Is the government backing a new housing bubble? MSN Money The Obama administration's answer to this Catch 22 is this government-backed FHA mortgage program, a plan aimed at adding buyers to a seller-heavy market . But according to experts, giving under-qualified buyers loans at such low interest rates creates … and more

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You’ve no doubt heard the advice many times: “ Check your credit reports at least once a year to make sure they are accurate.” It’s good, solid advice worth heeding. But what happens when your credit information gets mixed up with someone else’s – and you can’t seem to separate it? Or worse yet, if you check your credit reports and find no problems, but still get turned down for credit due to negative information? The phenomenon is called “mixed files,” and it can be very difficult to straighten out. [Credit Score Tool: Get your free credit score and report card from Credit.com ] To learn more, I spoke with Jill Riepenhoff, a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch . Along with her colleague Mike Wagner, she recently conducted an in-depth investigation into credit report complaints . Following is an edited excerpt from my interview with Riepenhoff on Talk Credit Radio: Who’s Complaining? This project had really organic beginnings for us though. A colleague of ours in the newsroom has had a long-time problem since 1994 trying to correct her credit report. She has been mixed with somebody who has a similar name and it’s just year after year of frustration. When I heard this, I thought, “That is crazy. That doesn’t happen.” The first thing that I did was go to the Ohio Attorney General’s consumer website and I just put in the search terms of the big three credit reporting agencies . Immediately, I saw hundreds of complaints, and I thought there’s probably something here. So that was really how this began, it was just a personal story from someone in our newsroom, and wondering whether it was an isolated case. [Free Resource: Check your credit score and report card for free with Credit.com ] We sent public record requests to the Attorney General of all 50 states and then we also did a Freedom of Information Act request at the Federal Trade Commission which was the full regulator of the credit reporting agencies until last July when the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took over . From the AGs, we were able to get complaints from about half the states. The others either wanted to charge us too much money or they weren’t public records. A couple of states just completely ignored us. Ignored and Frustrated The number one theme that jumped out right off the bat was that these consumers, by the time that they were contacting the AG’s office or the FTC, their concern was long ignored by the credit reporting agencies . Whatever the issue was, they could not get it corrected nor could they get anyone on the telephone at the credit reporting agency to help them. I must say that these complaints (at least the ones from the FTC) were unverified. We don’t know what happened. We can’t say with 100% certainty that this was a legitimate complaint. But when you read the narratives of these, you just knew that there was something in there. Elderly people that were complaining because they didn’t know how to use a computer, they wanted to get their credit reports, they couldn’t get anybody on the phone to help them navigate the system. That’s a credible narrative in my mind. Mixed and Mismatched (To understand how this happens), I kind of picture it a little bit like a library. It’s not like there is a report that they picked out of the file cabinets that says “Jill Riepenhoff.” What they do, is when a creditor orders a report it kind of searches through all the library shelves and looks in all the books and finds all the ones that look like they belong to Jill Riepenhoff. [Free Resource: Check your credit score and report card for free with Credit.com ] Well when I order my credit report , they’re pulling the books, if you will, that have my exact name, my exact address, my exact Social Security number, my exact date of birth, and typically they ask something about my account information: what’s your mortgage payments or who’s your car loan with or something like that. So, when the computer goes to pull the books off the shelf, they’re only finding those accounts that exactly match the needed information. When creditors do that, they have much looser standards. They don’t have to ask for all that information, they can pull off the shelf based on a partial Social Security number or a partial name. So, like, we found situations where it was close enough. Myra could easily include information from somebody named Maria, for example. So the computers go in and pull all those books that look kind of close enough. Then, boom! You have a mixed report because you have Maria and Myra on the same report now. But that consumer won’t see that because it’s only going to pull the things that exactly match. Your Worst Nightmare One of the stories that we highlight in the series is the woman who went to buy a car in Colorado. And the week before she went to buy the car, she checked her credit report to make sure everything was in order. It was fine, she had a wonderful credit score. She even paid for the score to make sure that everything was above board. She goes into the dealership. She even goes on her lunch break, thinking this is going to take that little amount of time. The next thing she knows, she’s practically in custody in the car dealership because when the car dealership ran her credit report, the matching formula used said was on a terrorist watch list from the federal government. It took her about six years (to straighten it out) and she had to file a lawsuit in order to make the damage go away. On her own, she could not convince the credit reporting agency that she was not the international drug trafficker who the alert was up against. Learn More To listen to the full interview with Riepenhoff: Download the interview here ; play the interview online here ; or get the podcast on iTunes . Learn how to correct mistakes on your credit report here . Image: Omad , via Flickr

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Why Credit Report Mix-Ups Can Be So Hard to Untangle

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Are you one of the millions of consumers who opted to do a short sale on your home during the mortgage crisis?

