| Lenders look beyond the score
Despite the importance of the credit score, lenders consider other factors as well, according to Jana House, director of consumer lending with Great Southern Bank. We look at their job history, residency history, if they have a relationship with our bank or not, House said. We look at the overall picture, not just their credit history. Lenders also look at income, which is not factored into the credit report process. Individuals should be realistic about their situations before considering a purchase, House said. If youre 20 years old, wanting to buy a $40,000 car maybe isnt realistic, she added. Part of it is being real about expectations a financial institution is not doing a borrower a favor if they lend them $35,000 for a car and that person makes $7 or $8 an hour.
Hunt: Credit card should build credit, not create debt
Dear Mary: I have a 30-year-old son-in-law who needs to get a credit card approved so he can buy tires for his truck. Every time he applies for a card, he gets denied. He has no credit and needs to begin. He did try Orchard Bank, but their cards have an annual fee. Can you suggest a card? – Penny N., e-mailDear Penny: I can tell him how to do this, but I must say it bothers me to do so. If you said he needed a credit card to begin building his credit file (he does, and he’s about 10 years late getting started), that would be one thing. But to get a credit card for the sole purpose of going into debt is troubling. Because I assume your son-in-law has no credit history, he’ll be in the same category as those who have bad credit. Go to www.indexcreditcards.com and look for the category "Bad-Credit Credit Cards – Unsecured Credit Cards." There, you will see seven different issuers.
Fair Isaac to Adjust Credit Scores to Stem Credit Renting Practice
Fair Isaac Corp. said this week tha the next version of its widely used FICO score will no longer consider certain types of credit card accounts, closing a loophole that allowed strangers to coattail on a cardholder's good credit. The new FICO score formula won't include authorized user accounts users on credit cards who are not responsible for paying the balances but are approved to make purchases with the cards. Often, authorized users are family members of a cardholder, such as college students on their parents' cards or spouses who have little or no credit of their own. These types of accounts can improve a credit score if the primary cardholder kept low balances and paid the balance on time over a long period. Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac plans to introduce the new scoring methodology in September to one of the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax Inc., Experian Information Solutions Inc.
In the Heart of The Stock Market Mania
That's where we are at present – right in the heart of the mania. Are we referring to the stock market mania in isolation? Heck no. We are referring to the source of all the manically derived asset bubbles floating round these days, that being the mother of all bubbles then, the credit bubble . And as Doug Noland correctly points out this week in his column, Credit Bubble Bulletin , and as alluded to above, it should be realized these bubbles include more than just ‘investments', but all sorts of things (collectibles), such as fine art . Of course the banking community does not care what people are buying and selling just so long as they are doing exactly that, and at an increasing rate if possible so their job of tinkering with growth rates is eased. .
Peter Costello claims credit for baby boom
Australia is enjoying a new baby boom and the nation's Treasurer Peter Costello, who three years ago urged couples to "have one for the country," is claiming part of the credit. Australia recorded 265,900 births in 2006, the highest level in 36 years and the second highest number in the nation's history, slightly easing concerns about an aging population. "We are seeing, albeit slightly, the fertility rate start to lift," Costello told reporters. "This is good for our future, and it'll be a great improvement in the way in which we cope with these long-term demographic changes." But 2006 also recorded the highest number of deaths, with 133,900 people dying, up 2.1 percent on the previous year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. With 132,000 more births than deaths, and preliminary net migration figures showing 147,700 people settled in Australia in 2006, the population was on track to hit 21 million by the end of June, the bureau said.
Prefer cash to credit
With falling airfares and rising incomes, travel, even across borders, has become more affordable than before for middle-class Indians. Banks are also doing their two- bits to facilitate your movement and make some good money in the process. But what's good for banks might not begood for you.
Loans offered by banks for travel take the foreign trip today, repay the money in small, affordable instalments over the next four years might seem convenient, but they turn out to be very costly affairs. We are not being a spoilsport and suggesting you don't travel. We are suggesting you look at such travel loans as a means of last resort. Your first choice should be to pay for your trip yourself by breaking your bank deposits. All things considered, it works out far cheaper than the travel loans offered by banks.
‘Piggybacking‘ roils credit industry
Only a low credit score stood between Alipio Estruch and a mortgage to buy a $449,000 Spanish-style house in Weston, Fla., a few miles west of Fort Lauderdale. The result was a happy ending for Estruch, but the growing practice is sending shivers through the mortgage industry. Federal regulators are also reviewing the practice. And after being contacted by The Associated Press for this story, Fair Isaac Corp., the developer of the widely used FICO score, said it will change its credit scoring system beginning later this year in a way it contends will end this little-known but potentially high-impact mortgage loan loophole. The pitch to those who are essentially renting their credit history for pay is seductive: You dont need to worry about users of this service receiving duplicate copies of your credit cards, account numbers or any of your personal information.
Judge threatens to reject claims for bank charges
A JUDGE at Hull County Court has threatened to strike out claims by 20 bank customers who are suing for the refund of overdraft charges. District Judge Ian Besford said the claimants were unlikely to succeed because Lloyds TSB had won a similar case recently in Birmingham. .
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