Don’t Risk Your Credit Score In Retirement – WBRC FOX6 News – Birmingham, AL

Cancelling infrequently used credit cards may seem like a good strategy, but your credit score may be adversely affected. Adam Carroll, Founder and Chief Education Officer of National Financial Educators, explains: “When you have a long-standing trade line, which is what a credit card is considered on your credit report, and you cancel that card for whatever reason, your score will actually go down as a result because one of the main impacts on your credit score is the length of credit history.” A shorter credit history translates to higher risk in the eyes of lenders.

Sean McQuay, Credit and Banking Expert at NerdWallet, agrees but includes another reason to keep older cards, noting that closing a card account results in “decreasing your overall credit line, which basically signals that a bank trusts you less.”

In addition to decreasing your overall credit line, closing an infrequently used account raises your credit utilization your total credit in use compared to your cumulative credit line. High credit utilization suggests a greater chance of falling behind on payments and/or defaulting on debts.

To avoid these pitfalls, make periodic small purchases on all your open credit cards to keep them active and pay the balances in full at the end of each billing period. By keeping credit spending low, you can still address debts while getting the full benefits of your credit account.

It’s okay to concentrate most of your credit spending in one account to maximize rewards. Just use alternate accounts often enough to keep them from being closed for lack of activity.

Source: Don’t Risk Your Credit Score In Retirement – WBRC FOX6 News – Birmingham, AL

Timeline: Bankruptcy to Mortgage Chart

Experiencing a severe credit event such as foreclosure, short-sale, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or bankruptcy does not mean you will never be eligible to get a home loan. This chart provides the time-out periods required by event. The assumptions are that you have established acceptable credit scores and meet underwriting guidelines. In certain circumstances, one may qualify for a mortgage upon discharge of a Chapter 7 or during a Chapter 13.

Financially Speaking™ James Spray RMLO, CNE, FICO Pro | CO LMO 100008715 | NMLS 257365 | Originally published in 2010 and updated regularly | September 19, 2017 Contact me to obtain a pdf copy of this chart.

Notice: The information on this blog is opinion and information. While I have made every effort to link accurate and complete information, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Please seek legal assistance to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct for your situation. This information is not legal advice and is for guidance only. You may reproduce this information in whole and not in part, providing you give full attribution to James Spray.

143,000,000 American ID’s at Risk – 2nd UPDATE 09/11/2017

Credit Bureau Breached – 143,000,000 American ID’s at Risk – Use The Below Link

Equifax, one of the major credit reporting agencies in the United States discovered their security systems have been breached.

Social Security, Driver License, Dates of Birth, Addresses and other personal information has been stolen.

This effects about half the population of the USA.

See if your personal information is potentially impacted. Schedule now to see if your ID has been compromised. There is no cost to you. Register now, there is a lag time. Many others are also registering.

https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com

Although it is a huge pain in the posterior (both to implement and to deal with when you apply for credit) I am now placing a freeze on my credit, too, with each of the four credit bureaus.

Equifax Freeze Link

TransUnion Credit Freeze

Experian Credit Freeze

Innovis

The downside is having to remove the freeze whenever you wish to apply for new credit, obtain insurance or in some cases get a new job. Another downside is having to pay to release the freeze for a specific purpose or to have it removed. And there are the new PIN numbers to keep safe. Aaarg.

It is actually rather easy to set up a freeze on your credit files with the three bureaus. I don’t think this can be said for the “free” credit report/free credit score sites. Frankly, I don’t think you can do anything to protect your information once it is provided to the “free” service provider.

Frankly, if Equifax cannot keep my information secure, I am not about to provide my personal information to sites that offer free credit and free scores. I have never forgotten what Robert Heinlein wrote in 1966: TANSTAFFL.

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UPDATE September 11, 2017

The following information was provided to me this morning by EQUIFAX pursuant to my registration to determine whether my ID had been compromised.

Cybersecurity Incident & Important Consumer Information

• Consumer Notice
• FAQs
• Potential Impact
• Enroll
• TrustedID Premier
• Contact Us

A Progress Update for Consumers

September 11, 2017

We are committed to keeping consumers updated on the steps we are taking to provide them with the support they need and address any issues they are facing in response to this incident. We recognize that some consumers continue to face challenges and in response we have made the following updates:

1) Adjusted our PIN Generation for Security Freezes
We understand and appreciate that consumers have questions about how a PIN is currently generated for a consumer initiating an Equifax security freeze solution. All consumers placing a security freeze will be provided a randomly generated PIN.

