Accurate records are essential in both buying and selling a home: they provide you with the evidence you need to apply for a home loan, get pre-approval, and more.
Identify Income Sources
Lenders will want to know that you have stable employment and income before they think of approving you for a home loan. Keeping accurate income records like paystubs and tax returns will help you show lenders that you have the income you need to keep up your payments on a home.
Dispute Claims Or Errors
Before your lender views your credit report, you will want to review it yourself and dispute any errors. If they are found, you can compare them with payment information from your records to show that a debt had been paid. Accurate records will also help you dispute title claims to your home.
Showing Lenders You Can Make Payments
Keeping payment information from past rents, student loan payments, credit card payments, and so on can show lenders that you can make your monthly payments. If you make your payments online, you can look up the records in your profile.
Keep Your Records Organized
When we say “keep accurate records” we also mean keeping them organized. Well-organized records are easy to search and should be kept in their own categorized folders. For example, use labels like “Medical Records, 2019”, and “Mortgage Information, 2019”. So when you need to access a certain record, you will be able to find it.
Make Backups Of Your Records and Safely Dispose Of Them
Always make backups of your records in case the originals are lost or destroyed. That way, you have access to them when you need them. Backups can be either physical or digital scans.
When it comes time to dispose of an old record, it will need to be done correctly and safely in order to protect your personal information from thieves. Paper records will need to be shredded into “confetti” so they cannot be taped back together. This means no strip shredding!
Digital and electronic records should be “sanitized” either through degaussing, overwriting the data, or physically destroying the storage medium. There are many reputable companies who will safely dispose of your old records for you.