Bankruptcy & Foreclosures

Do you have a lot of credit card debt? If you find yourself in this position you are probably working hard to pay back the money you owe. Many people who are in a lot of credit card debt wonder how this affects their credit score. This is a great question, and one that you definitely need to know the answer to if you are going to stay in good standing.

Your credit score will not be greatly affected by credit card debt unless you miss payments. But this does not mean that it will have no effect at all. A big part of your credit scored is based on the amount of credit that is available to you, and how much of it is currently tied up. In other words, from a credit score point of view it is better to have a $50k line of credit with $5k tied up than it is to have $25k accounted for. This is known as your debt to credit ratio. As you bring down your amount of debt, as long as your available credit stays the same, your score will increase.

But what if you are missing payments? This is when your credit score will really get hurt. While paying the minimum may not get you out of debt fast, it is essential if you want to keep your credit score in good standing. The moment that you begin to miss payments you will begin to see a sharp decline in your score.

There is nothing wrong with having credit card debt as long as you know how to manage it and never miss payments. To keep your score as high as possible you should decrease your debt as often as possible, and stay on track to pay at least the minimum every month. 

President Bush may finally have stopped denying that the economy is in fact in trouble, he announced Monday that he still strongly apposes any homeowner rescue legislations that would bail out lenders as well as customers.

This news comes as the Senate struggles to complete a bipartisan bill to assist borrowers in trouble through government backed mortgages. The trouble is that the money has to come from somewhere and in this case Uncle Sam would be forced to tap into funds that were established to help the poor.

Although the President didn’t comment directly on the proposal, he has in the past threatened to veto a House version of the bill, which aims to prevent foreclosures by having the government insure some $300 billion in new mortgages. While the president makes it clear that he’s opposed to laws that would bail out the lenders, he has been pushing Congress to pass legislation that more tightly regulates government sponsored lending institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Apologies to wishful thinkers, the Bush administration reiterated the fact that it’s still far too early to start talking about a second economic stimulus package (which many Democrats in Congress are currently pushing for in effort to help Americans battle rising fuel and food costs).

The Senate’s bill (which reached agreement on Monday) looks to tap into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s profits to pay for the foreclosure-prevention program.

As foreclosures continue to mount in record-setting fashion, our friends on Capital Hill once again gathered to discuss what, if anything can be done to combat this disturbing trend. Lawmakers seek some kind of revolutionary new program to reverse the situation but the Bush Administration holds strong in claiming the existing FHASecure plan is up to the task.

For those unfamiliar (or in need of a refresher) FHASecure was launched back in August and has given subprime borrowers the option to switch to a low fixed-rate mortgage once they’ve fallen behind on payments because their adjustable rate mortgages took a rate hike. The program rewarded the responsible by offered a refinance option to individuals with strong credit histories who display a pattern of paying their mortgages before their loans reset.

Tomorrow the Senate Banking Committee is set to consider a comprehensive bill which if passed would have the government insure some $300 billion in loans. What’s interesting is that while FHA says that the program has helped 200,000 mortgage holders to remain in their homes, they also go on to say that really of those 200,000 only 3,000 of them were those in imminent danger of losing their homes. A majority of the borrowers were current on their payments and simply used the program as a means to refinance out of high-cost or unfavorable term loans.

Interestingly enough, despite individuals using the system as a loop hole, new rules will make FHASecure open to all subprime ARM borrowers- rather than just those whose loans have already reset- no more than 60 days late or 30 days late twice in a 12-month period. In addition these potential borrowers need to have home equity, or cash, equaling 3% of the mortgage principal.

With the changes, the agency says it hopes FHASecure will eventually reach a total of 500,000 borrowers. During the past 12 months, foreclosure filings have more than doubled to 650,000 through the end of March that erquates to over 210,000 Americans having lost their homes this year alone.