Lifelock and Experian are locked in a Lawsuit.  Lifelock is an identity theft protection service that issues fraud alerts to the credit reporting bureaus in the event of suspicious activity. The credit bureau Experian is up in arms and is attempting to prevent the firm from serving customers and filing these fraud alerts.

This apparently is another attempt by the credit bureaus to inhibit any actual protections that might benefit consumers in order to maintain their profits and reduce costs by not being forced to police potential fraud.

Do you have an account with Macy’s that’s been inactive a few years?

Your personal information may be at risk though Citi says “no”.

Just be on the lookout for this new card.

It’s coming your way.

From CNN Money

Citi is issuing approximately 3.5 million credit cards to department store customers who did not request them, the banking company confirmed Friday.

Macy’s selected a portion of its card members who have had inactive accounts for more than two years to receive the new Citi MasterCards, according to Citi spokesman Samuel Wang.

According to news reports, consumer groups had raised concerns about the move, saying it could put customers’ personal information at risk either in the account-creation process or because the customers, not knowing they were being sent a new card, would not know if it had been stolen in transit.

One reason people wind up in credit trouble is because they are victimized by scams that take their money. Then they get dangerously behind on their legitimate bills.

This website offers simple quizzes to help you understand threats to your credit from scammers.

You can find the quizzes here at FakeChecks.org

Learn how to protect your credit rating and bank account from

*Work at home scams

*Foreign Business scams

*Lottery and sweepstakes scams

*Rental schemes

*Online “Love” swindlers

What’s disturbing is that you can watch online video of fraud victim interviews!

A great resource.

Angel Food Ministries is one of the best ways to help people help themselves. We’re glad to report that out of 237,000 pages or lenses on Squidoo, this one has climbed to number 200 today!

Please visit it today! Save money! Help others save money! At Angel Food Ministries

Usually if credit repair is an issue… budgeting and savings are an issue too.

Here’s a great non profit service that helps families (and individuals) save money every month on their grocery bill.

It’s Angel Food Ministries.  We use it to save money monthly and tell all our friends about it… so now we’re telling YOU!

The number of bank repossessions jumped to 42,789 in August, compared with 20,116 a year earlier, the RealtyTrac said. In July, there were 26,842 bank repossessions.

Nevada, California and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates in the country last month, the firm said.

Nevada reported one foreclosure filing for every 165 households - more than three times the national average. The state had 6,197 filings in August, an increase of 21 percent from July and more than triple the year-ago figure.

California’s foreclosure rate was one filing for every 224 households. The state reported the most foreclosure filings of any single state with 57,875, up 48 percent from July and an increase of more than 300 percent from August 2006.

Florida had one foreclosure filing for every 243 households. In all, the state reported 33,932 foreclosure filings, up 77 percent from July’s total and more than twice the year-ago total.

Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Indiana rounded out the 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates.

—

On the Net:

RealtyTrac Inc.: http://www.realtytrac.com

Though the article from the Northwest Montana “Daily Interlake” isn’t about reading credit scores, one of the people they interviewed told how they - as a conservative lender - used credit scores in the real life loan process:

Credit scores — based on a consumer’s loan repayments, credit card histories, bill histories, bankruptcy and other factors — range from 450 to 850. Those with 450 scores traditionally have been considered too risky for any loans, scores in the 500-600 range might have gotten high-interest loans, but reasonable-interest-rate loan money generally is reserved for those above 600 or 650.

How’s your credit score?

Lexington Law es la firma más grande y confiada en la reparación de reportes (informes) de crédito de América. Desde 1991, hemos representado más que 300,000 clientes para facilitar la reparación de sus informes de crédito. Creemos en nuestro trabajo, y nos
dedicamos al progreso de nuestros clientes. Se Habla Espanol

Depending on the amount of money involved, you could have a big tax liability and thanks to refinancing your mortgage.

Will you be affected by this unsuspected tax bite?

Keep reading to find out whether you might be affected.
From Business Week

In general, the IRS lets you deduct 100% of the interest you pay on one or more home mortgages, up to a total loan value of $1 million. But when you refinance and withdraw cash, the rules change: Only the interest on your original mortgage balance, plus an additional $100,000, qualifies for a deduction. (If you want to take out more cash, use a home-equity loan or line of credit. The law allows a separate deduction for interest on borrowings of up to $100,000.)

It’s easy to get this deduction wrong. Banks and mortgage companies send borrowers a Form 1098 early in the new year, which most use to prepare their taxes. This document shows total interest paid for the year, so many assume the number on the form is the one they should use in filing taxes. Schedule A, the tax form on which you enter home mortgage interest, makes no mention of limits on refi-related deductions, though the instruction booklet does.

Read it all…

Here’s a tongue in cheek look about the in’s and out’s of having and using a 0 APR Credit Card.

Do You Really Want A 0 APR Credit Card?

You’ll find it on Squidoo.

There ARE some legitimate uses.

But like free chips at a casino, they’re designed to get you paying for more than you bargained for!

Want to know more?