2) Call Center Support
When we recognized that Hurricane Irma could impact some of our call center wait times, we arranged to ramp up agents quickly to replace agents impacted by the storm and updated our website to make consumers aware of the situation.

3) Clarification Regarding Automatic Sign-Up to TrustedID Premier
We are not requesting consumers’ credit card information when they sign up for the free credit file monitoring and identity theft protection we are offering to all U.S. consumers. Consumers who sign up for TrustedID Premier will not be automatically enrolled or charged after the conclusion of the complimentary year of TrustedID Premier.

4) Obvious Link from Equifax.com
To make it easier for consumers to find the website dedicated to providing information about this incident, we have reconfigured our website, www.equifax.com, to feature the link more prominently.

5) Adjusted the TrustedID Premier and Clarified Equifax.com
We’ve added an FAQ to our website to confirm that enrolling in the free credit file monitoring and identity theft protection that we are offering as part of this cybersecurity incident does not waive any rights to take legal action. We removed that language from the Terms of Use on the website, http://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com. The Terms of Use on www.equifax.com do not apply to the TrustedID Premier product being offered to consumers as a result of the cybersecurity incident.

We are listening to issues consumers have experienced and their suggestions. These are helping to further inform our actions, and we are now sharing regular updates on this website. Thank you for your continued patience and feedback as we continue to improve this process.

Following are the snips I gathered while enrolling in the EQUIFAX Trusted ID this AM.

My ID has been impacted

For better or worse, this is what it is.

UPDATE: Here is an article from Mawlwarebytes, published on September 14, 2017, which offers additional insights into identity protection. Equifax aftermath: How to protect against identity theft 

Image attribution(top)

Financially Speaking™ James Spray RMLO, CNE, FICO Pro | CO LMO 100008715 | NMLS 257365 | September 8, 2017

Notice: The information on this blog is opinion and information. When a business is named, it is not due to commercial purposes as I do not accept or solicit compensation from any individual or entity which may be mentioned. While I have made every effort to link accurate and complete information, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Please seek legal assistance to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct. This information is not legal advice and is for guidance only. You may use this information in whole and not in part providing you give full attribution to James Spray.

 

National Elder Abuse Resources and Colorado Financial Elder Abuse Mandatory Reporting Law

Elderly folks tend to be more trusting and less informed of the latest scams, making them the perfect target. To learn more about elder abuse, on the national level, two great resources are the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the National Center on Elder Abuse.

In Colorado, there is the Colorado Coalition for Elder Rights and Abuse Prevention.

As well, Colorado has a mandatory reporting law (including financial abuse) for certain categories of professionals and other workers.

Sadly, it is all too common where a family member is committing financial abuse of a parent, grandparent or other senior family member.

While it is encouraged that reporters of elder financial abuse contact local law enforcement, we’ve learned many local law enforcement agencies are unaware of the Colorado financial elder abuse law and are not trained on how to deal with it.

To report elder abuse in Colorado, the first option is to contact the Adult Protective Services (APS) intake office within the county department of human services were the at-risk adult lives. Click anywhere in this sentence for a current list of phone numbers to report elder abuse.

If reporting to the county APS office is not a viable option, contact the District Attorney’s office for the county in which the at-risk adult lives.

Image attribution

Financially Speaking™ James Spray RMLO, CNE, FICO Pro | CO LMO 100008715 | NMLS 257365 |August 26, 2017

Notice: The information on this blog is opinion and information. While I have made every effort to link accurate and complete information, I cannot guarantee it is correct. Please seek legal assistance to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct. This information is not legal advice and is for guidance only. You may use this information in whole and not in part providing you give full attribution to James Spray.

Obsessives Have Cracked the Perfect FICO Credit Score of 850 – Bloomberg

Kudos to Suzanne Woolley for authoring an article which accurately portrays how one can improve their credit.

