Buying a Home in the Tri Counties in California?  If you are buying a home in Santa Barbara County, Ventura County or San Luis Obispo County, then these Home Buying Resources are for you!

You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and to print the following documents:
•    Mortgage Loan Comparison Worksheet
•    The Ins and Outs of Home Inspections
•    ABCs of Credit Scoring
•    Shopping for a Mortgage Loan
•    How to Select a Real Estate Agent
•    Vesting Options
•    Glossary of Real Estate Terms
•    Glossary of Credit Terms
•    Sample Credit Dispute Letter

How to Obtain a Free Annual Credit Report
To request a free credit report, go to www.annualcreditreport.com. This central site allows you to request a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the nationwide credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and Transunion.

Glossary of Credit Terms:
Balance – total debt you owe for all open and closed accounts on your credit report.

Balance transfer – moving a balance from one account to another.

Charge-off – the balance on a credit obligation that a lender no longer expects to be repaid and writes off a bad debt.

Collection – when a past-due credit obligation is sent to a collection agency.

Credit availability – the amount of credit you have remaining on your credit account.

Credit history – record of how someone has borrowed and paid debt.

Default – failure to make a loan or debt payment when due.  An account is typically considered to be in default after being delinquent for several consecutive 30-day billing cycles.

Delinquent – an account that is currently past due for the minimum required payment. Accounts are usually referred to as 30, 60, 90 or 120 days delinquent.

Derogatory – the number of accounts on your credit report that are negatively impacting your credit score.

Installment debt – debt to be paid at regular intervals over a specified period (mortgage and auto loans).