During the last few decades, we moved many times from place to place, buying and selling houses and other property. To my knowledge, not even the most respectable bank that carried our mortgage ever had anything to do with any FICO score. I first heard “FICO score” mentioned, about six or seven years ago, when one of my children worked for a mortgage company, and I found out from him that FICO score has been around since the 1950s, after Fair, Isaac and Co. (therefore the acronym FICO) developed a certain method to determine the credit risks of borrowers.

FICO scores range from 300 to 850, the higher the better. The majority of scores are in the levels of 600-700. The desirable ones are 720 and higher. FICO scores are designed to measure the risk of delinquency by considering several past and present issues, such as the length of credit history, punctuality of payment, current debt including tax liens and money owed as a result of a court judgment, recent searches by the consumer to obtain credit, and the amount of credit received up to date. The exact formula for obtaining the FICO scores, however, is held secret and–it beats me, but–this conduct is accepted by the Federal Trade Commission.

Three nationwide companies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, use the FICO scores for credit reporting. All three of these companies are required by law to provide the consumer—you—with a free credit report every twelve months. Read More

The problem: American consumers have an estimated $2 trillion credit card debt collectively, and the total debt seems to be going higher. Personal bankruptcies are on the rise. It’s been estimated that 8 out of 10 of these same consumers have never received any sort of meaningful, practical education in personal finance.

But you’re different. You’ve worked hard to improve your credit score by making sure you’ve paid all major credit cards on time every month without fail. But consider this: could a late payment to the local video store rental club unravel all you’ve achieved?

A record number of credit card companies have built “universal default” clauses into their agreements, which allow them to raise your interest rate if you’re late making a payment — even to someone else!

Is there such a danger lurking in the fine print of your credit card contract (blithly referred to as “the agreement” by the companies)? Is there a nasty surprise waiting inside your next monthly credit card statement?

Lately, news reports of more and more people becoming aware of the so-called “universal default” clause buried in the fine print in their credit card agreements; becoming aware not because they were curious about this heavy-handed new trend, but because they have been personally affected by the clause — a clause that sometimes spikes the monthly revolving interest rate up as high as 30%!

How could this happen, you say? Well, some credit card companies — apparently on a new search to implement new fees to increase corporate profits — have introduced this onerous high-interest penalty on their customers. Read More

So you want to buy a home? Unsure whether you will qualify?

I am here to tell you that applying and qualifying for a home loan is not as difficult as climbing Mount Everest or running a marathon, but there are some basic things that all lenders look for in your application. You can be lacking in one or two of these areas, but you must be strong in most of them in order to obtain a home mortgage. Let’s explore the 7 things that lenders look for when determining if you are worthy of a loan.

Job Stability: Lenders want to see a 2 year employment history on your application. The best situation is if you have been with the same employer for two consecutive years or more. Frequent job changes or gaps in employment of more than a month must be explained and can jeopardize your chances of obtaining the loan.

Own a business? Business owners must also document a 2 year history of the business by providing a letter from their CPA stating that they have been in business for at least 2 years, or provide a business license showing the start date of the business, at least 2 years prior to application.

Don’t have the 2 year history? Don’t worry, if you are strong in the other 6 categories listed below, you can still obtain a mortgage. There are “No Doc” loans designed especially for you. With a No Doc loan, the lender does not verify your employment history, and you don’t have to disclose it. However, you will pay a higher interest rate for this mortgage. Read More

In the present era, a home is not just a place where you live together with your family. It has become more of a status symbol that reflects your lifestyle. Every one competes to make his home look better than others. However, lack of funds must be pulling you back in this race. Unsecured home improvement loan gives you the much-needed push to help you win this race and have a home that is the envy of others.

Unsecured home improvement loan forms one of the simplest method to finance home improvements. An unsecured home improvement loan is a personal loan, which is not secured against the property of the borrower.