Source: Obsessives Have Cracked the Perfect FICO Credit Score of 850 – Bloomberg

Do you prefer a ReLOC or HELOC? – Tools for Retirement Planning

Tom Davidson has written and illustrated another great article which I know you will enjoy reading. Here are the first few paragraphs which lead into the link to his wonderful presentation:

“HELOCs (Home Equity Lines of Credit) are widely used. Simply having one makes many people more comfortable. My wife and I had a standby HELOC for many years – ready to use as a convenience or in an emergency. Luckily that emergency never happened, but we felt well prepared knowing we had ready access to a substantial amount of cash that could be used for anything we needed. When I was a financial advisor, a HELOC was on my checklist to discuss with every client – at least those who were prudent with their money.

ReLOC: A Retirees Line of Credit

Is there a better alternative for homeowners over age 62?  A ReLOC may be a far better choice for many retirees. ReLOC is a nickname that stands for either Retirees Line of Credit or Reverse Mortgage Line of Credit. While ReLOCs share many features with HELOCs, three unique features make a ReLOC a line of credit designed for retirees:

1. The amount you can access grows every month
2. You don’t have to make payments until you permanently leave your home
3. The loan can’t be canceled, reduced, or frozen as long as you keep up with basic mortgage obligations (property tax, homeowner’s insurance, basic maintenance, and Homeowner’s Association dues).

Here’s the borrowing limits for a ReLOC and a HELOC for a 63-year-old in a $400,000 house who lives to age 99:”

Source: Do you prefer a ReLOC or HELOC? – Tools for Retirement Planning

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion launched a new website, per NY Atty Gen Agreement

News Release

JUNE 09, 2016

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion today launched a new website, http://NationalConsumerAssistancePlan.com, to inform and update consumers about implementation of the National Consumer Assistance Plan, an initiative launched by the three companies in March, 2015 to enhance their ability to make credit reports more accurate and make it easier for consumers to correct any errors on their credit reports.

“Providing both consumers and businesses with accurate, transparent credit reports is our first priority,” said Stuart Pratt, President and CEO of the Consumer Data Industry Association, the trade association representing the consumer data industry, including the three national credit reporting agencies. “The nationwide consumer credit reporting companies are making important changes to their procedures that will improve their ability to collect accurate information, and we want to make sure consumers know about the new options available to them.”

The National Consumer Assistance Plan is being implemented over three years, and the new website will serve as a vehicle for updating consumers about changes to their ability to interact with the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.

Changes included in the National Consumer Assistance Plan include:

• Consumer experience:
  • Consumers visiting www.annualcreditreport.com, the website that allows consumers to obtain a free credit report once a year will see expanded educational material.
  • Consumers who obtain their free annual credit report and dispute information resulting in modification of the disputed item will be able to obtain another free annual report without waiting a year.
  • Consumers who dispute items on their credit reports will receive additional information from the credit reporting agencies along with the results of their dispute, including a description of what they can do if they are not satisfied with the outcome of their dispute.
  • The credit reporting agencies (CRAs) are focusing on an enhanced dispute resolution process for victims of identity theft and fraud, as well as those who may have credit information belonging to another consumer on their file, commonly called a “mixed file.”

• Data accuracy and quality:
  • Medical debts won’t be reported until after a 180-day “waiting period” to allow insurance payments to be applied. The CRAs will also remove from credit reports previously reported medical collections that have been or are being paid by insurance.
  • Consistent standards will be reinforced by the credit bureaus to lenders and others that submit data for inclusion in a credit report (data furnishers).
  • Data furnishers will be prohibited from reporting authorized users without a date of birth and the CRAs will reject data that does not comply with this requirement.
  • The CRAs will eliminate the reporting of debts that did not arise from a contract or agreement by the consumer to pay, such as traffic tickets or fines.
  • A multi-company working group of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies has been formed to regularly review and help ensure consistency and uniformity in the data submitted by data furnishers for inclusion in a consumer’s credit report.

The National Consumer Assistance Plan builds on other steps the credit bureaus have made in recent years to improve consumer’s ability to resolve issues related to credit reports. In 2013, the companies launched a process under which consumers can upload documents digitally to dispute how their lenders have reported their accounts to the credit bureaus.

The plan was launched after cooperative discussions and an agreement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and a group of other State Attorneys General.

Source: News Release