Fast Credit Score Fixes to Qualify for Best Mortgage Rates --SPONSORSHIP

With homes at near-bottom prices and interest rates at historic lows, a lot of consumers are jockeying to get into the homeowners market or to refinance their standing loan. But there's one catch: Getting approved for the best interest rates relies on your credit score.

Typically, a credit score of 720 or above is the bar for qualifying for the best interest rates. Many borrowers, who fall below goal, may think there's nothing they can do to improve their credit score, especially in the short-term, but that's a myth.

While there's no quick-fix magic to erase the score, a borrower -- even with high levels of debt and a history of delinquent payments -- can start improving his or her score in immediate and dramatic ways.

Contrary to popular belief, it's actually the people with low credit scores that have a better opportunity to improve, says Gail Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Credit scores range anywhere from 300 to 850, and due to the law of mathematical averaging, it's much easier to see a jump from a starting point of 300 than from 800.

Scores can fluctuate quickly because most lenders update the credit bureaus on a monthly basis. But the amount the scores change is a little more complicated and depends on a series of factors, from your amount of available credit to paying your bills on time to the length of your credit history.

To help you see a bounce in your score and land a step closer to obtaining an affordable home mortgage, AOL Real Estate talked to some financial experts to find out some fast ways for consumers to address a less-than-desirable credit score and to start seeing results: