The credit reporting agency, Transunion settled on a class action lawsuit by setting aside 75 million dollars nearly 2 years ago.  Now, this amount is but a drop in the bucket and a baby slap on the wrist for this particular credit bureau but that discussion is for another day!

The reason if you’re not familiar should knock your socks off, make you down right red eyed with blood rising to your head causing those vessels to bulge. Why? 

Why would anyone be interested in reading about credit report collections? Well, most the time it’s because you have been denied credit and have ordered the credit report to see what’s going on.  Low and behold many times there are collections on your credit report.  These collections are being reported by collection agencies and they’re killing your credit scores!

When someone researches their credit report for problems and finds collections, usually the immediate response is to begin looking for ways to correct or remove those items from their credit report. The good news is there are a few ways. The most popular way is by disputing them with one of the 3 main credit bureaus (Equifax, Trans Union and Experian) that are reporting them.

You can also contact the collection agency directly and try to…

According to the Federal Reserve the lending to small business those companies with under 50 million in annual sales is getting easier for the first time since the latter part of 2006. The big banks and financial institutions are loosening the purse strings but smaller banks are still locked down and it can be very difficult to obtain small commercial financing.

The divide between lenders and borrowers is a huge blockade to help the economy recover mostly because of the new definitions of what is considered “creditworthy”.  A good creditworthy small business just a few years ago can now be considered high  risk and no longer a candidate for financing that would insure or help the growth of that company.

We are living in crazy times!

There appears to be an over abundance of homeowners on the horizon that are looking to “buy and bail”. Talking with many mortgage brokers the trend seems be be on the rise as they are experiencing more calls from prospective homeowners looking to finance a new home so they can dump their current property to buy a new one that in many cases is more home for less dollars.

This is the one of the newest trends that mortgage lenders are being watchful of as the trend continues even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have pulled out all stops trying to tighten down the noose on many would be homeowners according to Meg Burns, senior associate director for congressional affairs and communications at the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The Reality…

Sometimes old debt that you thought was long ago dead and forgotten comes back to haunt you.

A scary practice performed by junk debt buyers and collection companies is the purchase of old and often outdated debts for pennies on the dollar and then come after you for payment.

These outdated debts are known as Zombie Debts which you may have to kill if they resurrect from the grave.

According to a new survey released by Freddie Mac announced the lowest 30 year mortgage rate at 4.57%. These mortgage rates are linked to the yields on Treasuries and also the yields on mortgage-backed securities.

In an article for Reuters written by Julie Haviv:

While low rates and high affordability have helped the housing market gain ground, it has struggled in recent months given stubbornly high unemployment and mounting foreclosures. Home loan refinancing, however, puts more cash into consumers’ hands to funnel into the U.S. economy and could help many homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The US deficit jumped $165,931,038,264.30 on one day last week (June 30), making it the 3rd largest daily increase to the deficit in US History. According to Stephen Dinan:

The figure works out to nearly $1,500 for every U.S. household, or more than 10 times the median daily household income.

According to Wikipedia, deficits are:

A budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in.

Everyone has suspected that the average credit scores have been falling. The economy has given a serious black eye to credit and credit scores and now we know how much!

FICO.com has just reported that 25.5% of the US population that use credit now have a credit score of 599 or less. That’s a whopping 43.4 million people in this category.  In the past about 15% or 25.5 million have been in this category which means that over the last 2 years there are been an increase of 17.9 million people fall under a 599 credit score which is a whopping 70% increase!

Overall 35% of the population are at a 649 credit score or less. What does this mean?  Basically, look at the person to the right and look to the left and the dirty truth is that one of the three of you cannot buy a house nor car and are considered unworthy of credit by many lenders and are in need of help with credit repair.

Even in the difficult-to-fire federal world, employees have been fired for being unable to pass security clearance.

A story for FederalNewsRadio.com written by Suzanne Kubota says that:

If you can’t pay your bills, you can’t keep your job.

That’s what it has come down to for 39 employees at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. The employees have been terminated or indefinitely suspended after they were found “ineligible” to meet security requirements of the job.

Life can be down right miserable when you are traveling through a financial storm! Many people have done all the right things like paying their bills on time, living within their means, putting aside money for a rainy day and yet they still experience life.

I don’t know if a statistic exists for this next statement but I’d venture to say a high percentage of people at one point or another are thrown a curve ball in the game of life.  At least when it comes to their financial well being.  This set back occurs even though they did not plan on it, cause it, nor want it to happen.  Many of the stories of this hardship that I’ve heard simply come in different shapes and sizes but ultimately loss of job, a medical hardship, business failure, or divorce rank in the top few as the reasons people enter that financial storm.