Study Finds Link Between Personality And Credit Scores

A soon to be published study suggest that agreeable people might get themselves into trouble taking out loans that others might not.  Conducted by researchers from LSU, Texas Tech University and Northern Illinois University, the study examines credit scores and personalities.

“That suggests easy-going individuals actually have worse credit scores than disagreeable and rude individuals."

There is more to be publishes in the Journal of Applied Psychology in the meantime there is more here at the link.  If you have question about your credit score and how to increase credit score click over to Credit Repair Texas.for a free Credit Repair Services evaluation.

Alabama Sues Debt Collector for FDCPA Violation

In another case of a debt collector using deceptive practices, Alabama has accused a debt collection company of falsely claiming a creditor had entered into an agreement to pay.  The lawsuit alleges the company was sending letters to consumers claiming the consumer had entered into and agreement with the company and then reneged.  In fact, according to the suit, no such agreement was entered into nor had the consumer even had contact with the debt collector. There is much more here for the inquiring mind.  The take away here,  it is illegal for a debt collector to lie.  If you have questions about a debt or a collection practice visit Credit Repair Services for a free credit repair Texas evaluation.

Removing A Tax Lien From A Credit Report

The rules changed in February 2011, with the IRS announcing new policy regarding their credit reporting.  Tax liens can now be removed from a credit report.  The IRS will "withdraw' the tax lien and the credit reporting agencies will remove the entry like it was never there.

Prior to this policy change the credit bureaus' practice was to update credit reports as to the status of the tax lien.  For example updating a credit report to "released".  A released tax lien is just as bad as an unpaid tax lien from a credit score perspective.


Is it fair to say this is a sea change for how creditors treat credit reporting?  Or, has removal of deragatory items been going on all along?  What is clear, for the first time a major credit reporting agency, the federal government, is now as public policy, removing derogatory trade lines from consumers' credit reports.

Give your credit repair Texas specialist a call to discuss credit reporting and how to increase a credit score to lower borrowing costs

Debt Collector with 6,000 Accounts Settles for $4 million

According to state officials the company repeatedly engaged in bad behavior prohibited by the Fair Debt Collection practices Act. 

SNIP

"The main thing is you don't threaten people in terms of their debt," said Bill Cloud, a spokesman for Georgia's office of Consumer Protection. "You don't threaten them physically. You don't threaten them with arrest. You don't act like a law firm if you're not. These people were just doing everything in the book that was wrong." Cloud says since 2008's financial meltdown, abuse by debt collectors has been one of the most frequent complaints his office receives. 

SNIP

For more on the FDCPA visit Consumer credit Capital at FDCPA.   If you have questions about a collection account give credit repair Texas a visit.  For more on the case above you can find it here.

Credit Reports to Track; Rent, Utility and Payday Loans

According to FICO -- the most used credit report and credit score provider -- they will stat providing more information to their clients about consumers.  FICO announced it will provide more information to mortgage lenders including payday loans, evictions and child support payments.  And, in the future information on the status of utility, rent and cellphone payments may be included.  There is more here

Seperately in Septmeber the credit burueas began providing estimates of consumer incomes as a credit reprot option.  There is much more here for the inquiring mind.

Of course you credit report and credit score is only as good as the data reported.  If you need credit score repair then give credit repair Texas a call at Consumer Credit Capital a call for a free credit repair evaluation.

Citi Settles fraud charges for $285 million But....

In a nutshell Citi packaged up a bunch of mortagages together and sold them to investors.  At the very same time the Citi sales group was selling the mortgage / product another group within Citi was betting against the value of the product.  In shorthand; making money coming and going - leaving others holding the bag.

While Citi and its Regualator the SEC have ageed on a $285 million dollar settlement the Judge appears to question the s settlement which he has not yet signed off on. Citi may be getting off far to easy.  There is much more here. Stay tuned to see if the settlement sticks.

In the meantime if you have credit related questions we have answers at credit repair texas

Credit Repair Texas - Pay Day Loans

While I am sure no one likes to pay the high cost associated with borrowing money 'right now' --pay day lending - an interesting study by Dartmouth suggests having the option for such a loan is cheaper than not.

According to a study, by Dartmouth University, with the purpose to determine the effect on borrowers the study suggests restricting access to expensive credit hurt consumers on average.  The reason given is the expensive loans were used for things needed, like a car repair, and without the loan the consumer's financial situation was worse in the long run.

