Refinance With Bad Credit

Housing Troubles: What do you do when there are no options By Ilyce R. Glink Summary: Home values continue to decline and home owners are losing income. These factors affect home owners' ability to sell homes and make mortgage payments. Some home owners may be considering giving their homes to the bank through foreclosure and moving on. Those who can afford to keep their homes have negative equity -- they may owe more than the current home value. The credit crisis continues to impact home values, mortgages and the housing market as a whole. A new survey from First American CoreLogic, a real estate data company, has concluded that nearly a quarter of all homes with mortgages are worth less than what is owed on the loans. According to the data, which were first reported in the New York Times, nearly 10 million homeowners are either at negative equity or zero equity. The four states with the highest number of homes that are underwater: California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. None of...

Help To Find Mortgage Lender For Refinance REM #A833 By Ilyce R. Glink Summary: It may sound great when you hear you're pre-approved to refinance your mortgage loan. But how can you figure out whether the mortgage lender who wants to refinance your loan is credible, especially after the mortgage crisis? You can call the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and check out what other mortgage lenders such as credit unions, large national banks and mortgage brokers offer. You can also use an online search engine to check for news on the mortgage lender or broker you're considering. Q: My husband and I are in the process of talking to a company about refinancing our home so we can consolidate some bills and make some home improvements. The company has indicated that we would be approved for the loan based on the preliminary information we've provided about our income and credit score. But they informed us we have to pay the company $375 upfront for an appraiser who they select. Also, we...

Identity Theft WGN-TV Show Notes – March 16, 2004 Last year, about 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft. That works out to about 1 in every 30 people. Identity theft cost $5 billion in out of pocket expenses and it cost companies $50 billion to fix. WGN Money-Saving Expert Ilyce Glink is here with some gadgets that can help safeguard your identity. 500,000 laptops are stolen each year. This optical mouse uses integrated biometric fingertip identification. The cost is $99. Mobile Proximity Alarm. Put one in your pocket and attach the other to a PDA, cell phone, laptop , or wallet. The device sounds an alarm if more than 15 feet separate the two. $29.99 Fellowes Shredder (SMALL) Shreds 15 sheets at a time, plus CDs, staples, credit cards, and paperclips. It has a 7-gallon tub. $179 Fellowes (LARGE) C-14 is designed for small office use. It shreds 15 sheets at a time and will run for 25 minutes without needing a break. It shreds CDs, paperclips, credit cards, and staples. I...

Credit Freeze Articles by Ilyce WGN-TV Show Notes – July 28, 2005 Summary: A security freeze, also known as a credit freeze, bars a credit reporting bureau from changing any of the information in an identity theft victim's credit report without permission. It's new and it may be key to stopping identity theft in its tracks. Nearly 40 million Americans have had their personal information compromised or stolen since the beginning of the year. The worst thing about having your identity stolen is feeling victimized. "You've been invaded. Someone has been able to get your information and begins to use it," says John Gaudette, Illinois State Public Interest Research Group. While you can put a fraud alert on your credit report if your identity has been stolen, fraud alerts won't stop identity theft. "They're a way of allowing you passively to know who is accessing your account. But people can still get your credit report and do things to damage your credit,...

Keeping Up With Your Credit REM # C671 By Ilyce R. Glink Summary: The difference between the Generation X and Generation Y is simply this: Today’s teenagers and toddlers will never have a time when their credit scores aren’t the most important number of their financial lives. Ilyce explains how to teach kids that every financial transaction they make, whether it is a purchase, opening up a credit card, or making monthly payments on a home loan, is mathematically weighted and then crunched together to form a three-digit number. With the remnants of Hurricane Wilma swirling around outside, I was inside one of the ballrooms of the Sheraton hotel in Dover, Delaware, talking about money and credit to more than 225 high school kids and their instructors. The program was run by the Delaware State Treasurer’s office and the Delaware Money School. While these Delaware teenagers knew plenty about spending money, and even some tips about saving it, when it came time to discuss credit histories an...

Refinancing With Poor Credit Score REM # A633 By Ilyce R. Glink Summary: A homeowner is looking to refinance even though their credit score is in the 500s. Ilyce cautions the homeowners to get a legitimate lender and credit counselor. Q: I need an answer fast, as we are in the process of refinancing. We have about $55,000 in credit card debt, $45,000 in equity line and our house mortgage is $159,000. Our credit is pretty bad, so a year ago we went to a credit counselor to help us manage our debt better. We have been paying the credit counselors for a year, but our credit is still in the 500s. Even so, we found a lender that has offered to refinance us and give us cash back so we can pay everything off. Should we refinance? We will save money because we will get a 2-year adjustable rate mortgage at 8.1 percent (the high rate is because our credit is so bad). But if we continue to pay the credit counselor, we will pay off all our debts, except the house, in four years. A: My question to ...