An Overview of Re-Aging

Credit card issuers have the ability to bring your account current and wipe out your entire record of late payments using a procedure called “re-aging”. Re-aging, if managed properly, can be a fantastic credit repair tool. The re-aging guidelines were set by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) in June of 2000 for the purpose of helping “borrowers overcome temporary financial difficulties, such as loss of job, medical emergency, or change in family circumstances like loss of a family member”.

The Policy Background

The FFIEC is a formal interagency body empowered by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and others, to prescribe principles and standards in the supervision of financial institutions. The re-aging guidelines are observed by all credit card issuers with the understanding that they can take a more “conservative” stance at their discretion. Credit Unions did not opt to adopt this policy, but if you have a credit card with a credit union it does not hurt to ask if they have a re-aging policy.

Some Plain English

It sounds great so far! But how does it work? Re-aging is defined as “returning a delinquent, open-end account to current status without collecting the total amount of principle, interest, and fees that are contractually due”. And it means what it says. If you meet certain, very reasonable, guidelines your credit card issuer will wipe out your bad credit. What are those guidelines? Read More

At one time or another, many of us have wrangled with credit card debt. While, there is no magic secret to getting out of debt, there is a strategic plan to follow to tackle your debt head on. You first want to find out what you really owe. Write down every credit card you have that has a balance, with the interest rate and current balance you owe. Write down every person or other institution you owe money to. Include student loans, loans from 401(k) plans, mortgage and auto loans.

Your next step is to run your current credit report and get your credit score. One place to do this is at www.myfico.com. You will get your FICO score and a credit report from each of the 3 credit agencies: Experian (www.experian.com), Equifax (www.equifax.com), and Trans Union (www.transunion.com). If this list (not including the persons you owe money to) is different from your credit report, your credit report is the list to go by, unless you know for a fact there is a mistake on your credit report.

The next step is to consolidate all your debt and lower your interest rate as much as possible. Before you do that, call your credit card company today (ask for a supervisor) and ask for a lower rate. Most of the time they will work with you. If they give you a hard time, let them know you are switching your card to another company. This will lower your interest payment right away. Read More

1. Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.

Our nation is in chaos and the root of it all stems from good graces of man. Credit is deeply rooted into our history, it stems from a person’s or merchant’s product or service is priced too high for the average consumer. When payment from the patron for the item(s) was not convenient at the current time arrangement could be negotiated. This was the birth of the consumer credit program.

Let’s look at a typical California House priced at $395,000. The builder, in order to make a profit, needs to sell many of these homes at this price. How many of us have $395,000 to plop down in one lump sum?

If the builder only sold homes to people who could pay the lump sum, they would not sell many homes and the price would skyrocket to $3,395,000 due to the need for the builder to earn an equitable profit. On the other hand the builder would not make any profit if the homes were sold at $4000 or even $40,000.

2. What’s it going to cost you?

The homes must be sold at a price that is consistent with perceived value and quality, but still needs to make it available to the average consumer. This is the reason the mortgage business is so huge.

Let’s look at another example. This trend is deeply rooted in our history. Have you ever gone to a store and realized you didn’t have the money to purchase an item? Remember asking the store clerk to put it onto your account?

Actually you can still find this type of system where the merchant would allow the consumer a period of up to 30 days to repay the debt; when payment for the goods or services is not convenient.

3. How did this all begin

This began back in the days of the general store where a patron would come by and pick up a few items, charge them to a personal account and the patron would agree to pay the entire account by the end of the month. Read More

One of the most important roles a special finance manager can have is that of “Credit Counselor’. Most of the time, we talk about counseling your “no sales” or turndowns, in an effort to hold on to them and possibly sell them a vehicle later on, after they have “refreshed” their credit. A proactive approach to this concept is taking on the role of credit counselor in order to sell these customers a vehicle now, during the sales presentation. Doing so will help you control the process, keeping the customer focused on the “credit decision” and away from the “product decision” until you are ready to do so. Taking a credit counselor demeanor with these customers will also help set and keep their expectation reasonable.

While bad credit may be obvious to someone who looks at credit reports all day, many times a customer may not realize what their credit issues may be. Credit counseling is an effective way to maintain control of the special finance sales process. If the process is done correctly, an applicant’s expectations will be kept at a reasonable level.

So first of all, what exactly is bad credit? Numerous types of credit report problems are considered a sign of bad credit and could cause a lender to reject an application for a loan. Such problems include: missing a credit card payment, defaulting on a prior loan, filing for bankruptcy in the past seven years, or not paying taxes. Other black marks on a credit report include a judgment filed (perhaps for non-payment of spousal or child support) or any collection activity. To many special finance customers, these may be regular occurrences which they do not consider to be bad credit.

The credit counseling process begins with the customer interview. The credit application should be reviewed during the customer interview. Take the time to find out if there are any potential pitfalls. Look for gaps in residence or employment. Find out the particulars regarding the customer’s living arrangements. Do they rent or own; is the monthly expense split with anyone else? Is the income correctly stated and is it verifiable. This process starts the conversation in a non-confrontational manner. Not only do you get to know your customer better, but this process gets customers talking freely about themselves. Read More