How To Get A Perfect Credit Score

Click on the title to link. Not sure how realistic it is to get a "perfect" credit score, but you can implement some of these things and get close. It really is not rocket science:

1. You have to get credit to have credit (the chicken and the egg?).
2. Don't pay late.
3. Keep your balances under 30% of the max limit.
4. Don't close your old accounts.
5. Give it time.

Now go ahead and read the article...

How to Raise Your Credit Score

Click on the title to link. Credit scores are vitally important to what rate you get and program you can do. They are far more important, frankly, than they used to be. This is, therefore, an important and helpful resource for you.

The thing to remember about credit, however, is it takes time (generally) to get your score up. There is no magic to it. There are times when we can get it done faster through various means, but it is very dependant on the situation. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Fast Approaching Credit Cliff

Click on the title to link. This is a huge issue that is coming at us like a freight train, yet nobody is talking about it. One of many reasons we believe the worst of this economic crunch is yet to come...

7 Fast Fixes For Your Credit

Click on the title to link.

Calculate Your Credit Score

Click on the title to link. This is an interesting mechanism where you enter in info and it shoots back a rough credit score. We are not convinced of its accuracy at this point, but it will certainly give you a good sense for what affects your credit score. Check it out.

Mortgage Acceleration Programs

We get called periodically about ways to payoff your mortgage quicker. It usually pertains to two programs: 1. Bi-weekly plans offered by your lender, and 2. U First.

Bi-weekly plans are where you start paying your mortgage every other week as opposed to once per month. The net effect at the end of the year is you end up making an extra payment because instead of 12 payments you have made 26 half payments (which equals 13 full payments). That is the gist of how this works, and it does work. If you do not make any extra payments to principal then you will pay off your 30 year mortgage about 7 years early (which may save you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on your balance.). Lenders will charge you an up front fee for this of roughly $350. The benefit to it, besides paying it off early, is that it is automatically drafted out of your bank account every other week. However, if you are a disciplined person then you really don't need this because you could just make an extra payment every year (or the equivalent of) and accomplish the exact same thing for $0.

U First is another popular mortgage acceleration program, and we will tell you upfront that we do not like it at all. Does it work? Yes, if you follow it. However, it is a multi level marketing program (MLM) where anybody (including you!) can sell it to others and receive a commission on the $3,500 fee for the program (yes, that's three thousand five hundred dollars). The program uses a sophisticated software that uses a second mortgage to pay down your mortgage based on the timing of you bills and income every month. Like we said, it works if you follow it. But we don't like that people who have no experience of education about mortgages are selling it to make money, it is ridiculous to pay that kind of money for a program you can do for $0 without the fancy software, and the same old adage still applies regardless...you CANNOT magically pay down your mortgage with some program. You still, no matter what, can only pay down a mortgage by applying more money towards the principal balance of the mortgage. So although U First is often presented like some magical potion that suddenly enables you to pay down your mortgage, it just is a "re-ordering" of you income so you can pay more towards it every month. So, once again, you MUST be committed and disciplined to make whatever necessary sacrifices in order to pay it down. Further, there are programs out there where you can accomplish the same exact thing, using the same exact method, without the cost. Now you don't get the software program they have, and to that we say, "Who cares?!" Keep your money and go to HEAPLAN to see your other options, should you choose this route.

If you have any questions about anything we discussed here, just give us at call at 505-830-9685 and we will gladly walk you through the truth.

A Debt Payoff Plan That Works

Click on the title to link. This is a variation of a debt payoff plan we have preached for years. It does work, but there is nothing magical about it. Just remember that the only way to pay off debt is with discipline and sacrifice. You cannot keep things "as is" and pay off debt. You have to work at it and commit to it. But if you are willing do that then this plan will work.

5 Credit Moves Before February 22

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5 Ways To Kill Your Credit Score

Click on the title to link. This is a good article about some ways to hurt your credit scores. Some of it is pretty "dah". But informative none-the-less.

Build Credit Without Credit Cards

Click on the title to link.

Should I Be Intentionally Late on My Mortgage?

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, we've been receiving more calls from folks who are having a tough time making their mortgage payments. And, of course, these folks are wondering what options they have to try and improve their situation.

At this point, the best way to start is to contact the company that is currently servicing the mortgage. They will be in the best position to modify the current terms, at least temporarily.

However, it's quite common for those who do call to be told that the only way they will be able to receive help is if they are at least 30 days late on their mortgage. We want to strongly encourage you to be very careful about taking this advice. Most of the lenders/servicers will not guarantee that being late will get the borrower over the hump and make them eligible for modification.

In fact, we have a client who was told to allow their mortgage to become 30 days late so that they could receive assistance. Well, they did, and after contacting the lender/servicer to follow up on the assistance, they were informed that they were ineligible for assistance because they made too much money. So, they did not receive assistance, AND, their credit dropped by over 100 points. This of course makes their situation much worse as any other options they may have had, such as a traditional refinance, are now essentially unavailable, at least in the short term.

So again, please be careful when it comes to the advice being received. Do feel free to give us a call and we'd be happy to discuss your situation.

We're Baaaack!

After a wonderful time and rest, relaxation and, especially, time with our families we are back in the office. Things are moving along seemlessly with our new system. We are so excited to get to work on higher level activities that will help the business in general.
Click on the title to link. This is a good article about a not so fun subject. But we hope it helps. Again, we are here to serve your needs, and anybody you may know.

Why Aren't Banks Lending?

Click on the title to link. This is an interesting article as to the reasons banks are not lending, and why the author thinks they should not be. We completely disagree with this article overall, however. The guy completely misses the issue. If the government is giving banks this money to free them up to lend then they have a fiduciary responsibility to lend. But they should not be lending to just anybody. It is not as if the banks should be "lending like it was 2006" (as the CEO of Bank of America says they are, which is a bunch of bologna). If any bank is lending like that then they should be shut down for stupidity. What they should be doing is lending to good borrowers and projects (I don't know, use your brains maybe) because this will re-stimulate the economy. For the economy to recover money has to be moving. If the banks and government would stop throwing the baby out with the bath water and start pinpointing the issues then we would get out of this mess much, much faster. It is funny to us how simple it is to all of us, yet the Washington people are that clueless. Go figure.

Selling Your Info

So we have been noticing something lately, when we pull a credit report on a client they have been telling us that other companies have been calling them to say they see they are refinancing and try to push them into working with them. Well, as you can imagine, this ticks us off a bit.
So we called the company we pull credit reports through and learned, to our amazement, that Experian, Equifax and Transunion all sell this data to people so they can call you as soon as they see we pull a report. Can you say unethical? This is absolutely unacceptable in our minds. You can, as the consumer, opt out of them being able to do this. But it is, conveniently, a pain to do. We are looking further into this and will let you know what we find. But be aware that if this happens to you it is not a company we "work" with or endorse.