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Posted
Oct 13 2008, 08:23 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you want to buy a General Motors vehicle with GMAC financing, you'd better have your financial ducks in a row. GMAC Financial Services announced today that it's temporarily limiting contracts to people with at least a 700 credit score.
"The credit markets are tightening up everywhere and this is just a reflection of that,'' GM spokesman John McDonald told Bloomberg.com. "Dealers have a number of options for customers, including GMAC and non-captive financing, to be able to finance vehicles.''
Whether this will have a widespread impact on GM car sales is debatable. It appears that when the economy is unpredictable, smart people aren't looking for new debt.
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Posted
Aug 27 2009, 05:01 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You know what people always say when they complain that the credit card company slashed their credit limit: I've never missed a payment or been late.
Quite likely, a new study shows, they aren't lying.
The study by FICO, originators of the FICO credit score, found that of the 33 million people whose credit limits were reduced between October and April, 24 million had no new marks against them in their credit reports that would prompt a card issuer to tighten the reins.
Also, reports Pamela Yip of The Dallas Morning News, "Those cardholders generally had low balances, didn't use up a lot of their available credit, had very few -- if any -- reports of missed payments, and had a long credit history."
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Posted
Jan 14 2009, 03:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Have a credit card you haven't used in the last year or so? It might be canceled.
Numerous credit card companies are cutting costs by closing accounts due to inactivity, and they're doing it without warning.
Can this ding your credit score? The simple answer is: Yep.
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Posted
Aug 31 2009, 11:22 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
TMZ, the news source for all things Michael Jackson, expressed amazement that MJ had terrible FICO scores.
"Here's a shocker -- Michael Jackson had an abysmally low credit score," said a story at the Web site. In 2007, TMZ says it has learned, Jackson's scores from the three major credit bureaus were 592, 524 and 575, averaging out to just under 564.
It's really no surprise, considering his well-documented ultra-extravagant spending and financial woes, including the fact that Neverland Ranch nearly slid into foreclosure. But there's a lesson for everyday people in the specifics that caused the King of Pop to have poor scores.
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Posted
Jul 24 2009, 07:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Earlier this week we took a look at how to get your free FICO credit score from myFICO.com. Operated by the Fair Isaac Corp., creator of the FICO credit score, it offers consumers a free credit report and FICO credit score when they sign up for a 30-day trial of Score Watch. The FICO credit score myFICO.com provides is from Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus.
And that's where some confusion can creep in.
There are three major credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. And each of these credit bureaus calculates a consumer's FICO credit score, which can be and usually is different for each credit bureau. In other words, you likely have a different FICO credit score from each of the three major credit bureaus. And to add to the confusion, each of the credit bureaus calls its version of the FICO credit score by a different name.
So let's quickly sort all this out:
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Posted
Feb 19 2008, 02:33 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It's a sign of the times that Web sites have sprouted up telling people how to walk away from homes they can no longer afford or -- in some cases -- are no longer willing to pay for. While some sites trumpet offers to buy homes from stressed-out owners, another one sells a foreclosure kit. California-based YouWalkAway.com says its kit will enable you to stay in your home "for up to eight months or more without having to pay anything to your lender!" It also says: "With our money-back guarantee, you get it all for only $995." The list of services provided is stuff you can do on your own if you're so inclined. And the steps won't eliminate the damage foreclosure does to your credit score. Writes blogger Sam Glover at Caveat Emptor, "Foreclosure ain't pretty, folks, no matter what this Web site would like you to think." All of this raises questions in our mind: In the wake of the mortgage crisis, is foreclosure becoming a more acceptable option? Should it?
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Posted
Sep 08 2008, 03:14 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
No matter how much personal-finance bloggers write about credit cards, myths about them persist. Kristin at Twenties Money Magazine sets the record straight with "TMM top 20 dumb credit card rumors." Here's No. 18, which we think gets a lot of traction, even though it's absolutely untrue: "Cash advance is the same as using an ATM." In fact, credit card cash advances come with a hefty price tag.
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Posted
Jan 29 2009, 10:32 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
We've read that some credit card companies may ding those who use their card in bars or tire-retreading shops, or live in an area with lots of foreclosures, but this takes the cake: If you're an American Express cardholder, your credit limit could be reduced if other customers who shop where you do have fallen behind on their Amex bills.
Is this yet another way credit card companies are penalizing responsible customers because their own bottom lines are hurting?
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Posted
Apr 03 2009, 03:22 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Credit card companies are spending lots of money to tell you they're on your side.
Peter at Bible Money Matters has noticed the trend: Discover is pushing its cards as "a built-in easy-to-do budget and spending tracker," he said. He also got a mailing from Chase touting savings he could enjoy by using his rewards card, like discounts at Chase's online shopping portal.
We get irritated by the commercials claiming the card companies will bend over backward to help if you're having trouble paying your bills. (In all fairness, credit card companies do help some struggling customers with a variety of methods, like a temporary reduction in interest, to get them to keep paying. The companies don't want to write off the debt.)
Peter isn't buying all the feel-good stuff. He writes: "The credit card companies are not your friend. They just want your money."
Let's review some of the card companies' recent attempts to reduce their risk by assessing more interest and fees or getting rid of customers they no longer want. In the process, these companies, many of them recipients of bailout money, are divesting themselves of any public good will:
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Posted
Aug 21 2009, 06:16 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller:
Improving your FICO credit score has never been more important than it is now. Your credit score affects whether you are approved for a loan, the interest rate your pay, and even the cost of insurance. Credit card companies now use credit scores and credit history to determine not only the interest rate that will apply to the account, but other terms such as the length of no-interest balance transfers. And your credit score can even impact whether you get a job.
In short, your credit score has a big impact on your finances. The good news is that you can begin to improve your credit score today with a few simple steps. I've been monitoring my FICO credit score through myFICO.com, and I've noticed that my score has gone up about 15 points in the last month. So I thought it was a good time to review the simple steps we all can take to increase our credit scores.
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