Personal Financial Services Guide

The cost of credit in rural areas is rising as lenders become more cautious in extending loans to farmers, according to Leland Strom, the chief executive officer the U.S. Farm Credit Administration. Nonperforming loans grew by almost $500 million to $3 billion in the first quarter, indicating a need to lend more conservatively, Strom said today at a congressional hearing in Washington. Still, the U.S. Farm Credit System remains well- capitalized, with a 7.9 percent increase in net income to $2.9 billion last year, Strom said. The lending environment “will be more challenging than the system has faced in many years,” Strom said. The FCA is an independent agency that regulates the banks and other entities of the Farm Credit System, the largest agricultural lender in the U.S. Agricultural producers have so far fared better than other parts of the U.S. economy during the global financial crunch, which has cost banks and businesses worldwide more than $1.47 trillion in writedowns and credit losses. Debt loads for agricultural producers are the lowest in at least 50 years, according to government data. Low leverage levels have helped farmers withstand declines in wheat, corn and soybean prices, according to Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. The commodities were all down at least 23 percent from last year’s records, as of yesterday. Today’s hearing was held by the House Agriculture subcommittee overseeing farm lending. Also scheduled to testify was Michael Gerber, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. Farmer Mac, as the government-sponsored company is known, helps U.S. farmers obtain long-term financing.

Collection accounts can really do a lot of damage to your Equifax credit score. It is believed that when a collection is initially recorded on your file it can remove as many as 70 points from your current score at the time. Equifax and the other bureaus don\\\’t disclose the exact formula used to add and subtract from your scores but this estimate is fairly accurate after studying a report with a recent collection being added to it.ewg

In most cases these negative accounts are added only after you having missed a few payments with the original creditor. For example, you might have a credit card account with a creditor that is a few payments behind. The creditor will usually attempt to collect on the account for up to 5 months after the first payment is missed.

After that time frame they would \\\”write the account off\\\” and it would appear on your account as a \\\”charge off\\\”. This would end all collection attempts on their end and they would be able to receive the tax benefit for taking a loss on the credit card account BUT this does not stop them from selling or assigning the account to a third party collector.

The third party collector would then begin their own collection efforts on the account and it would be listed on your Equifax report as a collection account. A lot of consumers have also seen collection accounts appear that they were totally not aware of, which are usually errors on the part of Equifax.

It could have been due to issues where consumers had similar names or social security numbers.

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Having a good credit score (also known as a FICO score) during an economic downturn gives a person a huge advantage over someone with a poor FICO score. Typically, when the economy turns sour, there are bargains to be had, particularly in the real estate market , that are only available to people with large amounts of cash on hand (not likely), or people with good credit who can borrow and make bargain basement real estate investments. Applying for loans and other unsecured lines of credit credit just makes life a lot easier for you in a bad economy. So what can you do right now to improve your FICO score?

Here\\\’s what the experts have to say on the topic…

1. Check your credit report for errors

Believe it or not, the 3 major FICO reporting agencies do make mistakes. In fact, finding some sort of mistake on your report is almost the norm rather than the exception. If you find what you feel is an error on your report, bring it to the attention of the reporting agencies. They have a legal obligation to investigate and correct any errors within 30 days of you bringing it to their attention.

2. Pay off credit card balances every month

If you are able, you should always try to pay off your credit card balances in full every month. Paying just the minimum balance is how the card company makes its money. And with some cards charging from 15% to 20% interest on unpaid balances, your card company is making a bundle off of your outstanding balance. Paying off card balances in full also shows both a willingness and an ability to pay, which enhances your FICO score.

3. Don\\\’t carry more than 1/3 of your credit limit as an outstanding balance

If you can\\\’t pay off your credit card balances in full each month, try not to let your outstanding balance ever exceed more than 1/3 of your total limit. Carrying more than 1/3 of your available line for more than a couple months is a red flag that will hurt your FICO score.

4. Get rid of all but 2 credit cards

Having too many credit cards does not look good to the reporting agencies and they will lower your score because of it. If you have 5 or more credit cards, but only use 2, your FICO score will take a hit. With the nearly universal acceptance of both Mastercard and Visa, these are really the only 2 cards you need to carry.

5. Don\\\’t miss or be late on payments

Paying late or missing a payment altogether can do significant damage to your FICO score. For example, making a late mortgage payment or missing a mortgage payment altogether is the single worst thing you can do to damage your FICO score. It is a huge \\\”red flag\\\” to the reporting agencies simply because they know that having a roof over one\\\’s head is pretty much considered a necessity and an individual who cannot pay for that \\\”roof\\\” must be in a very poor financial situation.

There is no reason you should be embarrassed about having a low credit score and wanting to learn how to repair it. Click one of the links below to get the information you need to learn the tips and tricks credit repair experts use everyday to improve the credit scores of their clients.. .

In order to acquire the most precise details of your credit report standing, it is highly suggested for you to get your reports from all the three agencies. It is not enough for you to get only your Experian credit report, since it may not provide you with the entire picture as far as where your credit score stands. Keep in mind, your Experian credit report only covers one third of your entire report.

The Three Agencies

There may be a few items on your Experian credit report, but you will want to call the other two agencies and get your reports from them to notice exactly who you owe and how much. Bear in mind that you\\\’re permitted to a free report each year from each of the three reporting agencies.

How It Works

When opening a line of credit (no matter if it deals with a credit card or at a department store), getting a house or a car, or just obtaining a loan from a bank, the lender will report to one of the three agencies. Some companies only report to Experian while another may only report to Equifax. Now, some may report to more than one company and some companies may report to all three. Some people obtain their Experian report and think everything\\\’s fine until they find that their Trans Union or Equifax report shows thousands of dollars owed to a creditor that they don\\\’t even know about.

In short, getting report from all the three agencies will of course be the only way for you to truly notice what your real credit score is.

Don\\\’t make yourself in doubt, see more on an experian credit report.

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