In November 2011 I discussed CoreLogic’s new consumer report, the CoreScore Credit Report.  CoreLogic made this report available to lenders on December 7, 2011.  CoreLogic is another consumer credit reporting agency. They collect credit reports from the three major credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – clean up the reports, merge them and sell them to the mortgage industry.  Now they have added proprietary and other data to the reports.

CoreLogic Credit Report

Approximately 100 million U.S. consumers will have a credit report at CoreLogic compared to 200 million at the three major credit bureaus. The CoreLogic credit report combines the traditional credit report data from the three major credit reporting agencies, along with CoreLogic’s proprietary data which includes: Read the rest of this entry… »

In early December 2011, TransUnion, one of the three U.S. credit reporting agencies, released its annual forecast on consumer credit for 2012.  Its forecasts are based on economic assumptions, such as gross state product, consumer sentiment, unemployment rates and real estate values.

Mortgage delinquencies are expected to rise and then decrease by the end of 2012; credit card delinquencies are expected to continue to decline.

Mortgage delinquencies

TransUnion predicts that mortgage loan delinquency rates (ratio of borrowers 60 days or more past due) will decline to 5.95 percent at the end of 2011 and decrease to 5 percent by the end of 2012.  Mortgages have declined from fourth quarter 2009 to second quarter 2011 and are expected to rise through first quarter 2012 and decline the remaining three quarters of 2011. Mortgage delinquencies declined by 7 percent in 2011 and are projected to decline by the same amount in 2010, while the year-to-year increases from 2006 to 2009 were 50 percent. Read the rest of this entry… »

TransUnion, one of the three major credit bureaus, released their latest quarterly Auto Insurance Risk Index (IRI).  This Index is a barometer for the auto insurance industry and is related to expected insurance loss from auto claims. TransUnion’s Auto Insurance Risk Index decreased for the past four quarters and increased .03 percent in third quarter 2011 to an Index of 98.85, compared to an index of 98.82 in second quarter 2011.  It was .31 percent lower than a year earlier with an index of 99.46.   At the peak of the recession (second quarter 2009), the index was 99.58. Read the rest of this entry… »

From my “when it gets dark outside, the rats will come out and play” collection…

Several government agencies have formed a task force to stop scams on homeowners applying for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  The agencies include the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Their goal is to shutdown fraudulent illegal operations.  Home Affordable Modification Program is funded by Troubled Asset Relief Program to prevent foreclosure and is administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury. They investigate companies that charge fees and falsely promise to lower homeowners’ mortgage payments through the Home Affordable Modification Program. Read the rest of this entry… »

The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been in the news quite a lot lately.  It was created to police financial products marketed to consumers. It has written a credit card agreement that is simplified and written in plain English. It is designed to be understood by a seventh grader, compared to present agreements that are at an eleventh grade level.  The purpose is to make the credit card agreements easier to understand minus the legalese and clarify credit card costs, risks and terms.

New Agreement

The average credit card agreement contains 5,000 words compared to this new agreement which is approximately 1,000 words and two pages long. It is broken down in three sections – costs, changes, and additional information.  There will be an online glossary to explain terms such as billing disputes, privacy, rights, interest rate calculations and the consequences of late payments. Read the rest of this entry… »

CredAbility, one of the largest nonprofit credit counseling and education agencies in the U.S., issues a quarterly index called CredAbility Consumer Distress Index.  This index tracks five categories to determine the financial condition of the average U.S. household – employment, housing, credit, how families manage household budgets, and net worth. Proprietary data collected from more than 630,000 individuals that CredAbility serves annually is also used to determine this Index. The index looks at each category nationally and by state.  The latest index is from third quarter 2011.

The Consumer Distress Index for U.S. households in third quarter 2011 was 66.7, which was a decrease for 69.2 in second quarter 2011. This was the largest drop since third quarter 2008 and the first time the index didn’t increase in the past six quarters. U.S consumers have been in financial distress for 12 consecutive quarters. The Consumer Distress Index is based on a scale of 1 to 100, with a score below 70 indicates financial distress.  Overall the housing and budget categories were below 70, indicating financial distress.  The credit category is not in financial distress and the Consumer Distress Index increased to 84.95, which is the highest in 15 years. Read the rest of this entry… »

I have discussed strategic defaulters in previous blogs.  To refresh your memory, strategic defaulters stay current with their debts but default on their mortgage because they have negative equity or are “upside down.”  They can afford to pay their mortgage, but choose not to do so.

FICO study

FICO conducted research on strategic defaulters compared to those that go delinquent (90 days or more late).  They identified the following characteristics:

Strategic defaulters have a higher FICO score and have had good payment history.

They haven’t used much of their credit limit on their credit cards, so their utilization is low. Read the rest of this entry… »

On January 15, 2012, the online shoe seller, Zappos.com, announced that a hacker may have accessed personal information on up to 24 million customers.  Access was gained through its internal network server in Kentucky.  The personal information possibly includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, encrypted passwords, and the last four digits of credit cards.

Only responsible for $50 of fraudulent purchases on credit cards

Since the complete credit card number was not in the server, they cannot use your credit card for other purchases.  Even if they did, you are only responsible for the first $50 that is fraudulently charged on your card, when it is due to identity theft. The card issuer usually waives this fee.  We can thank the Fair Credit Billing Act for that one. Read the rest of this entry… »

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released the results of their annual identity theft survey – Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).  They surveyed approximately 46,000 heads of households nationwide, asking about their households’ experience with identity theft. Identity theft has increased substantially between 2010 and 2005.

Number impacted

Approximately 8.6 million U.S. households had some type of identity theft in 2010 compared to 6.4 million households in 2005, which was a 34 percent increase.  According to the Department of Justice, “identity theft is the unauthorized use or attempted use of an existing credit card or another type of existing account, the unauthorized use of personal information to open a new account or for another fraudulent purpose, or a combination of these.” Read the rest of this entry… »

I have discussed payday lenders in previous blogs and how much of a rip-off they are. Did you know that some banks and credit unions offer short-term loans to compete with payday loans?   These loans have many different names such as short-term, emergency, direct deposit advance and account advance loans.  They are usually for a short period of time and let you borrow up to $500.

Banks and credit unions don’t usually lend money to customers for emergency purposes.  Now there are more consumers without credit cards or savings accounts, who don’t have the funds to pay for an emergency. Banks and credit unions are offering these loans more than in the past. Read the rest of this entry… »