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There were 66 articles found in this category:
  1. questionWhat is a back end ratio?
    A back-end ratio or back ratio is the sum of your monthly mortgage payment and all other monthly debts (credit cards, car payments, student loans, etc.) divided by your monthly pre-tax income. In the past, lenders wouldn’t give loans to people whose ratio was higher than 36 percent, bu ...

  2. questionIf I don’t plan to make any big purchases (i.e. house, car) in the next seven years and I clean up my credit during that time, does it really matter that I currently have bad credit?
    Yes, it does. Remember: Your credit can be viewed by your employer(s) and your insurance companies. You can lose out on a job and even have your insurance canceled because of poor credit. Additionally, your existing credit card issuers can view your credit and increase your rates and credit lim ...

  3. questionIf a spouse or parent dies, can creditors come after family members to collect the debt?
    Generally speaking, you are not responsible for other people’s debt when they die, unless you are a co-signer on shared accounts with the deceased. If, however, the deceased is your spouse and you live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico ...

  4. questionIs it bad to pay off credit cards every month (not pay the credit card company any interest)?
    Nope! It’s only bad for the credit card company, since they will make less money off of you (they still make a small amount each time you use your card, but they make this money off of businesses, not you as the consumer). Paying off your credit cards is great for you because you get to us ...

  5. questionCan reaging my accounts help me boost my credit scores?
    Re-aging (also known as “curing” or “rollback”) involves changing the delinquency status of an account. It can be either positive or negative. If you have had credit problems but you are getting back on your feet, positive re-aging can help. Positive re-aging is designed ...

  6. questionWhat is positive reaging?
    Positive re-aging occurs when a creditor or collector brings an account that was delinquent to current status. The official definition, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is the following: 

“Returning a delinquent, open-end account to current status without co ...

  7. questionWhat is a credit risk score?
    Credit risk scores are designed to predict the likelihood that you will pay your bills poorly but not necessarily so badly that you’d end up needing to file for bankruptcy. They are different from bankruptcy scores. Not sure how to handle your debt? Find out more about debt help and services.

  8. questionAre debt reduction services good?
    Debt reduction services can be effective, but they usually cost money. As an alternative, with a little education and prior planning, it may be possible to reduce your debts on your own. If you have a smaller amount of debt, why pay debt counselors and settlement agencies fees for things you can ...

  9. questionI heard that there's a new change in loan modification reporting that will help consumers; what is the latest?
    November 1st, 2009, brought with it good news for consumers who want to modify their mortgages without lowering their credit scores. It was the first day that a new way of reporting a loan modification to the credit bureaus became available to mortgage lenders. From this point forward, mortgage ...

  10. questionAm I responsible for my spouse’s medical debt?
    In many cases, yes, but it depends on the state that you live in. Because of a legal designation called the "doctrine of necessaries”, in many cases spouses are responsible for the other spouse’s medical debt, even if the spouse dies. The largest determining factor is how your state ...

  11. questionWhat is community property?
    Community property refers to the law under which most property acquired during a marriage (with the exception of gifts or inheritance) is owned jointly by both spouses and is divided upon divorce, annulment, or death. In the US, there are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idah ...

  12. questionAm I responsible for my spouse’s debt?
    Generally speaking, spouses are only responsible for joint accounts (not just credit card accounts, but installment loans like a car or home too). It doesn’t matter if the couple divorces or one spouse dies – with joint accounts, both are equally responsible for the debt. Like any ot ...

  13. questionWhat is negative reaging?
    Negative re-aging occurs when a debt collector or other company reports incorrect dates to the credit reporting agencies with the goal of having the account reported longer than it should be reported by law. Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, collection accounts can only be reported fo ...

  14. questionCan reaging my accounts help me boost my credit scores?
    Re-aging (also known as “curing” or “rollback”) involves changing the delinquency status of an account. It can be either positive or negative. If you have had credit problems but you are getting back on your feet, positive re-aging can help. This type of re-aging is desig ...

  15. questionWhat is a bank levy?
    A bank levy occurs when your bank account is frozen and all or part of the money in your account is seized. The most common causes of a bank levy are unpaid taxes and unpaid debt. A bank levy doesn’t happen overnight; usually it is the result of a creditor trying to force a consumer to pay ...

  16. questionHow can I stop a bank levy?
    If the IRS freezes your account through a bank levy, you will have 21 days before they seize all of the money out of your account. Take advantage of this short time and take the necessary steps to protect your money: Hardship Plan: Send a letter to the IRS with evidence proving that if they lev ...

  17. questionAre children responsible for parents’ debt?
    No, children are not responsible for their parents’ debt. There is only one exception: If the children co-signed on a loan with their parents, the surviving co-signer would still be responsible for paying back the debt (any co-signer, a child or otherwise, is always responsible for unpaid ...

  18. questionWhat is innocent spouse relief?
    Most married couples take advantage of joint filing for the money-saving benefits. But along with the savings comes big disadvantages. When you file jointly, you’re held liable for your spouse’s tax blunders! This means if your spouse under-reports income, you get the blame, too! The ...

  19. questionWhat is a bankruptcy score?
    Bankruptcy scores predict the likelihood that a consumer will file for bankruptcy – either a Chapter 7 bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Some people get confused and think that bankruptcy scores are the same as credit risk scores -- they’re not. Credit risk scores are designed t ...

  20. questionHow can I get my account reaged?
    First, keep in mind that most financial institutions cannot simply re-age accounts on a whim. Government regulators periodically examine a financial institution’s records and can order a financial institution to change its practices – or even close it down – if it looks like it ...

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