If you’re interested in how your credit score might be going up or down in the coming months, then this is for you.

I have several news items to share. This comes from two top employees of VantageScore. The information was prepared — not for consumers or even credit repair businesses — but for lenders! It’s a warning to lenders on what’s happening and what’s to come. But, it’s fascinating for the rest of us, too!

Here we go!

1 Right now, more people are going late on their accounts. The warning was for lenders to be on the watch so they could adjust interest rates accordingly. This tells you that if you pay one day late on a credit card, expect all the other credit card companies to notice and raise your interest rate.

2 More people are accruing late payments because during the pandemic (a) they received forbearance so the creditors didn’t report them as late — as long as they began paying on time again after, and (b) with everything shut down, there wasn’t as much to spend money on. No movies, concerts, restaurants, sporting events, etc. More people saved money and/or paid down their balances during that time.
Now, inflation has hit, insurance rates have risen, and all payments are due — not to mention more things are available to spend money on.

3 Due to #2 above, credit scores in the United States went up in 2020 – 2021. Now with new late payments, the trend is downward for scores.

4 The Supreme Court struck down the Biden Administration’s plan to forgive over $1 trillion in student loan debt. Therefore, student loans that were on hold will restart with payments required October 31st.

5 If a person fails to pay their student loan this fall when it’s due, VantageScore is forecasting a drop in the person’s credit score of 49 to 82 points. Wow, that’s a serious penalty you don’t want, so get prepared now.

6 If a person pays their student loan bill on time, the first months, VantageScore is forecasting an increase of 8 points in their score. It might not sound like a lot, but going from 695 to 700+ puts you into a higher tier for credit approval and pricing. Plus, what can you expect for doing something you are contractually obligated to do anyway — pay as agreed?

VantageScores are used by many credit card companies and lenders now; but the mortgage lenders are still in line for converting from using Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion into using VantageScore plus one of the other three. It’s on the calendar for mortgage lenders to go from a tri-merge report to a bi-merge report, but the date is still fluid.

Feel free to post a comment on this topic, and thank you for reading.

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government. It was set up to protect all of us regular people from financial scams, fraud, over-charges, bogus charges, false financial reporting, etc.

The CFPB is a powerful agency. When it goes after a finance company, mortgage lender, bank, or credit company, the end result can be a fine of millions of dollars, a lawsuit, or even getting shut down. This is not fun for the guilty party.

If you have been a victim of a financial scam, fraud, bank injustice (such as when Wells Fargo opened new accounts in people’s names without their knowledge or consent), or if one of the credit bureaus refuses to delete false information that is damaging your credit profile, then yes, you should file a complaint.

However, if there is a negative mark on your credit report, a late payment, a collection, or other derogatory, and it really did happen, then you must not file a complaint with the CFPB.

Never lie to a government agency!

Never attempt to throw a business under the bus because you don’t like that they are reporting you late, when you were actually late. That is fraud on your part and can get you in trouble.

Some unscrupulous so-called credit repair businesses have filed CFPB complaints as a so-called strategy to remove negative information. THAT IS FRAUD. There are cases where the credit repair business owner was handcuffed and booked into jail for doing this!

You cannot file a complaint as a bluff. Only file a complaint if what you are saying is 100% true.

If are are a victim, then DO file a complaint, and write with specific details, including dates, dollar amounts, and how you attempted to make it right with the company.

If you have a question about this, feel free to post a reply. The system requires me to read and approve in order to keep out all the spam bots, but I do read every one and I will reply.

Thank you for reading. I truly appreciate you.

This is part of an actual mortgage estimate worksheet created by a company that advertises, “We are a leading independent mortgage lender.”

Let’s look at it, then I’ll point out the issues I see. This is for a $450,000 30-year fixed mortgage.

Origination Fee: Wow, that is ridiculously high. The national banks and wholesale lenders charge $999 to $1,300. That alone is a stopper for me.

Underwriting: $995. That is the normal origination Fee.

Settlement: That is the third party fee that goes to the settlement agent, either the attorney or escrow agent. It is paid 50/50 by Buyer and Seller. The Buyer’s fee is missing. (No, the Seller is not paying both sides.)

Lenders Title Insurance: Round number that’s unrealistically low.

Investor Review Fee: A non-standard, odd extra fee that neither banks nor mortgage brokers charge.