The study looked at Oregon legislation that restricted Pay day loans -- capped the rate lenders could charge --which put hundreds of  pay day lenders out of business and reduced the overall number of in state loans.

Of course no one wants to pay high interest rates on a payday loan, or any purchase for that matter.  To discuss how to improve access to lenders by raising your credit score give Consumer Credit Capital credit repair Texas a call for a free credit repair evaluation.

Credit Repair Texas - Car Financing

Buy-Here Pay-Here used car lots booming in down economy.  The LA Times is highlighting a profitable nich in the auto business known as Buy Here Pay Here.  "These dealerships focus on people who need cars to get to work, but can't qualify for conventional loans. "They sell aging, high-mileage vehicles at prices well above Kelley Blue Book value and provide their own financing. As lenders of last resort, they can charge interest at three times or more the going rate for regular used-car loans."  There is much more here at the link

Credit Repair Texas is here to help you fix credit rather than use Buy-Here Pay-Here with an industry repossession rates at nearly 1 out of every 4 cars sold.  If you have credit issues give Consumer Credit Capital a call for a free evaluation to see if you qualify for their 5 red flags program.

Groupon: Fizzle or Sizzle?

Groupon goes IPO and raises $700 million or so after raising nearly that much privatly a year or so ago. In the meantime the company is going to lose about $200-$250 million this year and as of september it owes it customers more than it has in cash. So if I have the numbers right; roughly, they have about $250 million in cash and owe their clients around $400 million and sales around $1.2 billion.

Groupon works like this: You cut a deal with them to sell a coupon they sell it, hold the cash for a bit, as you provide the product/service (usually at a deep discout-as you have to bid against other businesslike offerings at discounts) then later the company pays you your cut of the coupon sale.

Sounds good if you can take the hit to cash, which might be minimal if you are filling an extra seat on a raft trip, or hotel room - so no fixed cost increase and minimal variable. But if you are providing a product it might be a bigger hit to cash and less of a winner. I guess it all depends upon a percent of the coupon clipper coming back coupled with the exposure they may provide your business. We shall see, and with the kinda numbers Groupon is dealing in we shall see sooner than later.

Bloomberg has a write up on the IPO here. And over at Techcrunch at least one writer is not impressed here.

If you have been caught in the economic downturn, that Groupon appears to thrive in, the folks at credit repair Texas are available to conduct a free evaluation to review your credit needs.

72% of loans in foreclosure Not Paid in over 1year

The guys over at LPS Monitor have an interesting report out that will disabuse anyone of the notion that the housing market is significantly better now even more than 5 years after the first cracks started to show. According to their report, more than 4 million loans are more than 90 days late.

This report coupled with foreclosures picking up pace--- now that legal hurdles have been cleared--- spell trouble for the housing market for years to come. By some counts, there are nearly 12 million homes in trouble--- characterized by either being underwater or at some level of current or past default.

If you have credit issues related to the downturn in the economy give the folks at Consumer Credit capital, credit repair houston, a call for a free credit repair evaluation.

Broker Goes Bust: Again

Another wheeler and dealer on Wall Street goes belly up making bets at 40 to 1 leverage. That is right 40 to 1. Imagine going into a Casino with your net worth of say 1/2 million and trading it for $20 million in chips. You loose 1 or 2 hands and you don't make it out of the casino with anything but the shirt on your back.

This snip tells it all.

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The balance sheet reached 40 times the firm’s equity, Egan said.

“They should have been levered in the area of maybe about six-to-one,” he said. “Having only 2.5 percent equity to assets is ridiculous. That means if you have a 2.5 percent downdraft in the balance sheet, which is very likely, then they’re bankrupt.”

snip.

There is much more here at the link

You would think with Lehman and Bear Stearns going belly up (years ago) these guys would take risk off the table. If you had credit problems and could benefit from a free credit repair evaluation give Consumer Credit Capital a visit at: credit repair Houston or credit repair Texas for a quick and easy sign up.

Pension Crises Growing

Pension across the country are coming under pressure with their investment portfolios still counting on rates of return that seem less than likely to materialize over the next decade. Public pension, including state and local governments are especially stressed. With interest rates at record lows where are these pension funds going to gett a return without chasing ris, moving forward?

