Posted on 08/04/2007 9:00:24 AM PDT by gpapa
The current troubles in the housing and mortgage markets virtually guarantee that some restructuring of the home-finance industry will occur under the next president. Already there are a number of legislative proposals on the table, with important implications for the ability of young men and women to purchase homes and existing homebuyers to sell. Oddly, in the various presidential debates, the candidates have not been asked about these plans, leaving both homeowners and financial markets in the dark.
One leading proposal is a bill called S. 1299, offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. Mr. Schumer is a senior Democrat on the Banking Committee and the third-ranking member of his party in the entire Senate, so any proposal he makes should be taken seriously. His proposal represents a regulatory and litigious approach to mortgage-market reform.
The bill requires that each mortgage originator act with "reasonable skill, care, and diligence" and in "good faith and fair dealing." It also requires that all loans are "reasonably advantageous to the consumer." Surely these are noble sentiments. But they are also vague and ill-defined legal requirements that open up the mortgage industry to endless litigation in an environment where juries comprised of homeowners must decide between families in the process of losing their homes and mortgage brokers, investment bankers and other financial intermediaries.
(Excerpt) Read more at aei.org ...
All I need to know about that bill is underlined in the quote.
Why have the government involved at all ? If the borrower has problems, the lender forecloses. Simple and self-regulating.
Not interested. It's fixing itself. Stupid borrowers are losing the houses they can't afford, and stupid lenders and investors are taking a bath. It will all work out. The only thing government can do is perpetuate the stupidity by artifically mitigating the outcomes.
It is extremely simple.
In most states, Realtors have fiduciary relationships with their clients. The same should also be true for loan officers.
Problem solved.
The change could happen in one day at the state level if legislators get off their butts.
There are a lot of greedy loan officers out there. Many good ones too.
If you need a good one in the Houston Metro area, send me a private note and I will put you in contact with one of the best and most honest in town.
Once you pay off the cards, try to close some of the accounts. Write to one of the scoring companies and tell them which cards are closed and have them removed from your account.
That will bring your score back up.
I now have one credit card, one car loan and a home equity line of credit for emergencies. Expunging all the old accounts, that I no longer use, upped my score about 75 points.
Uh-Oh...
Your local bank probably sold the vast majority of the mortgages it received to Wall Street where they were packaged/sold as bonds to investors all over the world seeking high returns in what was normally a pretty safe US real estate market.
The old adage of bulls & bears make money while pigs eventually get slaughtered is proved once again.
I HEAR ya...
We actually had 3 cards at the time (no balances)....NO car payments..no 2nd or equity line...
It was insane!
We got rid of 1 of the cards.....Hubby has one..and I have one...for emergencies only...we don’t carry a balance..
And..I did what you did and contacted one of the companies (Equifax I think) and they were good...but it was clear that had I NOT contacted them, even when we paid off the FULL balance within 2 months (almost $25,000), my score would not have gone “back up” as quickly.
So infuriating...
And what the HECK does it have to do with my INSURANCE!!!
(yes, they explained it to me...but it still ticks me off!)
Are you sure closing a card with a long, satisfactory pay history improves the credit score?
Why does anyone with multiple brain cells think for one minute that the clowns in Washington have a clue how to fix anything? Why do we always look to Washington to solve problems when, in fact, they cause most of them?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A question I often ask myself and others! Maybe it is the same impulse that makes a staggering drunk think that what he needs is another drink. Or maybe it is just easier to live in cloud cuckoo land than to deal with reality, until the roof falls in anyway.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Awhile back I didn’t have any credit cards, no car payment, no mortgage and paid cash for everything. I had NO credit rating or score. I have a good job and I’m in my 40’s. I applied for a credit card for car rental purposes and was denied due to a lack of accounts. LOL
Yes it does. I cleaned out my credit tally last month with TransUnion.
Keep in mind that your over all credit score is effected negatively when you have numerous open credit lines. Even if you pay them on time or haven't used them in years.
http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/ImproveYourScore.aspx?fire=5
Don't close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score.
Have credit cards - but manage them responsibly. In general, having credit cards and installment loans (and paying timely payments) will raise your score. Someone with no credit cards, for example, tends to be higher risk than someone who has managed credit cards responsibly.
I find this passage to be purposely vague. The credit score companies don't want to bite the hand that feeds them by advising people to avoid credit cards. You can only get a high credit score if you have a history of credit use. A lengthy history can help, but they will ding you if you have a lot of open credit lines. On top of that if you have a card with say, a limit of $6000 and you use close to the limit every month, you are penalized for using your credit in that manner even if you pay it on time.
What can I say? I got rid of everything except one card, one car installment loan and a home equity line of credit.
I had a lot of credit cards that I hadn’t used for years just idling on my credit history and it was negatively effecting my credit score.
I went from the 600’s (even though I had paid off 2 homes and 4 cars) up to the mid 700’s. I used a Suzi Orman software kit I purchased from QVC.
I didn’t mean get rid of everything, just get rid of anything that you don’t need or don’t use.
Nah, the juries would have to consist of apartment dwellers whose families are all apartment dwellers
But you can then get dinged by your insurance company
The wrath might better be directed at credit card companies who will offer cards to a cat or a dog.
There’s a form of reverse mortgage financing called, I think, a viatical, which covers that kind of situation. You get a wad of money, you keep the house till you die then the house becomes the bank’s.
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