Ways to IMPROVE your Credit Score!

I just read this article this morning and found it to be very pertinent for the current times. Every homeowner I talk to is always wondering what will happen to their credit in doing a short sale... the hard part with credit scores is that there is no black and white answers. It's quite a gray subject matter actually. However, there are concrete ways in which you can IMPROVE it!! So regardless of what happens during this season of foreclosures and credit crunch, it's always best to be as proactive as possible on the things that you CAN control. So maybe you cannot control what's happens to your score if you're behind on payments BUT you can control how fast you get that score back up!
I'm all about being as proactive as possible so hopefully this will be beneficial for you to read. PLUS, if you want more information in ways you can increase your credit score and debt to income ratio, I'd also suggest getting in touch with Terry Greene, The Credit Coach of All Credit Coaches.

ENJOY...

"Here are a few suggestions on how to increase your credit score:

• Establishing good credit takes time, so start early - professionals say about 18 months. One of the easiest ways to begin building credit is to responsibly manage a credit card

• Paying your bills on time and in full (if possible) - having late or missing payments can drastically reduce your credit score. If you can’t make the full payment on a credit card, at least make the minimum payment

• Only use what you need - as tempting as a “pre-approved” credit card may seem, if you don’t need it then don’t bother, especially if you are unsure of the ability to pay off debts - not to mention the fact that opening up many accounts in a short period of time can negatively affect your credit

• Keep your balances down - try not to go over the limit on your credit card - the higher your balance on your accounts, the harder it will be to pay off and can more negatively affect your credit score

What is a credit score?

From Wikipedia

A credit score is a numerical expression based on a statistical analysis of a person’s credit files, to represent the credit worthiness of that person. A credit score is primarily based on credit report information, typically sourced from credit bureaus.

Lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, use credit scores to evaluate the potential risk posted by lending money to consumers and to mitigate losses due to bad debt. Lenders use credit scores to determine who qualifies for a loan, at what interest rates, and what credit limits. The use of credit or identity scoring prior to authorizing access to granting credit is an implementation of a trusted system.

Credit scoring is not limited to banks. Other organizations, such as mobile companies, insurance companies, employers, landlords, and government departments employ the same techniques. Credit scoring also has a lot of overlap with data mining, which uses many similar techniques."

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The Truth about Loan Modifications...

I had received this article earlier this week and I found it very interesting. It confirms many of the things homeowner's have told me when they start working with us when they too have tried to approach their lender... "they won't work with me", "they keep me on hold", "they say I should fall behind on payments", "they say they won't work with me even after saying they could a couple months ago..." These are all things we hear on a daily basis. Sad but true!

I had to get it posted because I found it to be pertinent information! Read the article below for more information:

On Hold: Even Congresswoman Gets the Runaround on Bank Help Lines

Rep. Maxine Waters Dials and Redials Attempting to Get Help for Constituents

In a revealing example of what she says the average homeowner faces, a California Congresswoman spent more than two hours on the phone trying, without success, to find someone at the Bank of America who could help a struggling constituent modify his mortgage payments. ABC News "Nightline" cameras were rolling as Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) was repeatedly put on hold for long stretches, disconnected, transferred to extensions that did not work and ultimately switched to a recording which directed her to the bank's website.

"The average American trying to negotiate a loan modification will not be able to get it done," said Waters. "It will be impossible for them to get in touch with the right person, and even if they get in touch with a so-called counselor, they have a cookie cutter kind of direction that they go in."

While the federal government and banks say they're trying to help homeowners avoid foreclosure through various help lines and more, an ABC News investigation has found that the process of reaching out for help can be disorganized and frustrating, hardly consumer friendly, even when a prominent member of Congress is on the line.

To prove her point, Waters agreed to let "Nightline" listen in on her attempts to contact her constituents' lenders on behalf of homeowners with nowhere else to turn.

"Most of the day was spent trying to trace down the right person or the right department to deal with the loan modification," said Waters. "It was awful."

The Beards of Los Angeles are a retired couple who are not even behind on their mortgage payments, but they, like many others, are struggling to keep up. When Waters offered to call Bank of America on their behalf, it turned into a two hour ordeal.

Waters was met first with a recording that many callers have heard before, "all representatives are currently assisting other customers, please hold and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received."

Congresswoman Continues to Hold...

Waters was on hold for ten minutes before an operator finally came to the line. Because the Beards were not behind on payments, just looking for a modification, Waters thought the call would be easy. But it wasn't.

