Credit/Debt Recovery

Great Information on Reverse Mortgages

This report from California's Department of Real Estate provides great information on Reverse Mortgages.

At CoB, we're believers in Reverse Mortgages. If you match all of the criteria, a Reverse Mortgage may be the best loan available to you.

How to know if you match the criteria? Read the DRE report, and seek Reverse Mortgage counseling from a HUD-approved housing counselor. That's the nice thing about Reverse Mortgages--counseling is required, so you'll have all the facts before going forward. If only they'd do something similar for bankruptcies! ^_^

As for whom to seek a Reverse Mortgage from, we're kind of partial to Wells Fargo.

Some Good Press For Credit Counseling!

This story from channel 8 in Las Vegas actually says nice things about credit counseling!

With all the bad press the industry has been getting lately, it's a nice thing to see; at least someone has figured out that all credit counseling agencies aren't the same!

Kudos to Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Las Vegas for helping this consumer out of all that debt. I hasten to point out that whenever you do see good news about credit counseling, it's usally a CCCS. If you see that "COA" (Council on Accreditation) logo and a membership in the NFCC (National Foundation for Credit Counseling), you're usually in good hands.

Springboard, my favorite CCCS, started out as Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Inland Empire, but changed their name a few years ago so they could expand geographically. For more info on the credit counseling industry, see chapter five of "Repair Your Credit And Knock Out Your Debt."

Experian Publishes Credit Score Study

Experian published their credit score study recently. A curious thing I noticed was that the farther south (especially southwest) you go, the lower the average credit score, while northern cities like Boston and Minneapolis ranked at the top of the scale.

Is there some connection? Do warmer climates equal diminished credit scores? Or is something else at work here? Some energetic grad student should do some research on this. (I'll give you a hint--look at state laws regarding credit and debt collection in the southern states; you may find that it's easier to live with marginal credit in states like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and California...)

It's our expert opinion here at CoB that 680 is the line between good and not-so-good credit. So if you live anywhere south of San Francisco, your average credit score might stand some improvement.

To check out your own credit score, visit myfico.com.

ICFE offers Credit Report Reviewer Certification Program

Paul Richard of the Institute for Consumer Financial Education has created a new Credit Report Reviewer Certification Program qualify credit report reviewers under the new Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (aka FACTA). When it comes to credit reporting, no one is more on the ball than Paul.

Here's the Link: www.icfe.info/credit_file_repair/ICFE_accredited_report_reviewer.asp

Springboard Reacts to NCC shutdown by the FTC

The FTC recently shut down The National Consumer Council for unfair and deceptive practices. Read more about the shutdown here, here, and here.

The National Consumer Council is nominally a credit counseling agency, but they're not in the same business as Springboard. We thought we'd list a few key differences between the NCC and Springboard here to make our point:

Springboard Non-Profit Consumer Credit CounselingNon-Profit:
Springboard is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. No one owns Springboard; there are no shareholders, an no one to benefit from our work other than our clients.
Credit Counseling: Springboard is an NFCC and AICCCA member credit counseling agency. We're COA Accredited and HUD certified.
Springboard is a member in Springboard complies with all local, federal, and state laws regarding our practices, and fully discloses all terms of our debt management plan to our clients. good standing of the Better Business Bureau of the Southland.

The National Consumer Council
The NCC was created by for-profit companies like The London Financial Group, Solidium, LLC, Financial Rescue Services, and others.Part of the complanit against the NCC is that they would refer business to their for-profit benefactors.
The NCC's primary service is debt settlements--they collect clinets payments for many months until they have accrued enough money to offer a settlement to the client's creditors. In the meantime, the client's credit has been devastated and they may have been sued or faced garnishments.
The NCC did offer some traditional credit counseling, but they collected the client's first payment as a fee (which is against the law in several states, including California) and only offered short "counseling" sessions.
The NCC and all of its for-profit benefactors have unsatisfactory business performance records with the Better Business Bureau.
The NCC was shut down in part for violating the national "do-not-call" registry, and has been accused of deceiving consumers and failing to disclose the many negative consequences of their debt settlement practices.