Debt Management, mortgage and credit news - a blog for the average consumer.

New credit card rules offer good news and bad news.

Rules take effect on Feb 22nd, 2010.  Read your mail!

The single biggest benefit of the much-touted new rules for credit cards — prohibiting credit card companies from raising interest rates on existing balances — has …

Avoid foreclosure prevention scams

The Better Business Bureau reports that foreclosure prevention is another of the top ten scams of 2009

There are many companies making many claims about helping you prevent foreclosure on your home. No matter how good …

Phony Debt Assistance one of top ten scams in 2009

The Better Business Bureau makes this case and reports on the scams.

The scammers are especially clever at preying on people in trouble and they have come up with many ways to convince you they can …

“Short sale” versus short walk

By one expert’s estimate 5.3 million US homes have a mortgage that is more than 20% higher than their home’s value and 2.2 million of those are “under water” by more than 50%.  It is …

Foreclosure problem turned into lose/lose by lenders

The headline in the Wall Street Journal said “flippers make a comeback.”  The story told of people going to foreclosure auctions to buy and quickly resell houses at a profit.  They can do this because …

Student loan modifications very hard to do. Supreme Court to rule.

To protect the more than $600 billion in student loans insured by the federal government, Congress has made it very difficult to modify these loans.  Bankruptcy courts are not allowed to reduce the principle except …

Credit card regulation only partially effective thanks to loopholes and lag time

Congress recently passed what one expert called a “Set of discrete new laws” to regulate the credit card industry (see our blog entry on Credit Card Rates Going Up for details, but as the …

“Under water” mortgages hit new high. Consider a “short sale”!

As the Wall Street Journal Reports, nearly one in four (23%) homes now have mortgages that exceed the value of their houses.  They are “under water.”  Of the 10 million-plus homes that are in this …

More “cram downs” stopping foreclosures, but same players are making money on them

The same people who sold you a subprime mortgage you couldn’t afford are now calling many homeowners threatened with foreclosure to make an offer they can’t refuse.  They tell homeowners that they have bought the …

Permanent mortgage loan modifications stymied by paperwork

The administration has announced that its Making Home Affordable program, its major attempt to prevent wholesale foreclosures, has signed up almost 20% of those eligible.  650,000 borrowers have started a “trial loan modification” as part …

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