topic Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules in Credit CARD Act and New FHA Rules Download

myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

Barry — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:47:00 GMT

Are you aware of the changes that came about on February 22, 2010 as a result of the Credit CARD Act of 2009?

Have you heard that FHA will be tightening up on lending requirements over the next few months?

Download the Credit CARD Act and new FHA rules PDF (below) to learn about these upcoming changes that are sure to affect all credit card holders and many future mortgage applicants. And let us know what you think!

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

Uborrow-Upay — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:50:44 GMT

Thank you, Barry!

This is a very handy guide to the upcoming changes. Beats the heck out of reading through a lot of legalese!

I've got a question on one portion of the new law, though. With the payment date having to stay the same day each month, wouldn't that mean that the banks would likely change the statement date every month, to avoid giving up even 1 cent in potential interest income?

If true, that makes it a little tougher for those of us who don't like balances reporting...especially if the lender doesn't disclose the statement date in advance.

Any insights on this?

Thanks.

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

MarineVietVet — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:01:38 GMT

Thanks for posting this. I just saved it to my hard drive.

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

BungalowMo — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:59:23 GMT

Thanks Barry!! I'm certainly liking the sound of this...especially the cc rules. I know the banks aren't too happy, but I guess with certain customers, as always, they can close your acct at their disgression...as well as balance chase. They'll still do what they can get away with!

For now, I'm happy with the cards & such that I have. Not one had RJ'd, BC'd or AA'd me at all. In fact, nearly all cave me a CLI & kept me at approx 10% apr. In these times...I cannot complain!

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

Eurosooner7 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:34:03 GMT

HUGE step for consumers. Glad to hear this.

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

yayo76 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:40:29 GMT

Will this new rule also apply to Bank Visa Debit Cards? If anyone knows please let me know. Thanks! :smileyhappy:

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

Zijuzijazijana — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:53:21 GMT

Thank You Barry !

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

dtoll2002 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:01:19 GMT

I have 4 Credit cards. 3 paid off in full. All 4 sent me letters informing me that my interest on the cards was going up to 29.9%. Haven't been late in over 3-4 years and always pay above my minumum. I feel like I just got jacked!

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

BBYGRL — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:41:02 GMT

Thank you for posting this Barry! This is very helpful... I will be sure to pass along the link.

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

WD — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:50:55 GMT

Great post / info! Thanks.

It's at least a start in the right direction.

Side note... I didn't think you could get an FHA loan now unless you had a score of 620. I plan on applying for a FHA mortgage soon and the info I've seen pointed to 620 being the minimum (FYI, my score is higher).

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

OscarJ — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:04:28 GMT

Thank you Barry!

Question: Does this new credit card law applies for transactions made in 2009? For example if I was late for 30 days or less in 2009 and the credit card company raised my interest rate, should they now bring my interest down as I was paying on time for more than 6 months after that late payment?

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

urgent_help_needed — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:21:14 GMT

Oscar, good question, I'm guessing the answer is no though

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

urgent_help_needed — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:58:01 GMT

I read the .pdf, thanks for that. I'm still a bit confused on what the approval process will be for new credit cards starting on feb. 22. Will banks be required to request financial documentation such as paystubs and/or tax returns from you in order to approve a new card, or will that be optional?

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

europa — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:47:15 GMT

Thanks Barry, very informative. It explains why one of my credit cards (Chase Visa) increase their APR rate to 29.9% as of February. Probably before the credit card reform went into effect and to make up for there lost in overdraft fees . I personally transfer that credit card to a debt consolidation program and what disgusted me the most was that Chase agree to lower the interest rate to 2% with the consolidation program. However, I rather my credit score take a hit then give Chase all my money! I have to say, I've learned a whole lot about credit cards the pass couple of years and made a promise to myself to keep only one credit card and only use it for emergency purpose only!!

Thanks Europa :o)

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

norge100 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:28:59 GMT

Won't these new credit rules eventually result in lower scores for many? If banks jack up the rates and/or impose annual fees, many of us would close those accounts (either right away or after paying off the balance). And then we would lose credit history on those cards, which would affect our score, right? I wish they would require the CRA's to keep credit history of closed accounts to avoid this.

Am I seeing this right?

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:27:11 GMT

Hi, welcome to the forums!

The CRA's do continue to report closed accounts for 10 years, except for Equifax which tends to lose them early. Check out fused's "Closing credit cards" in my siggy below.

Also, if you haven't already, please read Understanding Your FICO ® Score and Credit Scoring 101 (at least the first post.)

These will give you the background knowledge you need to understand what you read here on the forums.

eta: also, unless there is an annual fee that you don't want to pay, there's no reason to close an account just because the APR is insane. If you don't carry balances, 29.99% of $0.00 is $0.00. ;) I've closed a few accounts because I was irritated with the lender (and Chase is circling the drain), but not without first calculating the effect on my util, history, and so forth.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-21-2010 09:27 AM

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

norge100 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:51:11 GMT

Thanks much for the reply, welcome and links to more education. There's always something to learn!

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

sugasears220 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:45:21 GMT

In regards to the FHA portion of the pdf.

Will this apply to borrowers who are currently under contract but don't close until after the rule goes into effect (will it grandfather?)? Or will only apply to those who sign a contract after the rule goes into effect?

I'm currently under contract, but don't plan to close until after May 1st.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Message Edited by sugasears220 on 02-24-2010 10:45 AM

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

rainydayva — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:49:51 GMT

Yes. This is a big win for consumers. The credit card companies are upset but they got so greedy that they killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. Now they must get their profits the old fashioned way - they must earn them. A friend of mine paid a credit card off a few years ago. An annual fee was of $25 was charged to his account. He got the bill but didn't open it immediately because he knew there was no balance on the account. By the time he got around to opening the mail it was too late for him to mail the payment on time. He called the credit card company and they refused to work with him. They reported his payment as late and it showed up on his credit report. Fortunately, when he bought his house the lender could see what happened and gave a good interest rate, but who knows how many hundreds or thousands it may have cost him in higher credit card interest on his other cards.

Re: myFICO Insider's Guide to 2010 credit card reform and new FHA mortgage rules

pjtrader — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:10:56 GMT

Thank you Barry,

One question of clearification;

Does the new rule “the interest rate must stay at the opening rate for at least 12 months” apply to introductory offers?

thanks for you help,