
little as 18 months before you can successfully
apply for a loan.

8. Again keep in mind your credit score does affect
differently based on your history of whether or
not making other payments such as your car,
mortgage and credit card payments. Being
current on payments the less damaging is your
credit score when doing a Lakeland Fl short
sale.
You can check your credit for free
at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.j
sp for Equifax, TransUnion and Experian

9. I hope you found this post useful! If you need help finding or selling your
Lakeland, Florida home, please contact Petra Norris - REALTOR(R)
at 863-619-6918. If you’re new to Lakeland, I’d especially like to
extend a warm welcome.
I value my clients and provide them with honest, reliable service. Allow
me to introduce you to the Lakeland FL real estate landscape and all it
has to offer.