Your credit score defines you financially. Establishing and maintaining good credit will make your life infinitely easier. To establish a good credit score you must make your payments on time and in full every month. You can also improve your credit score by minimizing your debt. Learn more here about your credit score and what it means for you.
Lender Turned Down Refinance
Refinancing may not be the best option to consolidate debt. If you don't have any equity in your property, you cannot refinance in order to consolidate debt. Mortgage lenders are getting picky about how much cash you can borrow against your equity. These days, they're not doing 100 percent loans, or anywhere close to that. If you're in a declining market, where home prices are falling, they might not refinance you if you have less than 5 or even 10 percent equity in your home.
Ilyce Glink on WSB Radio – April 13, 2008
What's the penalty if your bank forecloses on you or you just walk away from your house and mortgage payments? Nothing good. On this week's show, Ilyce Glink talked about the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules that will penalize individuals with a foreclosure on their credit history. To find out the details, tune into this week's show. You can comment on the show at www.thinkglink.com/blog Check out Ilyce's new all-video site, www.expertrealestatetips.net and be sure to subscribe to her YouTube channel.
Foreclosure Numbers Reach Highest Level
Here's some sobering news: the rate of foreclosure starts and the percent of loans in foreclosure are at the highest levels ever, according to the Mor...
Use Cash Strategically On Credit Card Debt
If your credit card debt is spread out over several credit cards, you should plan how to use your cash to get the most benefit for your credit score. Spreading the payments across all the cards will not eliminate the debt, but it will lower the balance-to-credit-limit ratio, improving your credit score. Or to pay off the cards the fastest, put all of the cash toward the highest interest rate. Then use the money you'll save to pay off the rest of the cards. Plan your strategy for what will give the most benefit to your personal finances.
What’s My Credit Score And How Do I Raise It?
Before you even think about buying a home, you should ask yourself two questions: "What's my credit score?" and "How do I raise it?" Knowing your credit score will help you negotiate a good interest rate on your mortgage, and if you can raise your score, you'll get a loan with a lower interest rate.
Quick Quiz For Credit Counseling
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling recently issued a True/False quiz to see if you're a good candidate for credit counseling. Here's the qu...
Do It Yourself Credit Repair
The best person to repair your credit is you. Credit repair scam artists will charge you anywhere from $500 to $1,500 or more upfront, but these companies can't do anything for you that you can't do for yourself - for free - and they might ultimately do more harm than good. Ilyce shares 10 tips for you to repair your credit. Credit can be repaired when you don't co-sign for loans, make on-time payments and don't over-extend yourself.
Credit Repair Agency Scams Increase
Credit repair scams abound in economic times like these: A shaky economy, record levels of foreclosures, a rising number of bankruptcies, credit card delinquencies, and late mortgage payments. Repairing bad credit takes more than paying a $1,000 fee. Beware of those promising to repair your credit by getting you a new Social Security number.
It’s Becoming More Difficult To Borrow Home Equity
While it's getting more difficult to qualify for home equity loans, Americans borrowed more of their home equity lines of credit than last year. Cons...
Real Estate Fraud Can Result In Credit Report Problems
Real estate fraud often results in problems with credit reports - even if the person was a victim of fraud. In some cases, the home owner benefits from the mortgage lender's attempt at real estate fraud, so the fraud may ruin her credit and credit report. Ilyce describes the problems real estate fraud can cause to a person's credit report.