Bad Credit Advisor

Credit repair after foreclosure - time is the only help

2008-07-08T18:39:26Z

Q: I was foreclosed on my rental property 3 months ago and now can't refinance my own home. My credit is very bad with scores of 412, 458 and 467. I also had few other missed payments on credit cards. What is the best way to repair my bad credit?

A: The only way out is to wait. If you can still use credit cards, use them, keep some balance and pay it on time without paying off each month, and keep balance/credit limit ratio under 35%. But the main thing is time. It will take likely close to 18 months to 2 years to see high 500s as far as credit scores go, and 2 years for sure to get a new loan, unless regulations will change.

IndyMac is worthless, yet insiders loaded up plenty

2008-07-08T18:24:36Z

IndyMac directors and other insiders bought huge number of shares since February, paying as high as $8 per share, which today trades under 40 cents, and according to some is worthless. The moral is never think that insiders knows what is happening inside, unless they were simply smoking something.

Will airlines be nationalized?

2008-07-07T04:56:32Z

Major airline stocks are getting close to nothing ...

If this isn't a recession than what?

2008-07-07T04:52:34Z

The value of homes owned by U.S. banks more than doubled to $8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2008 from $3.59 billion a year earlier as lenders repossessed homes in default, data compiled by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Washington show."

When housing market will recover?

2008-07-03T16:41:41Z

In my opinion, not earlier than in the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, will we see some feeble signs of recovery. What I mean is that huge inventory of unsold home will somewhat lessen. At that point housing market may just start to move. And we will never see the prices that were on the top. Plus certain conditions must be created for this to happen - large population influx of educated and/or well enough consumers, reasonably low interest rates and good lending parameters.

Why there won't be a bubble in commodities

2008-06-30T14:24:58Z

Lets face it, Wall Street hates gold and silver and yes they don't like commodities either. I don't remember any big shot analyst preaching dot-com or technology bubble, or real estate one. Contrary to that, CNN, CNBC and the likes did everything to mislead the public, calling huge drops "corrections" and promising swift recoveries after each fall. The stock bubble was quite rational - companies with no product and no future were pumped and pumped and pumped ... and then dumped. Commodities on the other side have real meaning, as all of us must eat, drive, use heating gas, rubber tires, fertilizer and buy gold, silver, palladium and platinum to keep some money real, as dollar falls.

More financial pain to come

2008-06-30T05:01:32Z

On Thursday the DOW fell 358 points to close at a new low for the year and the NASDAQ dropped 80 points and the S&P 500 gave up 39 points. Then on Friday the DOW went down additional 107 points, while NASDAQ and S&P 500 fell only less than 6 and 5 points respectively each. In my opinion, there is no bottom in sight. Sure markets will rally a bit, precisely because so many fund managers think that bottom is here or at least near. The market will bottom when a real panic sets in. You will, just like in 2000, see the DOW dropping 300 to 400 points a day or two in a row, then a bit of a breather, and then again. DOW can go below 10,000, NASDAQ may fall as low as 2,050 and S&P will likely test 1,100. Many of you will say that I am crazy, but we shall see.

The did fall, I hope you got out in time

2008-06-26T21:35:03Z

Hate to say "I told you so" but I'll say it. I did and was right on the money. And I am telling you now, it is just a beginning, not the end.

Increase your credit score by lowering revolving balances

2008-06-26T06:37:00Z

Those include credit cards, department store/gas station cards and home equity lines of credit. Keep each balance below the 35% of credit limit for each revolving line. And if possible, open an additional credit card and don't use it.

The sky is falling down, don't listen to Kramer, get out

2008-06-25T04:39:32Z

Close your margin positions, sell every stock Mad Money's Jim Kramer told you to hold, short if he said buy. The stock market will sink shortly. It may rally a bit, but the picture looks bleak.

Inflation is everywhere - quote of the day

2008-06-25T04:36:22Z

"Thanks to the rising cost of, well, just about everything, inflation has become a pressing problem across the globe. Trouble is brewing from South America to Central Asia to Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Just about the only continent not beset by inflation worries these days is Antarctica." - Justice Litle, Editorial Director, Taipan Publishing Group.

Nicely said.

Will the Saudis and others run dry - is the only the question of when

2008-06-22T04:29:52Z

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sun ... and oil is certainly not. Looks to many that Saudi Arabia is running out of oil. Saudis won't let independent geologists to assess their oil fields. Why? The answer is obvious - they are hiding the fact that oil is getting short. As a matter of fact, every major oil producer is getting to a point of no return when it comes to oil reserves. Simply put, times of easy oil are quickly becoming a thing of the past. To get oil, you now have to go deep down.

]]> In Mexico, output from its major fields is dwindling fast, according to official figures from the state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos known as Pemex. The country's known oil reserves will run out in 9 years, the government says.

In Russia in April of 2008, production fell for the 4th consecutive month and was over 2% below the peak of 9.9 million barrels a day reached in October of 2007.

Norway, which once ranked 3rd among oil exporters, has slipped to a 5th place and has seen its production dwindle to 2.2 million barrels a day, and the reserves are dwindling fast - "Production will continue well after 2050, but the amount will be much less," Petroleum Directorate spokeswoman Eldbjoerg Vaage said, adding that the estimate included as yet undiscovered reserves, mainly in the Barents Sea far north of Stavanger, and did not distinguish between oil and gas.

We can go on but the oil prices and price at the pump will grow much higher.

Two 30 day Lates with one 60 day Late

2008-06-20T22:30:28Z

Q: What is worse for the credit score - two 30 day late payments four months apart or one 60 day late payment?

A: I would say the 60 day Late is worse.

Leased car repossession

2008-06-20T22:20:23Z

Q: Can a leased car agreement reported as repossession if I am three payments behind? I was told to bring its current immediately, other wise they are taking the car away and report it repossessed.

A: Contract is a contract, either you signed on a purchase or a lease, if you default on either loan, it sounds like a ground for repossession.

Gold to go to $5,000 on world wide inflation?

2008-06-20T21:46:04Z

That is according to Christopher Wyke, London-based emerging market debt and commodities product manager at Schroder Investment Management which oversees about $10 billion of commodity assets. He may be on something as inflation accelerates around the world forcing people to look at gold for protection. Consider these stories and numbers -

]]> German producer-price inflation, an early indicator of price pressures in the economy, accelerated to the fastest pace in almost two years in May on energy costs. Energy prices rose 15 percent from a year earlier and oil products were 25.9 percent more expensive, the statistics office said. Excluding energy, producer prices rose 2.9 percent.

India's inflation jumps to 13-year high of 11 percent on higher fuel prices. The wholesale price index, India's most-watched inflation gauge was up sharply from 8.75 percent the previous week, lifted mainly by the price index for fuel, power and lubricants. A year ago, the inflation rate was 4.28 percent.

Mexico's central bank unexpectedly increased its benchmark interest rate and said inflation may exceed its forecast this year and in the beginning of next.

The U.K. pound dropped the most in two weeks against the euro as traders pared bets the Bank of England will boost interest rates on speculation worsening inflation will stifle economic growth.

The dollar fell versus the euro on Monday, snapping a three-day winning streak, as a jump in euro-zone annual inflation to a record high sealed the case for a European Central Bank interest rate hike next month.