Buying a home is likely to be the largest purchase you ever make and homeownership offers certain financial fringe benefits. Take advantage of Credit Sesame’s tools if you’re considering a home equity loan.

Mortgage rates have been near historic lows for the past few years but recent Federal Reserve rate hikes have them inching back up. As of mid-April, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 4.08 percent, according to Freddie Mac. That’s up a half a percentage point from a year ago, when 30-year home loans were going

The wildly popular 100,000-point credit card sign-up bonus that Chase offered in 2016 and later scaled back by half is back, but with a catch — a big one. To get this massive windfall of points, you have to finance a home mortgage through Chase Mortgage.

Are you in the market for a home? Your timing is good because you can still lock in a low rate on a mortgage. But this opportunity will not last forever. The U.S. is coming out of an historically low interest rate period, and the Federal Reserve has already begun increasing rates. To help you

Buying a home is a major financial milestone and it doesn’t happen by magic. To get a mortgage, the consumer must do some necessary financial legwork well in advance. Lenders look at the borrower’s complete financial picture to determine whether he or she qualifies for a loan, and at what terms. The complete picture includes

Some may choose to rent rather than purchase a home, but others don’t have the choice. In a recent Credit Sesame survey of 1,000 renters, 51 percent of respondents said they rent because they cannot afford to buy a home where they live or work. Even more shocking? Women are more affected by rent prices

Raise your hand if you’re not earning a high salary. Me too. I deliberately chose a low-paying career track when I graduated from college. As much as I hate to admit it, wildlife biologists just aren’t paid the same as software engineers—even when I do have a job. Right now I’m self-employed. What’s worse, I

In a recent Credit Sesame survey, we asked 1,000 consumers about home affordability, and nearly half of respondents age 18 to 34 said they rent because cannot afford to buy where they live or work. This led us to question whether homeownership, which is part of the American dream, is no longer realistic, especially for Millennials

A low credit score isn’t a roadblock to refinancing a mortgage, but it may be enough to stop homeowners from considering a refi at all. After all, a credit score is an important factor lenders consider. For the biggest purchase in most of our lives, why even try if you know going in that you

2008 was years ago. The housing market is supposed to be better now, right? That may be true for the U.S. as a whole, but not for many individual Americans. The 2016 U.S. foreclosure rate was at a 10-year low, but nonetheless, about one million homes were in foreclosure according to RealtyTrac. My husband and