A lot of questions have been circulating through the industry around the proposed changes to Credit Score Models that were announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in October 2022. In March, Fannie Mae created a “Partner Playbook” that covers a lot of detail regarding the upcoming changes. The Playbook was just revised in … Read more
In this sometimes frustrating and crazy world of credit, we are always asking what we can do to help our credit score. There are a lot of actions that people take thinking it will help their credit score, when, in fact those actions can have just the opposite effect. Let’s look at a few things … Read more
Starting this month consumers with student loans can start applying for the Student Loan Forgiveness Program. This program is for federally held student loans only and does not include private student loans. Individuals who make less than $125,000 and married couples making under $250,000 are eligible for up to $10,000 in forgiveness. If the individual … Read more
One of the more frustrating aspects regarding credit reports is finding what one believes to be duplicate accounts. If the same account is reporting to all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, Trans Union) more than once then that can mean the credit scores are taking a double hit. If the account in question is derogatory in … Read more
A “Rescore” is updating information on a credit report at the bureau level in an expedited manner. It is not credit repair, and it is not something the borrower can do on their own. The changes made through a rescore would eventually organically update at the bureau level but that can take 30+ days or … Read more
With the stimulus checks that have circulated in the last few years and people staying home more because of the Pandemic, credit card debt shrunk drastically. People were able to pay balances down and even save some money. Unfortunately, it seems that with inflation at the level it is, credit card debt is now at … Read more
Inaccuracies on credit reports are an ongoing problem and a source of great frustration for consumers. Many of the inaccuracies are accounts those consumers believe belong to another person, or that they may have been a victim of identity theft. A lot of consumers feel they don’t have the time or fortitude to address the … Read more
Under the CARES ACT thousands of consumers took advantage of the mortgage loan forbearance option. During that time no late payments were supposed to be reported to the credit bureaus, as no payments were being made during that time. Unfortunately, this was not always the case. The largest number of late payments that seem to … Read more
At some point in everyone’s life they will be in debt. That debt may be because of a mortgage, auto loan, student loans, or revolving balances. For most of these there is an end in sight as they begin with a specified amount of time to repay the debt. The exception is revolving balances. If … Read more
Payment history is one of the most important categories of your credit report. It makes up 35% of your credit score. With busy lives and so much to keep up with it is, at times, possible for a payment to be missed. For things that do not report on your credit file, i.e., utilities, rent, … Read more