To qualify for a mortgage, you will need your credit score. Your credit score is a three digit number derived from your credit history. It is used by lenders when you apply for a credit card and is a key factor in receiving a mortgage from a lender. You can get your credit score for free by contacting your credit card company. Your bank can also provide your credit score, for a small fee or for free during promotional times of the year. Avoid using online credit score services, as they may be scams trying to steal your personal banking information. If using an online free credit report, make sure that you are using a legitimate company, such as Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, or Mint. If you are unsure, you can contact a credit counseling agency, bank, or lender that can recommend you a legitimate and reputable site to use. In general, lenders will be more willing to approve a mortgage if a person has a credit score of at least 620. The best credit score is around 850, but it can be difficult to achieve such a high number, especially if you are in a younger age bracket and are trying to purchase your first home. If your credit score is 600 or lower, you will likely have a more difficult time qualifying for a mortgage. But a low credit score does not mean you cannot qualify for certain loans, such as a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan, which usually approves individuals with credit scores of 600-500. You may also qualify for a VA loan if you're a veteran. Keep in mind your credit score is only one factor to qualifying for a mortgage. Your current income, your ability to pay your bills on time, your credit history, and your current debt will also be major factors to getting a lender to approve your mortgage application. When lenders look at your mortgage application, they will take into account your ability to pay your current expenses (rent, utilities, credit card payments) on time every month. They will also check that you have been employed with a steady income for at least two years and are making enough money to pay all your bills every month. If you are self employed, you should try to maintain a steady yearly salary. Being self employed and having a low credit score can lead to some frustration when applying for a mortgage. But maintaining a strong income will give you a leg up, and make it easier for a mortgage broker to find lenders willing to give you a mortgage. Debt from student loans or overdue credit card payments will affect your credit score, as about 35 percent of your credit score comes from your payment history. Focus on reducing your existing debt by always paying the minimum amount of your credit card payment and your student loan payment on time. If possible, put down more than the minimum amount each month to further reduce or eliminate your debt. Look at your credit report for any past due accounts or late payments. If you have accounts, like a student loan payment, that is 90 days or more overdue, pay those off first. Accounts that are 60 to 30 days late will have a less negative impact than accounts that are 90 days or more late. Lenders will see that you have been making an effort to pay off overdue accounts and reduce your existing debt. This will bring your credit score up and help improve your chances of qualifying for a mortgage. If your credit report is showing that an old bill is unpaid, you should not pay it unless you are able to pay it back in full. A partial payment may make the debt more relevant, which can hurt your credit score. To qualify for a mortgage with poor credit, you may want to adjust how much money you owe (debt) so it is significantly lower than how much credit you have available. Improving your debt to credit ratio is one of the fastest ways to improve your credit score and make you more attractive to lenders. You can improve your debt to credit ratio by: Keep paying down your revolving debt, like credit cards and lines of credit. Though paying down installment loans, for example student loan payments, can also help your credit score, revolving debt should be your first priority to improve your credit, since revolving debt requires high interest payments. Consolidate your credit card debt into a personal installment loan. A personal installment loan can be taken out through your bank and will allow you to address all your debt in one place. This type of loan generally has a lower interest rate than revolving credit card balances. Adjust how you pay your credit card payments. You can do this by asking for a credit increase from your credit card company, as this will improve your debt-to-credit ratio. Credit increases are valid for helping improve debt to credit ratios, but not if you use the extra credit. You can also move some of your existing credit card balances to other credit cards. However, both options can be risky as they can lead to overspending and more debt if you are not disciplined or smart about your credit card payments. The best way to address credit card payments is to pay off the minimum balance every month and try to reduce your credit card debt as soon as possible. When you have bad credit or a low credit score, lenders may offer you a sub-prime mortgage. Lenders charge higher interest rates on sub-prime mortgages to compensate for the higher loan default risk they are taking on the mortgage. This works the other way too: the better your credit score is, the lower your interest rate on your mortgage will be. According to a study, the difference in interest rates for someone with a 760 credit score and someone with a 620 credit score could be 1.6%. If you apply this number to a 30 year mortgage of $200,000, that's a $68,000 difference over the lifetime of the mortgage.
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One-sentence summary -- Get your credit score. Understand what qualifies as a bad credit score. Maintain a steady income. Reduce or eliminate your debt. Adjust your debt to credit ratio. Be prepared to pay more interest on your mortgage.

Article: Before you use a word processing program like Microsoft Word to create the Table of Contents, make sure the headings and page numbers are correct. Note each heading and subheading in the document, checking that every section has an applicable heading. You should also confirm the page numbers are correct in the document. Each page should be numbered in order. Having the correct page numbers will ensure the Table of Contents is created correctly when you use the word processing tool. The Styles tab will on the Home tab in Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. The Styles tab will allow you to label each heading in your document. Doing this will make it easy for the word processing program to create the Table of Contents for you. Once the Styles tab is open, you will see "Heading 1" listed as an option. Start by labeling each main heading "Heading 1." Highlight each main heading and click on "Heading 1" in the Styles tab. If there are subheadings in your document, label them "Heading 2." Highlight each subheading and click on "Heading 2" in the Styles tab. If there are sub-subheadings in your document, label them "Heading 3." Highlight each subheading and click on "Heading 3" in the Styles tab. The text and font for each main heading may change based on the settings for "Heading 1," "Heading 2," and "Heading 3." You can choose your preferred text and font for each main heading so they appear as you like in the Table of Contents. Most Table of Contents follow the title page in a document. Have a new page ready so you can populate it with the table of contents. Click the new page on the spot where you want the Table of Contents to appear. The Table of Contents should be on its own page. Do not include the introduction or a dedication on the same page as the Table of Contents. The Reference tab should appear in the Document Elements tab in Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. The Table of Contents option will appear under the Reference tab. Once you click on the Table of Contents option, the Table of Contents should appear automatically on the new page with the applicable headings and page numbers. You can choose the built-in Table of Content options, where the tool will automatically choose a font size and style for you. You can also go for from a list of custom Table of Contents, where you choose the font color and size based on your preferences.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Confirm the headings and page numbers are correct in the document. Open the Styles tab. Label each heading in the document. Start a new page after the title page. Go to the Reference tab and choose the Table of Contents option.