The advantage of taking an unsecured home improvement loan is that it does not put borrower’s property at risk. The loan provider cannot repossess borrower’s property in case of default on loan. The loan is best suited for people who do not own property and living as tenants. Property owners too can apply for the loan.

Home improvements imply any improvement desired by borrower in his home or apartment. Home improvements that one intends to make may vary from person to person. Remodeling kitchen, adding a new conservatory, furnishing children room with bunk bed, can all be sufficient reasons for drawing unsecured home improvement loans. Read More

Is this the question that you are constantly asking yourself? How can I buy a home even if I don’t qualify for a sub-prime loan? What if I told you that you still could buy a home even when you get turned down for a home loan. I bet you are kind of scratching your head right now… How is that possible? How can I get in a home even when I don’t qualify for conventional financing?

Well here are a few answers:
1. You will have to be creative in your offer to the seller.
2. You need seller’s who has a need to sell: Relocating, etc
3. You need sellers who are open minded to listening to another way of getting there property sold.

So why no one every told me that there was a different way? Well because a lot of people don’t know how to think differently. I was talking with a group the other day and it seem like they where saying that if a new pair of jeans come out and it becomes stylish then we all tend to buy them based on the crowd. It’s the same way as buying a home. We have become so use to hearing lenders say no until after the third no we usually give up. What I want you to do is snap out of it! Stop allowing the no’s to keep you from moving forward in trying to purchase a home. I’ve learned that you have to get pass the no’s to get to a YES….. Just like right now you are ready to buy your next home and your lender has turned you down….. Here is the question to ask your lender: Read More

These days it’s all too easy to have your credit slip down a few notches. If you are looking to refinance, that’s not where you want to be, but it’s not the end of the world either. Let your FICO score dip below 680 and you could be a candidate for bad credit mortgage refinancing. It depends on the individual lender. Let it get down around 650 or worse and you’ll be a bad credit refinance candidate for sure. With the recent shakeup in the sub-prime lending market, many lenders are being more selective about who they’ll extend refinance loans to. They’ll be looking seriously at your recent credit history. Several sub-prime lenders have ceased operations or declared bankruptcy, so there are fewer options available to borrowers in the sub-prime category.

Even so, you can still refinance, bad credit or not. There are options available to you, so you can take advantage of better interest rates. This can be especially important if you purchased your home using an adjustable rate mortgage, and the 3 or 5 year initial period is about to expire. When it does, your mortgage will adjust upward. This can cost you an extra $200 - $600 per month in higher mortgage payments. Many people don’t have the financial wherewithal to absorb such an increase in their mortgage payment. Even if you do, there’s little reason to do so when you can refinance and avoid the payment increase. Read More

There is just too much at stake for the lender and the borrower. Being proactive is the rule of the day. In the area of Adjustable Rate Mortgages, lenders are pre-empting “payment shock” by calling months ahead to determine the budget status of families looking down the barrel of a huge increase. Some lenders who are able through this intervention to obtain the whole story that will allow for skipping a payment called a forbearance process where the arrears are made up in smaller parallel payments while continuing on with the regular payment. Lenders are hedging their bets by getting involved in the non-payment or late payment profile process early on to dampen losses resulting from foreclosure.

Three years ago Aaron and Gwendolyn moved from sharing an apartment to marriage to having a set of twins to buying their first home. Aaron four years out of college was employed at a local engineering firm specializing in water treatment and sewer/water construction work for several cities and counties in a 60-mile radius. Aaron started at an entry-level engineering position and was working his way up project by project. He was working to passing exams and satisfying requirements to become a Professional Engineer and thus command more money. The pay increases due to a slowing workload were lagging what was projected. Gwendolyn is a Registered Nurse worked a flexible schedule of three twelve-hour shifts per week and since she worked from six in the evening to six in the morning they were able to avoid any outside childcare. This gave her plenty of time with the twins who were experiencing the terrible twos period of pleasantry. Read More