Refinancing

Buying a Home Without a FICO Score

posted: 66 DAYS 13 HOURS AGO

Nearly every personal finance guru in America will tell you that it's important to build and maintain a high FICO score -- and that good credit is a sign of financial prudence and responsibility. Lenders will reward you for that responsibility with a lower interest rate loan.

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The Smart Way to Lend Money to Family and Friends? Don't Do It!

posted: 73 DAYS 12 HOURS AGO

filed under: Recession, Refinancing, Savings Account

Linda Stern of Money has a list of tips on how to lend money to family while avoiding all the headaches that come with it. The ideas are good if you're committed to lending money to relatives (or friends), but I have a better tip: Never lend money to family or friends. Really. It's just not a good idea.

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Get Out of Debt the Casey Serin Way

posted: 85 DAYS 10 HOURS AGO

Casey Serin, an infamous online entrepreneur we previously profiled at Walletpop, has come a long way on the dark road of how to get out of debt -- and he still owes $190,000. That's the amount left over after his crazy year of failing to "flip" houses in Sacramento, succumbing to foreclosures and divorce.

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A Newsman and His Housing Crisis

posted: 184 DAYS 12 HOURS AGO

filed under: Banking, Credit, Credit Cards, Debt, Fraud, Loans, Mortgages, Recession, Refinancing, Retirement

Edmund Andrews wasn't just reporting on the unfolding subprime-mortgage crisis -- he was also living it. The New York Times's economics writer and the author of the forthcoming Busted: Life Inside the Great Mortgage Meltdown talks to us about how and why he got tripped up by a deal that was too good to be true.

"I have no one to blame but myself for my woes," Andrews tells us. "But it is too easy to snarl in contempt at homeowners who got in over their heads in the housing bubble. I've seen too many people who really were duped by the system, and I've learned too much about how corrupt the system itself had become."

Read on for more of our exclusive interview.

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'Times Magazine' on Credit, Foreclosure

posted: 195 DAYS 8 HOURS AGO

filed under: Banking, Checking Account, Credit, Credit Cards, Credit Reports, Credit Score, Debt, Fraud, Mortgages, Recession, Refinancing

On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine will publish its Money Issue, featuring at least two stories virtually guaranteed to spoil your brunch: reporter Edmund L. Andrews's personal tale of his own harrowing misadventures in the subprime-mortgage crisis, and Charles Duhigg's study of what the credit-card companies are doing to track your every move (and figure out whether you've been naughty or nice). Read on.

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Refinance, If You Can

posted: 198 DAYS 7 HOURS AGO

filed under: Banking, Credit, Credit Reports, Credit Score, Debt, Loans, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Recession, Refinancing

The good news: mortgage rates are going to stay for a while near 5%, the lowest they've been in our lifetimes. The bad news: Unlike a couple of years ago, merely having a pulse is no longer enough to get a mortgage refinanced. Demand is high, standards are tougher, and approvals are relatively scarce. Read on to learn what you should know before you refinance.

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Countrywide By Any Other Name Is Still...

posted: 211 DAYS 8 HOURS AGO

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The ailing Countrywide, rescued by Bank of America, is now to be known as Bank of America Home Loans. But is that really any better in terms of branding, as BofA doesn't have the best reputation now either. What would you call it?

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Option ARM Loans Turn into Nightmares

posted: 217 DAYS 11 HOURS AGO

filed under: Banking, Credit, Debt, Mortgages, Recession, Refinancing

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Flexible loans for small business owners once allowed them to expand their businesses by borrowing against their homes. But with the real-estate market plummeting nationwide, these option adjustable-rate mortgages have become frightening -- they now threaten the owners with bankruptcy and foreclosure simultaneously. Read on for more about option ARMs.

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Credit Markets Improve -- But Don't Cheer

posted: 233 DAYS 8 HOURS AGO

filed under: Banking, Credit, Loans, Mortgages, Personal Loans, Recession, Refinancing, Student Loans

While you might find it easier to get a mortgage or a big loan this spring than six months ago, the loosening of the credit markets has economists feeling more spooked than celebratory. Any brief leap is better than a brief tumble, but the bounce doesn't counter our exploding unemployment or heal our banks. As last week's stock-market rally starts to feel very ... last week, it's worth noting that a phenomenon like the credit-markets bounce is familiar enough to have its own macabre nickname, a nickname not beloved by cat-fanciers. Read on to find out more.

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