I hate to say  ”I told you so…” but I have been warning my readers for awhile.

Well…last week the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) testified before the House Committee on Financial Services to address several policy changes to improve the financial performance of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

In case you didn’t know, thanks to the mortgage meltdown over the last two years, FHA is the best way…and in some cases…the only way to get a mortgage after bankruptcy.

What does this mean to you?

It looks like the FHA is planning to hold lenders liable for loan losses.

Translation…It will cost you more money to close a mortgage.

In addition, FHA also plans to tighten its underwriting standards. These changes will include…

1. Raising minimum FICO scores for new FHA borrowers
2. Increasing the borrower’s up-front cash requirement
3. Increasing mortgage insurance premiums

Translation number two…If you’re in the market to finance a home, do it sooner rather than later.

Usually when FHA proposes changes, it’s another way of saying that they’re coming soon—real soon!

Probably by the end of  January, 2010

There is a way to get “grandfathered” in…if you submit your credit application to an FHA lender and get approved. Once you do that, you’re in (using the current guidelines).

Welcome to the new credit economy,

To review the HUD secretary’s entire testimony, go here.

Until next time,

Continuing on with our series of common credit repair myths:

Myth #2 – I Can Easily Fix My Own Credit

The is the biggest myth about credit repair. Credit bureaus want you to believe this because they know you cannot achieve the same results alone as you can with professional ore experienced  guidance. This benefits them, but can only hurt you. They will even give you forms and web pages to use, but rest assured, these are deliberately designed to be ineffective, because they don’t want you to repair your credit.

Disputing the credit report is easy. Getting results (and actually repairing bad credit) can be difficult, complex, and infuriating. The truth is, you CAN attempt credit repair without experienced help. You can also perform surgery on yourself, although it probably wouldn’t be wise. It’s also not wise to attempt to correct your own credit report without the proper information and guidance.

Why go it alone, when for less than a hundred bucks you can benefit from the best credit repair program in the country? Go to www.CrushingTheCreditBureaus.com to learn more, including FREE tips on how to repair credit report fast and improve your credit scores!

Mark

It seems every day that the question about credit repair and the myths surrounding it comes up in conversations I have with friends, family and colleauges.

I have decided to answer the 10 most popular myths here on this blog.

Myth #1 – Credit Repair Isn’t Legal

Not only is credit repair  legal, you are guaranteed these rights by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. The credit bureaus try their best to undermine the process, but it was their misdeeds that caused the law to be passed in the first place. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is your defense against them.

The Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. If you call the FTC today to report a complaint about the credit bureaus, their phone mail system will ask you to press one if your complaint is about the credit bureaus, and press another number if your complaint is about anything else. Clearly, this situation evolved out of deep consumer frustration with the uncooperative nature of the credit repair process.

Not surprisingly, the credit bureaus have declared war against companies that help people repair their credit. The bureaus criticize these companies in the media and send anti-credit repair literature to anyone who they suspect is getting help.

Remember, the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating your challenge consumes these profits. The credit bureaus do everything in their power to discourage consumers from making progress with their credit repair and improve credit score , so you need to do whatever you can to protect your interests.

Until Next Time

Mark