Credit Cards Tips for You

The only question here when looking at the Frugals, is who to turn to for help first? The Frugals are a group of super hero’s who fight crime against your wallet. The group is made up of five heroes who’s talents combine to provide the best personal finance team found on the web. You can stop patrolling the millions of personal finance blogs out there on the web for just one network that combines all of the best resources into one. The concept of a network of saving sites for the frugally minded consumer was originally invented by Luke Knowles (founder of freeshipping.org) who got the idea after watching a documentary on The Incredibles. Unable to achieve his goal alone Luke teamed up with his brother Jesse Knowles who is in charge of development of the websites as well as the Coupon Sherpa Iphone Application

One of the featured frugals is Coupon Sherpa the penny pinching, coupon clipping, deal digging, Himalyan haggling, he-man of bargains. Immediately you are greeted with the top coupons of the day that you can easily share with your friends via facebook, twitter, and more. The Read more…

If you dispute a credit tradeline and it’s noted on your credit report, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will make it more difficult for your mortgage to get approved, according to a report in the LA Times.

The pair, which own or guarantee a large chunk of mortgages these days, recently changed their automated underwriting guidelines to kick back any files that show signs of credit disputes.

While a credit dispute isn’t inherently a bad thing (it shouldn’t hurt your credit score), the mortgage financiers wants to make sure the dispute(s) is legit, as there are certainly companies and consumers out there gaming the system.

You know, those credit repair companies that claim to remove negative items from your credit report even if they are legitimate and accurate.

While it may seem like an unnecessary, untimely bureaucratic move, it’s a measure to reduce fraud, because mortgage delinquencies continue to rise at the pair of government sponsored entities.

They won’t decline your mortgage application outright, but they will force it into manual underwriting, which will slow the process and lead to a lot more scrutiny.

That means there’s a greater chance your home loan application will get pushed to the bottom of the pile, or possibly never get processed if business is flowing relatively smoothly otherwise for loan originators.

All that said, if you believe a creditor is reporting something in error, you should attempt to fix it; learn more about how to dispute an item on your credit report.

This week First National Bank of Omaha customers received a letter outlining changes that will go into effect on November 24, 2009.

In the letter, they explain that they are trying to operate the business efficiently by attempting to reduce rising credit and operating costs. This, according to FNB, allows them to offer “quality products at competitive terms.”

The next paragraph blames the bad news on the new federal regulations – which have “significantly increased” their costs.

Customers have until noon on November 24 to reject the changes. If they choose to do so, ability to use the account will terminate on the “good thru” date shown on their credit card. Then they will be allowed to pay their remaining balances under current terms and conditions.

What are the changes?

Cash advance fees will be higher. Balance transfer fees will be higher. And most significant to card holders carrying a balance, the annual percentage rate is changing.

Rather than a fixed rate, the rate will be variable. The new rate will be equal to the Index plus a margin of 26.74%. Read more…

Since so many of you come to Smart Balance Transfers to vent, I want to take the opportunity to do some of my own venting.  People began receiving rate increase notices this weekend.  By Monday morning, I’d heard from at least 30 people, and the number of comments continues to swell.  Increasing interest rates to 29.99% is absurd and this ought to be big news.  But its not.

So far, I’ve found little more than a Huffington Post blog article, which for some reason rejected my comment on the story, and a small blog posting on MSN.  Other than that, no major media outlet seems to be interested in the story.  Have we become so accustomed to malicious credit card practices that this massive rate increase is no longer newsworthy. 

So I tried to contact ABC news.  No luck.  Apparently, no one seems to care that the financial well-being of tens of thousands of Americans is in danger.

And that’s my vent.  I am very privileged to have the opportunity to facilitate the sharing of information on this matter via the Balance Transfers Blog, but I am also deeply, deeply disappointed in the major media players for turning a blind eye to an event that has far reaching implications for everyone who carries credit card debt.  Shame on them.

Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) by a vote of 39 to 29. This is the first step in creating a new regulatory agency that will protect consumers. The CFPA is an important piece of the Obama administration’s plan to tighten lending regulations and help prevent future financial failures.

The bill would give states more authority to regulate large national banks with their own stronger consumer protections on interest rates and fees associated with credit cards and mortgages. However, it would allow federal regulators to exempt banks from state laws on a case-by-case basis.

The CFPA would enforce provisions in the CARD Act that protect consumers from sudden rate increases on unpaid credit card balances. It would also create rules that would make credit card terms more transparent and easy to understand.

“Consumers feel they need some type of protection right now. This week, many Citi customers received a large rate increase to 29.99% for no apparent reason,” says Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook.

Read more…