Arizona to get $1.6 billion from natl. lender settlement, $10 million from BofA lawsuit
Arizona will receive $1.6 billion of the $26 billion settlement over bad foreclosure practices that government officials reached with the nation’s biggest lenders today.
Separately, the state will receive $10 million from Bank of America to settle its lawsuit over alleged mortgage fraud the Arizona Attorney General filed against the lender in December 2010. The settlement of that lawsuit, reached late last night, had to happen for Arizona to participate in the national settlement. BofA is also part of the nationwide settlement.
The $26 million deal is the largest industry settlement since the multistate tobacco deal reached in 1998.
The money will …
Tags: Arizona Attorney General
Deal with AZ Attorney General and B of A could be worked out by Thursday
Attorney General Tom Horne expects to settle the state’s mortgage-fraud lawsuit with Bank of America this week, paving the way for Arizona to join more than 40 other states in a proposed $25 billion settlement with the nation’s biggest lenders.
The national deal would settle allegations of bad foreclosure practices by the banks that cost thousands of borrowers their homes.
"We expect to settle with BofA in the next day or two so we can then join the national settlement," Horne said. …
Phoenix foreclosure fall
New data shows the number Phoenix-area homes taken back by lenders fell to its lowest level in January since early 2008.
Last month, there were 2,263 foreclosures, or trustee sales, in the region, according to the Information Market. Pre-foreclosures, also known as notice of trustee sales, fell to 2,932, the lowest level since the summer of 2007.
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Tags: Information Market
Rebuilding Your Credit After Bankruptcy
Well over 1.5 million people file bankruptcy every year. And, that number is not going down…it’s going up. If you have filed for bankruptcy and it has been discharged, it’s not too early to get started in rebuilding your credit.
Tip #1 – About 60-90 days after your bankruptcy has been discharged; you should pull a copy of all your credit reports. We recommend – www.MyCreditKeeper.com for an easy and inexpensive 3-bureau, merged credit report. Doing this will help you to see exactly how your creditors are reporting the debts that were included in your bankruptcy. You will want to check for accuracy, because the creditors and credit bureaus are notorious of making errors. Accuracy means no balances, no past due amounts, and no late payments that post date the discharge of the bankruptcy.
Tip #2 – Start the journey of rebuilding your credit. You are going to want to start with getting new credit because you need something positive to report on your credit reports. This can be a double-edged sword, because it may have been too much debt that got you into trouble that made you file bankruptcy. However, it could have been something totally different and unrelated to poor credit management.
A very good way to start rebuilding credit may be to get a secured credit card. What is a secured card? You deposit money with a bank and the bank opens a credit card for you to use against your own money. The credit limit is an amount equal to your deposit. After a certain time period, you will be allowed to remove the security off the card. A secured credit card is not for use long term but it does serve as a short-term purpose by getting something good on your credit reports.
Tip #3 – Create a reasonable budget. You will not want to go on a shopping spree just because you are debt free. You are going to want to be frugal and make sure you have a savings plan in place. Now more than ever you are going to need to have back-up savings since bankruptcy will not again be an option for many years.
Tip #4 – Make sure you pay all your bills on time. You must show that you have learned from your mistakes and the easiest way of doing this is to pay your bills when they are due. The best thing you can do is to prove that you are credit worthy.
If you take these steps soon after your bankruptcy, you will be surprised how quickly your credit will improve.
To learn more ways to rebuild your credit score, call Credit Strategies for a complimentary credit consultation at 480-502-5554.
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Tags: Credit Strategies
Having Good Credit is More Important Now than Ever
Paying off past due accounts most often does not, in itself, raise your credit score or change the way lenders see your credit report. Outdated information about you, late bills (depending on the creditor, these may be reported anywhere from 30-90 days after the payment is late.), and even uncontrollable events such as a recent change in address can hurt your credit. Financial counseling can be helpful in identifying problems and improving your credit.
The aspects of an individual’s life that are either negatively or positively affected by credit are vast, and having bad credit can evoke a chain reaction of financial hardship. Your credit affects your ability to finance an auto, obtain credit cards, mortgage a home, rent an apartment, to carry insurance, and even to get a job.
Loan or credit denials can be extremely inconvenient, and borrowing with sub-prime credit can be costly. Your FICO score, one aspect of your individual credit, can range from 300-850. In today’s economy, creditors frequently look to loan only to consumers who have credit scores over 700. Those with scores below 680 who do borrow for a home or auto will often spend an extra 1,000 dollars per year or more in order to borrow, as they are given less than prime interest rates. Financial counseling can be beneficial to repair credit before a large debt is incurred to reduce the fee of borrowing, saving the consumer money over the course of the loan.
Today, it is clearer than ever that individuals and business owners need good credit to thrive. Certain actions on your credit report can change the way the lender sees you, and these days the lenders are looking deeply into your credit history. It is important that your credit score and credit report are as optimal as possible. Credit Experts like Mick Bernard are professionals that are experienced in helping to achieve good credit.
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Obama announces more details on refinancing for underwater homeowners
The much-anticipated details of a sweeping plan to help nearly 15 million Americans underwater on their mortgages refinance to lower rates were announced this morning by President Barack Obama during a speech in Falls Church, Virg.
The plan, first mentioned in one of the president’s speech last October, would be broadened to include not only homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgagesd, but also 3.5 million homeowners with privately-held home loans.
However, for the plan to apply to borrowers with privately held mortgages, Congresss would have to approve new legislation proposed by the president today.