Funding Fee: Funding is part of the lender’s origination/underwriting work. Added non-standard junk fee to pad profits.

Pre-close Credit Report: The Borrower already paid $37 for the credit report. They should not be charged a second time for a second credit look. That is part of the underwriting process. Very odd to see a lender slip in another fee for this task.

Conclusion: This loan is too expensive, contains bogus junk fees, and is sloppy without a specific title fee quoted from an actual title company. I recommend finding a better lender.

Experian receives anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 pieces of mail every day, but only employs 10-14 sorters to review the mail for suspicious characteristics and letters ARE NOT reinvestigated without further action taken by the consumer requesting or demanding a reinvestigation.

In plain English, if a mail sorter at the credit bureau sees any of the following things, they mark it as “suspicious” and will likely deny your request.

This warning is to tell their mail sorters how to tell if the letter is from a credit repair businesses rather than the actual consumer.

SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDE:

1) A return address on the letter itself is different from the return address on the envelope.

2) A stack of envelopes come in where the postmark is in the same city but the return addresses are in different cities.

3) Letters with a similar letter format (looks like a template used for a batch of letters).

4) Signature found on an enclosed document differs from the signature on the letter.

5) Data on the enclosed document does not appear logical.

6) When five or more letters from different consumers are in a batch of mail containing the same listed characteristics, the sorter can reasonably conclude that they not have been mailed by the consumer and can mark them suspicious.

7) When a batch of letters come in together that are similar in type, size, ink color, or font.

If you are doing your own credit repair, you already have an advantage, because your lone envelope and letter won’t come in with a batch. But pay attention to #4, #5 because you could get flagged for those.

And, look at #3. You don’t want your letter to look like a “609 template letter,” or any template letter. That’s why I recommend customizing your letters just a little, but without going overboard in saying too much. Keep is simple, straight-forward, and compliant with the law.

Many thanks to Kate Upgrading, founder of No Bar Code Printing & Mailing, Ltd. for sharing this insider information.

When an account on your credit report is inaccurate, erroneous, out of date, or unverified, it must be deleted.

When a third party collection company posts an overdue account on your credit report, you have the right to verification of the facts. Here’s what happened recently:

One of my book readers saw a collection account with a balance that she did not believe was accurate. She wrote a letter to the collection company asking for verification.

She waited 45 days (to allow for 30 days investigation and time for the USPS mail to go back and forth).

No response ever came.

She then wrote a letter to each credit bureau that showed the unverified collection, and SUCCESS! The collection was promptly deleted.

Here’s what the letter said:

“On <date> I sent a letter to <creditor> asking for verification of an account that I do not recognize: account #xxxx12345. It has been 45 days, and I have received no response whatsoever. Therefore, posting this account on my credit report is a violation (unverified) and must be deleted.”

Short and to-the-point. Factual. Real. No legalese gobbledygook.

For credit repair that works, pick up your copy of Repair Your Credit Like the Pros. 2,457 ratings don’t steer you wrong.

Thank you for reading and sharing. God bless your day.

Vantage Score has reported that missed payments and late payments for automobile loans are on the rise. This is NOT GOOD!

Lots of people were sold cars, trucks, and SUVs they could not truly afford. Between people not understanding their finances and the greedy auto sellers, they find themselves with payments they can’t make.

Your credit is your reputation and testimony. You must protect it!

Your good name is more important than impressing friends with your fancy ride.

If you pay late on your automobile loan, then all your credit card interest rates will skyrocket!!! The credit card companies watch your credit report so if they think you’re getting into financial trouble, they immediately charge you more. And yes, it is legal.

If you’ve discovered that your car/truck/SUV payments are too high, and you cannot sell your vehicle because you are “upside down” in value to loan, this do this:

Drive into a dealership and tell them you want to TRADE DOWN. Even if you have no “equity” in your vehicle, they can still trade you into a less pricey vehicle. I know, because I did it myself years ago when I made a buying mistake.

Trading down is relatively painless. You drive in with your too-expensive car and drive out with one that is affordable. Your pristine, beautiful credit remains unblemished. No late payments, no credit score hit!

Please pass this on to anyone who might need it, because it’s better to be proactive than suffer later.

Choose a good name over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1 New LIving Translation

What’s the hardest thing, the easiest thing, the most fun thing, the most frustrating and maddening thing about being an author?