First she was transferred to another department, then put on hold for three more minutes, and then she was disconnected, all while Mr. Beard was listening in.

"That's what I usually get when I call them," he said. "They say they're going to transfer me and when they transfer me, the line goes dead."

Undeterred, Waters called Bank of America again. This time the extension the bank had given her did not work.

So, for a third time, 49 minutes after she first dialed the bank, the congresswoman called the 800 number once again and was greeted with more recordings, more music.

"This is absolutely horrible," she said while holding the line.

On her fourth try, Waters was directed to yet another department, and then transferred to hardship assistance. But when she explained the Beards' situation to the agent in that department, she was told that because they hadn't yet missed a payment, she needed to call the refinancing department.

"Oh my goodness," Waters remarked. "Well, what they [the recording] just said is go to your computer and fill out info to see if you qualify. They don't check to see if you have a computer and they don't come back on line."

The Bank of America says it does a good job and is almost always quick to respond to calls.

"On average one to two minutes," said Steve Bailey, who heads the loan division of Bank of America. "In terms of once you are waiting for a cue from an agent, it takes one to two minutes to get through to somebody. Certainly if we are urgently wanting to speak to people we don't want them to wait 20, 30 minutes on hold just to talk to us."

Bank of America Apologizes

Bailey offered an apology to Waters and the Beards for the process they went through saying that's absolutely not the way Bank of America wants things to go.

But the congresswoman believes her experience was typical.

"Anybody witnessing what I was going through could see that I got pretty aggravated, and that I got upset about the basic inconvenience of the so-called system that they have, the lack of responsiveness, the inability to get anything done," said Waters.

Carol and Dave Harper of Los Angeles are behind on their mortgage payments and face possible foreclosure. Mr. Harper is recently disabled. Since last summer the Harpers have been trying without success to get IndyMac bank to modify their mortgage so they can make their monthly payments.

"We worked hard for this," Mrs. Harper told ABC News." He worked until he couldn't work any longer. I can't do it any more. I don't know what I'm going to do if these people take my home. I have nothing else."

Mrs. Harper says her calls to Indymac and multiple visits to bank counselors have resulted in nothing more than a six-month runaround.

"When Waters attempted to reach Indymac on behalf of the Harpers it took her four minutes to get through all the recorded messages, prompts, and music to finally speak to a real person. Though once Waters identified herself she was quickly transferred to the public relations department. Despite her VIP-treatment, however, the Harpers still have not been able to get the bank to help them.

IndyMac told ABC News that the Harpers' case is too complex to handle through the call center and that the bank is now trying to help them.

Waters says her experience is further evidence that the lenders have created, but are not helping to solve the mortgage crisis.

"I think what we have discovered speaks for itself. They're not trying to help people do loan modifications," she said. "They put these products out on the street. They had brokers and salespersons out there signing people up because they really didn't have to keep them. They had investors and they securitized and packaged these things and sent them up to Wall Street.

Ideal Homes on the other hand is appraoching these lenders VERY proactively! Though we aren't facilitating loan modifications for homeowners, we are able to step in a facilitate the short sale!

All I ask is that you don't become one of the many statistics of people who are falling into the category of failed loan modifications... we can help! Call us TODAY for more information!!

www.SolvedQuick.com

Sharing Our Story with Castle Rock, Colorado

We were recently interviewed on the Castle Rock Radio Show, The Big Fat Radio Show, on ways in which we are helping homeowners all over the state of Colorado avoid foreclosure. We are doing this by negotiating short sales. The premise of this interview seemed pretty self-explanatory but I think the guys over at the station were pleasantly surprised by what we are doing!! "You guys over at Ideal Homes are really doing a good thing for these people... that's so good to see with all the negative influences that are running around," said one gentleman.

It was quite the experience to be a guest speaker on such a radio station, and we are hoping that it will add to the awareness that we are bringing forth in our market. We are reaching out a helpful hand, assisting one Colorado family at a time and positioning them to move on with their life, realigning their financial future to benefit them instead of take from them.

If you're in a mortgage that you cannot keep up with, if your lender will not work with you, if you owe more on you home then what it could be sold for in today's market, if you've lost your job, if you're facing a divorce, or just need another option, then you've got to get in touch with us!!

CALL US TODAY at 720-457-2000 or check us out online at www.SolvedQuick.com to read about the countless families we have helped!

Your Neighbor's Foreclosure is Affecting YOU!

