Does a short sale affect credit score?

Answer 1

A short sale takes place when a lender accepts less than they are owned on a loan secured by a property in the US. In most cases the borrower was already in default on the loan prior to the agreed short sale. The lender will have already reported the late payments or default and there likely was credit damage. The short sale can be recorded as paid as agreed or various other language. A short sale might show as a negative. Or it will show as the loan being paid off after a number of late payments so the credit file shows an account going bad and then no further activity on that account. A short sale is much better than a foreclosure or bankruptcy filing on one's credit report. Late payments are normally the only real sign of a short sale and late payments have an impact for approximately 12 months before a credit score starts to improve. When dealing with your credit report check it yearly and challenge all items that are not accurate.