Maybe you’ve thought of writing a book yourself and have wondered about this. Maybe you want to write a memoir or lessons life has taught you. Maybe you have an area of expertise you’d like to write about. If you have a question, feel free to post it in the comments. Meanwhile, some of my random thoughts on the topic…

The easiest thing about being an author is getting the idea. People get excited about their ideas. But having a big idea isn’t enough. You’ve got to take the next step and start writing. I start my writing by creating an outline. Not a formal outline with Roman numerals and letters. My outline consists of a list of chapters with bullet points under each one on my talking points.

Next comes research, and I’m not talking about doing a Google or Bing search. That’s not research. If you simply regurgitate what’s already been published on the Internet, readers will quickly kill your book by posting reviews that say, “You can get all this info for free on the Internet.”

My Research

For Repair Your Credit Like the Pros, I conducted many interviews. I interviewed top successful credit repair business owners who had been doing the work for over 10 years. I interviewed top executives at Fannie Mae. I interviewed top executives at the credit bureaus themselves, Experian and TransUnion. I spoke with employees at American Credit Reporting. This is in addition to my own personal experience working in the industry.

For Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros, I got copies of the underwriting guidebooks by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, etc. Each of these are over 1,100 pages long. In addition, I spoke with loan officers from different parts of the country and underwriters. I also called on my own 23 years’ experience in the mortgage business.

The one thing I did NOT do was read other people’s books and copy them. If you do that, you’re not being an author, you’re writing a school report — and you had better cite your sources.

The Most Fun Part

I love the actual writing where I get to express my thoughts and let my voice come through the information. That’s fun. But the most rewarding part is when I hear from my readers. The many emails thanking me for writing the book or for changing their lives is why I work so hard to deliver quality content.

The Hardest Part

For a book to be successful, you’ve got to get lots of 5-star and 4-star reviews on Amazon. That’s the hard part, because only about 10 percent of people who buy a book will leave a review. The big New York publishers give away dozens, if not hundreds, of books to get early reviews. I tried giving away a dozen books (which I have to pay for) on a previous book in exchange for an honest review, whether good or bad; but even though people are happy to get a free book, they won’t necessarily write a review, so I decided not to do that again.

Instead, I just wait for reviews to come in — and that’s really hard. Take my new book, for example. Several hundred have sold, but there are only two reviews so far. So it’s the waiting… and hoping someone will write another review. You can see what I’m talking about here.

The Most Frustrating, Maddening Part

When you spend hundreds to thousands of hours creating an original work and create a title no one has published before, and then someone comes along and copies your title and produces a crummy knock-off, that really gets to me. But then I have to realize it happens to the big NY bestselling authors too, and that those copycat-posers soon fade away, because after their mother and five BFFs give them 5 stars, it never does sell much after that. It’s easy to see, and easy to see why.

But sometimes, I’ve had to go a step further. I had to hire an intellectual property attorney because someone was reselling my original letters, which is a copyright violation and a crime — and theft is never okay.

The Best Part of Being an Author

My greatest thrill came when I walked into the University Bookstore on the campus of Columbia University in New York City, and there on the bookshelf was my very first book for sale! (That was Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers, which is now outdated and has been replaced by Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros.) That was bigger to me than seeing it in my local Barnes and Noble. I’ll never forget that joyful moment.

With me at the time was a lovely woman who lives in and ministers in one of the dangerous ghettos in New York. (A few days prior, a gang shooting had occurred outside her apartment building.) She saw my book on the shelf and she shared in my joy. Then she said something really cute.

She said, “I’m surprised the employees here didn’t make a fuss over you when you walked in the door, seeing that you’re an author and all.” I chuckled. Well, there are more than 50,000 books in this bookstore, so I’m just one small fish in this ocean. But a very, very honored and happy fish!!!

Statistics show that sellers are giving concessions to 42% of homebuyers, a near record high.* So what are concessions and how do you get that?

Concessions are when the seller pays for some or all of the homebuyer’s closing costs. This can be any or all of the following:

• Lender fees
• Buying down your interest rate to a lower rate
• Title insurance
• Escrow or attorney closing fee
• County recorder’s fee
• Property taxes
• Homeowner’s insurance
• Refund for the appraisal report and credit report you paid up front

Concessions CANNOT go toward your down payment. The seller is not allowed to help you buy the property, only to pay for closing costs.

