The recent trouble in the sub-prime mortgage industry has made many people take pause. So it begs the question: what should you do if you’re a first-time home buyer and have bruised credit? Is a mortgage even possible?

If you have less-than-perfect credit, don’t think you’re excluded from getting a mortgage–it still may be available to you. Lenders use four different factors to qualify you for a loan–credit is just one. The others include your assets, how much income you make and the property you’re looking to finance. If you’re weaker on one factor, you may be able to compensate by being stronger on other factors. For instance, if your credit score isn’t quite high enough to qualify you for a particular loan, you may still qualify if you have, say, lots of assets or make a good enough income to prove to lenders that you can handle paying back your loan.

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WASHINGTON — Rates on 30-year mortgages fell this week to the lowest level in six weeks.

The mortgage company Freddie Mac reported on Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.22 percent this week compared with 6.30 percent last week.

The decline was only the second since early December. It pushed rates to the lowest level since the 30-year mortgage was at 6.21 percent the week of Jan. 11.

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Mortgage rates dropped dramatically this week in an abrupt shift following a two-month rise.

The benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 11 basis points to 6.31 percent, according to the Bankrate.com national survey of large lenders. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 percentage point. The mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.31 discount and origination points. One year ago, the mortgage index was 6.32 percent; four weeks ago, it was 6.24 percent.

The benchmark 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 11 basis points to 6.08 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 13 basis points to 6.17 percent.

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