I was astonished to read this article from the New York Times after Ann Albergotti from Platinum Marketing (our PR go-to-gal) sent it my way! But at the same time, I was so relieved to see someone shine a light on the seriousness of foreclosures and how it affects everyone!
I am a strong believer that if we all do our part and take moments out of our day to help someone in need, that we will all come out on top! If each of us took an opportunity to talk with just 5 people within our neighborhoods, within our work, church, or even at our weekly events, to share with them the functions of a short sale and the ways it can truly help an individual and/or their family in need, I think we would see our economy as a whole rebound in an insurmountable way!

So my challenge to you is this.... talk with 5 people, only 5, and tell them about the detriment of foreclosure, the affects it can have on hundreds of people, and the way in which all of that can be avoided.
Short sales are our bread and butter and we are confident that that we can see so many people pull out of this on top if they will only step out and get in touch with us. We want to help, we want to make a difference, we want to change the future of as many lives as possible, and if that's done through a short sale, then so be it!

Beware of Neighbor’s Home Foreclosure
By BOB TEDESCHI, The New York Times

WHEN it comes to selling your house or planning your next home equity line of credit, being a nosey neighbor could very well pay off.
That’s one implication of a recent report from the Center for Responsible Lending, a consumer advocacy group based in Durham, N.C.
The report, which was released in May, focuses on the ripple effects of home foreclosures, and suggests that homeowners who are concerned about their home’s value should watch for signs of trouble among their closest neighbors.
This year alone, it says, foreclosures will cause an estimated 69.5 million nearby homes to suffer price declines averaging $7,200 per home. The loss in property value could total $500 billion.
The resulting loss in financial flexibility is significant. “Homeowners who had counted on using their home equity to finance their retirement, cover tuition costs, start a small business, or pay medical bills in many cases no longer have this option,” the report said.
Ellen Schloemer, the executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, said that over the next four years, foreclosures would affect an estimated 91.5 million neighboring homes.
“As the foreclosure crisis continues to worsen, the contagion is spreading,” Ms. Schloemer said. “You can’t just say those foreclosures are hurting someone else.”
The rate of home foreclosures has rise sharply since 2007, when the first subprime adjustable-rate mortgages began resetting to higher rates. But even borrowers with good credit have defaulted on their loans as the economy has faltered.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry trade group, about 1.4 percent of all first mortgages entered foreclosure in the first quarter of this year, a 20 percent jump from the fourth quarter of 2008, and a record high.
The center’s report relied on forecasts from Credit Suisse, which said late last year that about nine million homes would probably go into foreclosure in 2009 to 2012. The center also used late 2008 data from the Mortgage Bankers Association to estimate this year’s foreclosure figures (about 2.4 million homes).
Two earlier reports released by the Center for Responsible Lending examined the spillover effects of the mortgage crisis. But this year it relied on new research about how a foreclosure affects neighborhood home values — specifically, a 2008 study that includes researchers at Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored agency, and the University of Connecticut.
This study found that homeowners who lived within 300 feet of a foreclosed residential property experienced a drop of 1.3 percent in home value; those living 300 to 500 feet of the foreclosed home typically see a drop in value of 0.6 percent.
John P. Harding, a professor at the University of Connecticut’s Center for Real Estate and Urban Economic Studies, and an author of the study, said the properties that are most affected by a foreclosure are the ones close enough to see the peeling paint, broken windows and overgrown lawns that often accompany such situations.
The worst time for immediate neighbors to sell their homes, refinance or cash out some of their home equity, Mr. Harding said, is just before the bank takes title to the property, because that is the point of greatest neglect.
After that point, Mr. Harding said, many lenders will at least maintain the property’s appearance well enough to attract prospective buyers.
OF course, the best time to try to sell a home or convert equity into cash is when neighbors are on sound financial footing, though it may not be easy to determine.
Job loss is the biggest cause of mortgage default, according to industry experts, so if a neighbor becomes unemployed, you should probably start your own clock ticking.
For those living outside the immediate vicinity of the foreclosure, but still in the neighborhood, Mr. Harding said home values typically bottom out around the time when the bank actually sells the home.
“My advice would be to try to ride that out, not panic, and know that this is the peak effect from lower-priced competition,” he said.
Mr. Harding said that banks, municipalities and the federal government are justified in financing foreclosure-avoidance programs, but not if they help homeowners just barely afford to stay in their homes. In such situations, neighboring homes could still see values drop.
“You want to offer help at a level at which people can still do critical maintenance to the property,” he said.

CALL US TODAY!!!!
Ideal Homes
303-337-4245