FICO has finally disclosed how much late payments, maxed out credit accounts, or more serious mishaps can damage your credit score. You know paying late is bad for your score, but now you know how bad. Paying thirty days late can drop your score 60 to 80 points. Even if you pay on time, maxing out your card can drop your score 10 to 45 points.The good news? This kind of hit can be put behind you relatively quickly–your most recent history counts most when it comes to calculating your scores. Also, paying late enough to incur a late charge but less than thirty days late does NOT get reported to credit bureaus and does NOT impact your score. Continue reading ‘How Much Does a Late Payment Affect Your Credit Score?’
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You had a job yesterday, but don’t today. Your wife got sick. Your car gave up the ghost. And paying your mortgage just got a whole lot harder, maybe even impossible. So what’s next? Do you go hat-in-hand to your lender and beg for help? That’s been the advice of most columnists and bloggers, including this one–speak to your lender as soon as possible, come up with reams of paperwork, and you will get the help you need. Except that method hasn’t been working very well. Continue reading ‘Problems Paying Your Mortgage? Do These Things BEFORE Calling Your Lender’
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It’s no secret–mortgage underwriting guidelines have become stricter, and home loan refinancing has become much harder to come by. For those who don’t have little halos hanging over their heads, getting approved for a mortgage refinance may be a pipe dream. Ironically, one of the exceptions to this rule is bad credit refinancing. So these days, bad is good. Continue reading ‘Refinancing for Borrowers with Bad Credit? Not a Pipe Dream’
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You can’t browse the Internet or pick up a newspaper without someone telling you that if you don’t want to be a financial idiot and end up homeless and stealing from bag ladies you need to pay your mortgage off as soon as possible. Because you will pay less interest over the life of the loan, retire your mortgage early, and beautiful supermodels or hunky movie stars will throw themselves at you. And to a certain extent, that’s true (not about the models, silly). But you do pay less interest over the life of the loan and you may feel more financially secure with no mortgage. Continue reading ‘Should You Pay Your Mortgage Off Early?’
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Think credit reform ala the CARD Act is helping consumers? Think again! The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) claims that card companies are doing whatever they can to add, um, whimsical price changes and interest rate increases for multitudes of customers. Here are 10 ways credit card companies are still putting the screws to their clients–even their best ones. Continue reading ‘10 Reasons to Consolidate Debt aka 10 Ways Credit Card Companies Are Still Working You Over’
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For those with good credit or bad credit, debt consolidation has become more difficult as home values tumble and available home equity evaporates. But what about debt consolidation with personal unsecured loans? Can you still get them if you have bad credit? Do you even want one if you can get it? Continue reading ‘Is it Still Possible to Get a Bad Credit Personal Loan?’
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Some of the most affordable housing can be some of the hardest to get financed. Ever see commercials for those outfits that loan on mobile homes? Only 14%! Wow. Maybe I’ll just put it on my Visa card instead. So, can you really get an affordable mortgage on manufactured housing? Sure, if you buy the right kind of manufactured housing. Continue reading ‘Can You Get a Mortgage on a Manufactured or Mobile Home?’
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Today, Congress passed a measure to make the Home Buyer Tax Credit available to more people who meet income eligibility requirements, not just first-time home buyers. And those income limitations have been raised as well. See if you qualify for a tax credit under the new plan, and how to take advantage of it.
Continue reading ‘And Tax Credits for All: Congress Extends and Expands the Home Buyer Tax Credit’
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Starting today, thousands of borrowers facing foreclosure will be able to stay in their homes and avoid the trauma of being evicted. Fannie Mae’s new “Deed for Lease” program allows impossibly situated borrowers to transfer their home ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that. Yes, you still lose your home–but you avoid explaining to your kids why they have to squeeze into a crummy apartment and change schools, you don’t have to schlepp from landlord to landlord and blush whenever they check your credit, and you don’t have to add the joy of moving to your holiday celebrations. Not a small thing. Continue reading ‘Facing Foreclosure? Stay Home with Fannie’s Deed for Lease Program’
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Congress passed a congressional resolution late yesterday that should help those with poor credit get mortgages in more expensive areas of the country like California. A provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 included temporarily raising the conforming loan limits from $625,500 in high-cost areas to $729,750 through 2009. Yesterday’s actions effectively extend the higher conforming loan limits for Fannie, Freddie, and FHA loans through 2010. Continue reading ‘Cowabunga! Higher FHA Loan Limits a Boon to Cali Buyers with Poor Credit’
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