All Forum Posts by: Shanti S.

Does the rise in prices in the PM market signal another crash? I think no, it seems to me that gold and silver prices are lagging behind the news - they shoot up after there is a drop or perceived instability in the 'regular' markets.

Do I think we'll have another dip? I think certainly we should, given our policies and refusal to confront and realistically address our fiscal problems and irresponsibilities. But I could also see enough people being convinced that things are actually getting better to have a real effect in the economy and that things will get better before they get worse again.

For now I'm holding off on buying any significant (for me) amounts of PM's because I think it likely they'll dip back down again.

I plan to put most of my eggs in one basket - real estate investments - because I feel I've got enough education in that area and there's enough opportunity that I'll do better here than other investments. I'm diversifying only for emergencies since my primary focus is to grow rather than to keep what I already have. Just me, YMMV! I'd have a different strategy if I was rich. Hm, was that punny?

Well, if they aren't going to do a new credit pull to set up the secured card / LOC, and it's going to be another positive report on your record, maybe that would help. Not sure if it will hurt from the perspective of lowering the average age of your credit lines, however.

Frustrating. Since the rules and algorithms are not publicly available knowledge, unfortunately we are all just making educated guesses.

Take a look at this collection of advice about utilization ratio for instance: http://www.creditscoring.com/creditscore/fico/factors/creditutilizationratioadvice.html

I've heard several times that <30% utilization is highly recommended and that 7-10% was ideal. Perhaps this could depend on the credit line, I'm not sure - obviously it's not much to work with on a $5k limit vs. a $50k limit.

Josh can you explain how having a low balance indicates that you can't handle your credit?

What's your utilization rate? I went from a 773 FICO to a 700 in a couple of months just from financing a recent rehab on my various credit lines. No late pays, no other changes other than using the credit that was extended to me :-) Rehab is sold, all lines are paid off, waiting for it to come back up. Hopefully it rebounds as quickly as it was shot down.

I would be very suprised if secure cards help your credit MORE than unsecured. If you heard something like this, it may be because usually the only people that would get a secured card would have very bad or no credit, so any positive reporting at all might help them quite a bit, vs someone with good credit trying to get to great, where the gains are harder to come by.

Ideally, you want to have a blend of revolving and installment credit lines, never be late on a payment, have the average age of your credit lines be over 10 years old, rarely apply for any new credit, have good income compared to your debt, use your credit regularly, and use no more than 7-10% of any one credit line.

Realistically, this is all very tough to do, but that's how you get to 800+ FICO

(edit) how the heck did a triple post happen? I didn't use my back button or anything....but my whole screen went white for a while...mods can you delete those?

Is this credit place charging you any fees for their service? I would verify that they are a legal operation because it does not sound like they are doing anything to help and may well be doing you harm.

This type of arrangement is usually to take your payments, negotiate with your creditors for a settlement amount which is lower than the actual balance, and only pay them when they agree to the settlement.

Even then it will hurt your credit and you will be liable for taxes on the difference between the original balance (growing due to late fees etc) and the final settlement amount, the IRS will see it as "income".

It is almost always better to stay in civil communication with your creditors and work out a payment plan with them, keeping detailed records of all communications. You may be able to get out with a clean credit record this way.

If you find that this "service" is not legitimate, you may find that you can report them and also restart a conversation with your creditors, explaining that you were sold a service that was misrepresented and you would like to work something out that is mutually beneficial....

I should have been more clear - I didn't mean a transfer from the HML into his name, I meant a refi from the HML into a Conventional mortgage and closing with the bank. Still don't know why anyone would do this if the bank could do the whole thing for them with one closing and one loan.

You could purchase and rehab with the hard $ lender, then refi into your own name in a conventional loan with a bank, then transfer the property to an LLC.

You don't want to get stuck if the bank gives you trouble processing the refi, however!

If you want to actually end up owning this property, I'd suggest a mortgage with holdbacks or a "refi" loan from the bank in the first place. The rates will be much lower and you'll have the proper commitments going into the deal.

Expect that the bank will want a detailed rehab estimate and plan from a licensed contractor that you will be using. Then as the work is completed they will release payments to your contractor.

Josh hope you got my submission early this AM, after I submitted it seemed to dead end with no way to proceed further. I just closed my browser, didn't want to go back & forth and submit a bunch of times accidentally.

Agreed, Rich, I hope you take the time to do some instruction!

"Around the country, about 49,000 children benefit from the after-school meals each day. The program is expected to cost a total of $8 million from 2009 to 2013, the USDA said."

In light of the amounts of $ thrown around at the banks and car companies and federal programs like birth control for white tailed deer and the like, it's hard to argue against nutritious meals for kids at $2 million a year.

For healthy adults, I don't believe in giveaways, period - I think a lot more has to be done to get to a system where those receiving aid are actually working on getting to the point where they are fully productive members of society - but kids are a different story. If they don't have love, some stability and support, healthcare, proper nutrition, education; chances are slimmer and slimmer they'll get out of the rut their parents might be in.