"California, which has the largest U.S. public-pension fund, faces liabilities that may exceed its annual state-tax revenue fivefold within two years unless lawmakers rein in benefits, according to a study.  To keep their promises to retirees, the California Public Employees Retirement System, the biggest plan, the California State Teachers Retirement System, the second-largest, and the University of California Retirement System may have combined liabilities of more than 5.5 times the state’s annual tax revenue by fiscal 2012, according to the study released today by the Milken Institute. Levies are forecast to reach about $89 billion in the year that began July 1."

There is more here for the inquiring mind.  If you have has income reduces and it has impacted your credit profile give the folks at Credit Repair Texas a call for a free evaluation.

Supreme Court Denies Credit Report Case

Supreme Court Denies BofA Unit Appeal In Credit Report Case

By Maya Jackson Randall, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Bank of America Corp. (BAC) unit's appeal of a ruling that allowed a California consumer to sue the company for allegedly reporting inaccurate information to credit bureaus.................................

.....................The case grew out of a consumer's 2002 quarrel over a television purchase. John Gorman bought a satellite TV using a Visa credit card issued by MBNA, the Bank of America subsidiary now known as FIA. But the TV was defective, according to Gorman. He disputed the charges, which amounted to several hundred dollars and, according to court documents, vowed to never pay the disputed charge. In 2004, MBNA reported his delinquencies to the credit bureaus. Later that year, Gorman sued MBNA, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. By not alerting the credit bureaus that the debt was part of an ongoing dispute, the information MBNA provided was inaccurate, Gorman argued.................

........... because the bank still did not point out the dispute even after Gorman challenged the information and the bank conducted its own investigation, Gorman could proceed with a lawsuit, the court said. The Supreme Court let that ruling stand without comment. Read more here at the link: And Here

Credit repair Texas deals with these issues every day. For more on credit repair texas visit them at their website. And for more on the Fair Credit Reporting Act here at the link: FCRA

Texas Credit Union Fails

let's take a look

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Credit Unions Bailed Out

U.S. Backs $30 Billion in Bonds to Stabilize Key Institutions; Subprime Legacy

By MARK MAREMONT And VICTORIA MCGRANE

Two years after the peak of the financial crisis, the federal government swooped in to stabilize a crucial part of the credit-union sector battered by losses on subprime mortgages.

Regulators announced Friday a rescue and revamping of the nation's wholesale credit union system, underpinned by a federal guarantee valued at $30 billion or more. Wholesale credit unions don't deal with the general public but provide essential back-office services to thousands of other credit unions across the U.S. The majority of retail credit unions are sound, but they will have to shoulder the losses through special assessments over the next decade.

Friday's moves include the seizure of three wholesale credit unions, plus an unusual plan by government officials to manage $50 billion of troubled assets inherited from failed institutions. To help fund the rescue, the National Credit Union Administration plans to issue $30 billion to $35 billion in government-guaranteed bonds, backed by the shaky mortgage-related assets. More at the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499604575512254063682236.html?mod=djemalertNEWS#articleTabs%3Darticle

If you are in Texas and didn't get a piece of the billions in bailout you might need to take it upon yourself to improve your credit. Credit Repair Texas offers a free credit repair review of your credit report and credit score. You can visit them at Credit Repair Houston.

Housing Crisis

(Reuters) - More Americans fell into foreclosure in July as a sour job market kept them from making payments, and banks took over homes at a near record pace.

Banks repossessed the second highest monthly number of homes ever last month, working through distressed loans already on their books rather than sharply stepping up new default notices, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

This reflects problem management instead of a fix of the root problem, said the company, which expects more than 1 million homes to be repossessed this year.

"What's driving most of the foreclosure activity is unemployment and other types of economic displacement," RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga said in an interview.

Banks took over 92,858 properties in July, up 9 percent in the month and 6 percent in the year. This was a shade below the peak of 93,777 homes in May, the largest since RealtyTrac began tracking repossessions in April 2005.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67B0D720100812

Unfortunately there are is no quick fix to the housing crises. Until wages get back in line with housing prices then there will be no return to a normal market; never mind boom times. If you were caught in the housing downturn and are no on the road to rebuilding credit give Consumer Credit Capital a call and visit their website at Credit Repair Texas

credit repair texas

Here at the Consumer Credit Capital blog we focus on credit repair texas but also cover other repair stories. In this case there is a house in Florida that is in need of a bit of home repair as such it is being offered at a discount $75 million house. If you want it completed with things like carpet and walls that will cost you an extra $25 million.