Credit Questions? Just Ask Nicole

OK, Enough of the Do-Not-Call Cell Phone Registry Rumor!

OK, people...

Please STOP circulating that bogus email around to everyone you know that talks about how cell phone numbers are going to be released to telemarketers, and how you have to add your cell phone number to the do-not-call list in order to keep telemarketers from calling you.

This is NOT true!

Most telemarketers use automated dialers these days, and luckily, there are already regulations in place that prevent telemarketers from using automated dialers to call you on your cell phone, unless you give consent for them to do so.

So, to address some of the untruths being spread in various versions of the email:

1. Cell phone numbers are NOT being released to telemarketers.
2. There is NO separate do-not-call registry for cell phones.
3. There is NO deadline by which you have to register your cell phone on the do-not-call registry.
4. You can add your cell phone number to the one-and-only do-not-call registry if you'd like to.
5. There is talks of the telecommunications industry creating a wireless 411 directory, however, if it ever comes to pass, your cell phone number would only be included if you choose to opt-in. Inclusion would NOT be automatic. Also, the directory would NOT be made available to telemarketers, so any calls from them on your cell phone at that time would still be illegal, regardless of whether your cell phone number is listed on the do-not-call registry or not.

So, can we please put this do-not-call registry for cell phones rumor to rest???

Thanks!

Do You Find Yourself Saying This?

If so, we need to talk!

Maybe I can help you find ways to make your money last the entire month and beyond.

New personal credit and business credit classes will be forming soon. If you haven't done so already, now is a good time to get on the wait-list.

Wanna Be My Friend?

I now have a MySpace page and I've just updated my profile.

Check it out, and maybe we can be "friends"... :)

www.myspace.com/justasknicole

Strange Phone Call Today - Lessons to be Learned

I just got off one of the strangest phone calls I've had in a while.

A local Michigan woman called me because she needs some help getting some things off of her credit reports that she says shouldn't be there.

Okay, that's cool, I'm used to that.

She told me she was referred to me by a loan officer in Florida, someone I have never heard of before.

Okay, that's cool too. I get referrals all the time from people I haven't heard of or had the pleasure of meeting.

So far, nothing strange really about it.

So then she goes on to tell me her story... I listen....

But she's talking so fast, and talking all over herself, and telling her story with so many inconsistencies that my head starts spinning!

It got to the point where I started to wonder if her problem was really with her credit, or with something else... like uppers or something!

It was SOOOO strange! I mean, I wish you could've been on the call with me to hear this lady. She was something special! No doubt she was having trouble putting the pieces of her story together.

Anyway, she starts going totally haywire after I try to pin down what exactly her credit problems are and what she was trying to accomplish, so I could see if I'd actually be able to help her.

After sorting through all the hodge-podge she told me, basically what I understood is that she wanted to buy a house in about 6 to 7 weeks, and had a boat-load of negative crap on her credit reports that she says should no longer be there, and she wanted the stuff removed like yesterday!

Oh, that's just great!

Well, I explained to her how we operate at Credit Hour - that we offer an educational course on credit. And with the class, if you need help improving your credit, including removing negative items from your credit reports that should not be there, we help you do just that with our NixFix credit restoration service. And we do it in a way that goes beyond just the standard run-of-the-mill credit report dispute process.

I also told her that our credit restoration process, and that of most legitimate companies, is not an overnight fix.

Removing negative items from credit reports that are outdated, erroneous, and unverifiable is a process.

And sometimes the process is rather lengthy. But it truly all depends on each person's individual situation.

Well, apparently she didn't like what I had to say, so she went further into a tizzy! She wanted an overnight fix - period!

So, I told her, I honestly could not help her with that, and I was not able to recommend to her anyone that could.

I informed her that the closest thing she could get to a legitimate, overnight fix was trying to use a process known in the mortgage industry as rapid re-scoring.

Basically, rapid re-scoring is a process used by mortgage companies to remove inaccuracies from credit reports rather quickly. Mortgage companies have agreements with the companies they get your credit reports from to offer this type of service to loan applicants who may need it to get their loan approved or to qualify for a better interest rate.

But rapid re-scoring is not to be used for credit repair purposes. The credit companies don't play that and they make that very clear!

You have to submit documentation to your mortgage rep (which has to meet very specific requirements) that substantiates why the negative items should not be on your credit reports. Your mortgage rep will forward the documentation on to the credit company, who will then verify the information. And if everything checks out, they'll make the corrections to your credit reports immediately so your mortgage rep can re-pull your credit reports and get your new credit scores, and hopefully get your loan closed.

Now here I am thinking I might have been giving this lady some good information that could actually help her and her situation. After all, she told me all about how she's spoken to sooooo many different people and has been told sooooo many different things, and how no one can seem to help her right now - today!

So I told her to gather any and all supporting documentation that she could and to contact her mortgage rep that she used to apply for her mortgage loan, and ask them if they could do a rapid re-score for her.

And do you know what she told me???

She doesn't have any supporting documentation for the negative items she wants removed from her credit reports because she shredded it all, and she's talked to soooo many people that she couldn't remember who her mortgage rep was!!!

Now you tell me... does that make sense to you?!?!?

Clearly, I was wasting my time.

Lesson here folks... 

1. Always, ALWAYS, check your credit well before you apply for a mortgage loan.
2. Get your financial ducks in a row before you plan to buy a house.
3. Don't try to use rapid re-scoring for credit repair purposes.
4. Get professional help with improving your credit if you need it.
5. Keep important financial documentation that could potentially come back to haunt you, like bankruptcy papers, legal documents, etc.
6. And most importantly, when you want to buy a house, and you've applied for a mortgage, remember who your mortgage rep is!

FHA Puts a STOP to Down Payment Assistance Programs!

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) just announced that they will no longer allow home buyers to receive a certain type of down payment assistance when purchasing a home.

Down payment assistance funds from private charitable companies, where the home seller has some part in the transaction, often referred to as "seller-financed" down payment assistance programs, will no longer be allowed on FHA-insured mortgages.

And this will go into effect at the end of this month.

What happens most often with these types of programs is this...

FHA mortgage loans allow home buyers to receive down payment assistance from non-profit, charitable organizations.

As a result, a slew of "charitable organizations" popped up all over the place to assist home buyers with down payment "gifts," but what they actually do is just funnel the down payment assistance money from the home seller to the home buyer.

The home seller gives money to the "charity," and that charity assists the home buyer with their down payment.

The seller pays the charity a "service fee," which is basically equal to the amount of the down payment that's going to be given to the buyer, plus a few extra bucks.

When it's all said and done, the seller usually gets the service fee back by selling the house for a slightly higher price, and the buyer ends up paying about 2-3% more for the house because they used this type of down payment help.

The FHA is putting a stop to this practice because there's been a high incidence of abuse with these types of programs.

But more importantly, reports show that those who receive down payment assistance in this fashion are twice as more likely to default on their mortgage loans than other FHA borrowers.

Those seeking an FHA mortgage will still be able to accept down payment assistance gifts from family, employers, government agencies, and true charitable organizations.

Pretty Cool... Free Directory Assistance Service Supports Breast Cancer.

1-800-FREE-411, the free directory assistance company, has a pretty cool promotion going on right now.

For the month of October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they're going to donate $1 for every call they receive from a NEW caller to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund (up to $25,000 total).

Save money by calling 1-800-FREE-411 from your cell phone for free directory assistance calls instead of paying outrageous rates to your cell phone company and support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the same time!

Click here to spread this message to your friends, family, co-workers and associates.