Many metro Phoenix homeowners have already started to …
Obama announces more details on refinancing for underwater homeowners
The much-anticipated details of a sweeping plan to help nearly 15 million Americans underwater on their mortgages refinance to lower rates were announced this morning by President Barack Obama during a speech in Falls Church, Virg.
The plan, first mentioned in one of the president’s speech last October, would be broadened to include not only homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgagesd, but also 3.5 million homeowners with privately-held home loans.
However, for the plan to apply to borrowers with privately held mortgages, Congresss would have to approve new legislation proposed by the president today.
Many metro Phoenix homeowners have already started to …
The Pain of Payday Loans
Payday loans are short-term cash loans with very high interest rates. They’re usually used by people who have little access to credit because they may have few assets and aren’t able to secure other options with lower interest rates. Payday lending operations charge high interest rates, and do nothing to encourage savings or asset accumulation. Legislation of payday lenders varies widely from state to state, with several states declaring them illegal. Wikipedia tells us that some impose strict usury limits instead, limiting the nominal annual percentage rate (APR) that any lender can charge and others have very few restrictions on payday lenders.
The key to understanding the true cost of payday loans is the concept of compound interest. The example given in The Kansas City Star was of a single mother who used a payday loan to borrow $300 for a trip to the dentist. When she couldn’t pay the loan two weeks later, she extended it and paid $50 twice a month for almost four months ($50 x 2 months = $100 a month… x 4 months = $400) and still owed the entire principle amount. If she paid it off at that point, she would be paying back $700 on a $300 loan. That’s 233%. But she didn’t pay it off then.
The article that used that example was from Accumulating Money.com, and they say that the average loan term is about two-weeks and loans cost on average 470% annual interest (APR). Finance charges normally range from $15 to $30 to borrow $100. For two-week loans, these finance charges result in interest rates from 390% to 780% APR. Shorter term loans can have even higher APRs.
Though the Truth in Lending Act says the cost of payday loans must be disclosed to the consumer, the finance charge in dollars probably seems small and easily paid, and the annual percentage rate or APR may mean little, since most borrowers aren’t planning to be paying for a year.
At the end of 2006, The Center for Responsible Lending reported about 25,000 payday loan outlets in the United States and now there are internet payday lending sites too.
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The Pain of Payday Loans
Payday loans are short-term cash loans with very high interest rates. They’re usually used by people who have little access to credit because they may have few assets and aren’t able to secure other options with lower interest rates. Payday lending operations charge high interest rates, and do nothing to encourage savings or asset accumulation. Legislation of payday lenders varies widely from state to state, with several states declaring them illegal. Wikipedia tells us that some impose strict usury limits instead, limiting the nominal annual percentage rate (APR) that any lender can charge and others have very few restrictions on payday lenders.
The key to understanding the true cost of payday loans is the concept of compound interest. The example given in The Kansas City Star was of a single mother who used a payday loan to borrow $300 for a trip to the dentist. When she couldn’t pay the loan two weeks later, she extended it and paid $50 twice a month for almost four months ($50 x 2 months = $100 a month… x 4 months = $400) and still owed the entire principle amount. If she paid it off at that point, she would be paying back $700 on a $300 loan. That’s 233%. But she didn’t pay it off then.
The article that used that example was from Accumulating Money.com, and they say that the average loan term is about two-weeks and loans cost on average 470% annual interest (APR). Finance charges normally range from $15 to $30 to borrow $100. For two-week loans, these finance charges result in interest rates from 390% to 780% APR. Shorter term loans can have even higher APRs.
Though the Truth in Lending Act says the cost of payday loans must be disclosed to the consumer, the finance charge in dollars probably seems small and easily paid, and the annual percentage rate or APR may mean little, since most borrowers aren’t planning to be paying for a year.
At the end of 2006, The Center for Responsible Lending reported about 25,000 payday loan outlets in the United States and now there are internet payday lending sites too.
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How to Tell if you Need a Financial Counselor
Your first clue was when your paycheck didn’t go as far as it used to. You may have started cutting back and doing without on the luxuries, and then on more important things, but if you don’t address the causes, you won’t really be able to fix the problem. Here are some signs that you might need the help of a trained financial counselor:
You’re juggling your monthly payments and only paying the minimums
Maybe your hours have been cut back at work, or an additional expense came up that sapped your savings. If you’re finding that you’re just not able to pay your bills, it may be time to take a look at what else may have changed. Additional fees or interest rates may be costing you more than you can manage.
You don’t know the full extent of your debt
Generally, problems begin to happen, and then build, when we’re not looking. Especially if you’ve been making automatic payments to your credit cards and on your loans, you may not have been looking at the statements. Interest rates or credit limits may have been changed if you weren’t paying attention, and you could now owe more than you thought.
You’ve almost reached (or exceeded) your credit limit
If you’re running out of “space” on your credit cards, that means that your income isn’t covering your expenses. Once you reach the limit on your card, you’re unlikely to be given more. Credit card companies look at how close you are to the limit on all of your cards and loans, and if they’re all high, they sense that you soon won’t be able to pay your bills.
You don’t know your credit score
Your credit score is important for securing loans on larger purchases like cars and homes, and if you haven’t been in the market for them, you may not have been paying attention. Changes in the economy mean that credit card companies have been reducing people’s credit limits, which can have a big impact on your credit score. Be sure to check and make sure that the information is correct at least once a year. If it’s not, you might want to enlist the help of a financial counselor to straighten it out.
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