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Thinking of applying for a mortgage? Make sure you plan ahead so that you don’t become part of this statistic. More than one in four mortgage applications submitted to the 10 largest lenders in the United States in 2010 were denied, according to a recent analysis done by The Wall Street Journal. Many of the
Raise your hand if you’re confused about credit scores. Well, mark your calendars. On Thursday, June 30 at 2 p.m. EDT, Bankrate will host a live Web chat on the topic with its own Credit Card Adviser, Leslie McFadden, and Credit Karma’s credit adviser Justine Rivero. The duo will pull back the curtain on credit
Apply for a credit card this year and you might receive a disclosure that contains a free credit score — the one actually used by the lender to judge your credit risk. Or a notice informing you that may not have received the lowest interest rate because of your credit. If you’re denied, you’ll get
Credit Karma, a site that offers free credit scores and tools to consumers, will now let you peek at your TransUnion VantageScore and auto insurance score for free. “We thought we would illustrate the breadth of credit scores available to lenders and bankers by providing consumers free access to them,” says CEO Ken Lin. Credit
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve rolled out a Consumer’s Guide to Credit Reports and Credit Scores, a new online resource that explains basic credit topics, such as what goes into a credit report and credit score. The guide also links to tips for improving your credit score and advice on getting the most from credit
A provision in the new financial reform law will allow consumers turned down for credit or offered less favorable terms because of their credit report or score to get a free credit score disclosure with their adverse action notice. An overlapping set of federal regulations that were finalized last year will likely broaden access to
This morning a House-Senate panel in charge of merging two financial reform bills into a final version reached an agreement. Both chambers of Congress still have to approve the compromise legislation, dubbed the Dodd-Frank Act after its main authors, Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, before it can go to President Barack Obama for
Yesterday, the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta, which has renamed itself CredAbility, released a new quarterly index that measures the financial health of the average American over time. The index uses a 100-point scale where anything below 70 indicates financial distress. The methodology is proprietary, but CredAbility uses data from public and government
Yesterday the Senate rejected a proposed amendment to the financial reform bill before Congress that would have imposed states’ usury limits on national banks that issue credit cards. Currently, a combination of laws makes credit card interest rate caps null and void. Federally-chartered credit unions have a usury cap of 18 percent for credit cards.