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The rate at which consumers fell behind on their home loans declined considerably in the first quarter of the year, and now stand at levels not seen in years. The delinquency rate on home loans for properties of between one and four units fell to 7.4 percent of all outstanding loans in the first quarter of the year, down from 7.58 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, and 8.32 percent in the same period last year, according to the latest statistics from the Mortgage Bankers Association . While declines are traditionally viewed in the first quarter of every year, the MBA’s data shows that the drops this year were more significant than traditional adjustments would have predicted, showing that the declines are real, rather than the result of seasonal norms. [Credit Score Tool: Get your free credit score and report card from Credit.com ] “Newer delinquencies, loans one payment past due as of March 31, are down to the lowest level since the middle of 2007, indicating fewer new problems we will need to deal with in the future,” said Michael Fratantoni, the MBA’s vice president of research and economics. “The percentage of loans three payments or more past due, the loans that represent the backlog of problems that still need to be handled, is down to the lowest level since the end of 2008. Foreclosure starts are at their lowest level since the end of 2007.” Delinquency fell for all types of mortgages except VA loans on a quarter-over-quarter basis, the report said. Prime fixed rate loan delinquency now stands at 4.07 percent, and late payments for prime adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 9.05 percent, down from 9.22 percent in the fourth quarter. Further, loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration also saw drops in delinquency, falling to 12 percent from 12.36 percent a quarter earlier. The rate of homes that were in foreclosure increased on a quarterly basis, however, rising to 4.39 percent. [Featured Products: Research and Compare Mortgage Rates at Credit.com ] As the economy continues to generally improve, consumers are finding themselves in a better position to pay off all their outstanding debts on time. Factors such as declining unemployment rates and rising salaries have contributed to Americans feeling better about their personal financial situations. Experts believe that these trends will likely continue for some time, meaning that the housing industry may continue to improve, encouraging more qualified buyers to enter the market.

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Big Drop in Mortgage Delinquencies

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N.J. foreclosure inventory spikes; 2nd most in nation Asbury Park Press Jeffrey Otteau, an appraiser and New Jersey real estate market analyst from East Brunswick, said the problem for the Garden State is only going to get worse. A 2010 court-ordered moratorium on foreclosure filings — issued because banks and mortgage … and more

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N.J. foreclosure inventory growing MyCentralJersey.com In Michigan, for example, only 3 percent of all home loans are in foreclosure, and in California, that rate is down to 3.29 percent. Both states had been among the leaders during the housing bust. Jeffrey Otteau, an appraiser and New Jersey real estate … and more

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Continuing declines in the housing market in some parts of the country have left many homes still “underwater” across America. While these homes may not be physically floating in water, their owners no doubt feel like they are drowning in debt. One reader writes: My first mortgage is paid.

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Consumers are now handling their credit card accounts more responsibly after going half a year with more troubling statistics coming out about their spending and repayment habits. Instances of consumer credit card delinquency — defined as accounts that have gone 90 days or more without a payment — declined between the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first of 2012, according to the latest consumer credit statistics from

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To err is human and to forgive is divine, but some consumers find it harder to be godly when it comes to their money. The Temkin Group, a business that consults on and researches customer experiences, has done a new survey of 10,000 consumers to determine which businesses customers are most and least likely to forgive. The 2012 Temkin Forgiveness Ratings shows a mixed bag for banks and credit unions . [Free Resource: Check your credit score and report card for free before applying for a credit card ] While USAA, a bank that works with military members and their families, took the top spot as the business that participants would be most likely to forgive, other financial services companies didn’t fare as well. In fact, when looking at industry averages across the study, credit card companies had the lowest forgiveness rating out of 18 industries while grocery chains and retailers had the highest. However, consumers as a whole are more forgiving than they were last year, when Temkin conducted the Forgiveness Ratings for the first time. Banks, investment firms and credit card issuers all saw a double-digit jump in their industry forgiveness rating from 2011 to 2012. [Credit Cards: Research and compare credit cards at Credit.com ] So what has caused this increase in consumer kindness? The Temkin Group didn’t offer much in the way of analysis of these numbers, but it could be that time heals all wounds and the more distance consumers get from the Great Recession , the more forgiving they will become of the financial institutions that were blamed for the meltdown . Image: Swanksalot , via Flickr

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Credit Unions Are Easily Forgiven – Banks Not So Much

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These days, there are significant consumer protections in place for Americans, but at least one segment of the population might have a little trouble as a result of the increased safeguards against predatory or misleading lending practices. One of the provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act required lenders to consider individuals’ income when they apply for a credit card so as to ensure they can afford their payments, but this has been problematic for many stay-at-home parents, according to a report from CNNMoney . Stay-at-home parents who rely on their partner’s income to cover their expenses might have need of a credit card in their own name, but will be denied unless they can prove to lenders that they have their own source of income. [Free Resource: Check your credit score and report card for free before applying for a credit card ] Experts have noted that one way around this problem is for stay-at-home parents to open a card with their partner’s name on it as well, but this can be concerning for a different reason. For instance, if the couple were to separate or divorce, having both partners being co-signers on the same account can create friction and even financial problems, regardless of the intentions with which they entered into the agreement. Further, for those who stay at home to raise their kids, not having a credit card in their own name can be problematic because it might adversely affect their credit standing . As a result of these problems, there has been some amount of pushback from stay-at-home parents, who are now campaigning and petitioning federal agencies to change the rules so that those who do not have their own income might, under special circumstances, be able to get credit cards in their own name, the report said. Already, the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which oversees the lending industry and is in charge of enforcing the Credit CARD Act, says it is examining the way the current rules affect stay-at-home parents. “We recognize that stay-at-home spouses have significant financial responsibilities and play an important role in the U.S. economy,” CFPB spokeswoman Jen Howard told the news agency. [Credit Cards: Research and compare credit cards at Credit.com ] Overall, these federal protections have been a boon to consumers, but the CFPB has proposed a number of changes and new rules that will better serve Americans in how they deal with their finances going forward. Image: Leonid Mamchenkov , via Flickr

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Stay-at-Home Parents Fight Back Against CARD Act Rules

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