If you need help with the down payment, then there are sources in all 50 states. But, there are restrictions to qualify. For example, with some down payment assistance programs, you cannot earn more than a certain percentage of the median income of the neighborhood. What percentage would that be, exactly?

It could be 80% or it could be 115% or something different, it all depends on the program and which county you’re in.

If you live in an area where the median income is $100,000/year and the percentage is 80%, then your income can be $80,000/year and still receive the assistance money for your down payment.

In my brand new book, Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros, there is listed a source to down payment assistance programs in all 50 states. Plus, a ton of other important information for knowing how to get the best home loan.

Back to seller concessions: There are two times you can ask for a seller concession:
1) In your purchase offer that your realtor presents to the seller.
2) After the home inspection, when you get the report showing the imperfections, flaws, repairs needed for the home. At that point, your realtor can share the inspection report with the sellers and ask for concessions in lieu of doing the repairs.

If you have any questions about homebuying, feel free to ask in the comments. The system requires “moderation” meaning it waits for me to read it, to keep out the robo-spammers; but I do read ALL comments and respond.

*According to Redfin, concessions became more popular among home sellers during the three months preceding April 30, 2023, as sellers are giving concessions to 42.9% of homebuyers. This number is up from 25.5% a year ago,

If you want to kiss renting goodbye and become a homeowner, here are some recent success stories to uplift and inspire you.

1. A single mom was stabbed by a robber and her daughter witnessed it. As you can imagine, she wanted to get the heck out of that neighborhood. Her mother co-signed for her, and she was able to buy a home in a better area where she and her daughter could be at peace.
   
2. Bank of America turned down an application for a home loan. The borrowers went to CMG Mortgage and closed without an issue. They only needed a two-day extension. Brokers have more options than banks.
   
3. A. homebuyer needed $3,000 in reserves to qualify. Their realtor credited them the money out of her commissions and the loan closed.
   
4. A homebuyers with a 555 credit score closed on a home purchase with an FHA loan by using a lender that did not have a credit score overlay. In this case, they used Tonal Home Lending, but another lender without overlays is Guston Cho Associates. (An overlay is when a bank or lender places a stricter rule on top of the FHA rule or on top of the Fannie Mae rule.)
   
5. .A married couple, both U.S. Veterans, with no credit scores got a zero down loan and used Down Payment Assistance to cover the closing costs through USA Mortgage. (It’s the lender not the VA that requires a credit score, so by using other documentation for the credit requirement, they were able to buy a house.)
   
6. A family closed on a $180,000 home by getting $17,600 in Down Payment Assistance money and a gift from family for the earnest money deposit. (Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros lists Down Payment Assistance programs for all 50 states.)

Don’t disqualify yourself needlessly. Yes, there are plenty of scenarios where you might need to take some time to save money, to pay off debt, or to improve your credit score. But top tier credit is not required to become a homeowner.

Never give up on your goal of homeownership. Don’t blow your savings on a car or truck or vacation or toys! Those things decrease in value. Save for real estate, which provides security and generational wealth.

If you’re curious about what it takes to qualify or if you want a source for Down Payment Assistance in your state, then pick up a copy of Get the Mortgage You Want Like the Pros. Having the inside information can only help.

I hope you have been inspired today to pursue your dreams. If you have a question or comment, you are welcome to post. The system requires me to put my eyes on it (due to robo-scammers) before it goes live, but I will see it and respond.

If you have a deferment or forbearance on a federal student loan (including Direct Loans, Federal Family Education Loans, or a Perkins Loan) this news is for you!

On August 30, 2023, due to the new Federal Debt Ceiling Law, many deferment and forbearance plans will expire. You will be required to resume making student loan payments.

If you fail to make your student loan payment, people with high credit scores could see a 82 point drop to their credit scores.

People with medium-good credit could see a 49 point drop to their credit scores.

If that happens, you can expect your credit card rates and your auto insurance rates to skyrocket — which could be devastating!

(These statistic predictions are according to Vantage Score.)

This is June. You have three months to get your income and finances prepared to resume your student loan payments. Make your plan now!

Please pass this on to people you know who have student loans, because no one should be hit with a horrific credit score drop by surprise!