You may have a good deffense to beat the creditor such as the Statute of limitations defense, but its always a good idea to back up your deffense with as much discovery material as possible. One thing you shouls do is hire a forensic accountant. When I first heard this term I thought it was a joke, but it is a true proffession.

Forensic accountants will examine billing statments, contracts terms and conditions to see exactly how much is owed on the account. Here is a directory of accountants that might be able to help you in your case.http://dir.yahoo.com/business_and_economy/business_to_business/financial_services/accounting/firms/forensic/

I have a standard 30 year fixed rate mortgage at around 5%. I am planning for an early mortgage payoff. I am wondering if I should pay the minimum mortgage payment and save my extra cash until I can pay the mortgage off in one lump sum 9-10 years from now or make smaller monthly payments.

CCWD reply

John, There are several factors that determine what you should do, but I will create a scenario for you, Assuming your not cash strapped and have a stable employment situation. You should take what you would want to apply to the payment and Open a troweprice account and send your money there. You will have a better chance of earning more money and here is why.

 Most American homeowners refinance every 7 years on average. American homeowners also stay in thier homes 10 years before selling or trading up. What if The housing market takes a dip and your home that you paid 150k for today is worth only 40k tomarrow.  Phoenix is expieriencing this  right now. Would you be okay with that?

Most people expierience a time in thier life when they feel they can accomplish anything financially, this ussually lasts about 2 years. some longer. I wouldn’t put more money into your mortgage. In the long run it makes them richer.

Many people are doing short sales and the banks are taking the hit. If you have to do a short sale You will be able to buy again.  Let the bank take the fall. and put your money into a 401k,trowe, or IRA, FYI most  401 k plans are protected from being lost in bankruptcy. so if you ever do have to file due to a short sale or forclosure your 401 k should be safe. check on your local law Site.

By Dirk Smithson

It’s often said “The easiest way to find somthing is to let it find you!” And nothing is more true when it comes to finding a lender for a refinance or any type of loan for that matter.

We recently reviewed several mortgage quoting services and found that Mortgagetuneup.net was the most efficient.

You might ask “Why are these services better than walking into a local bank?”

There are several reasons:

• You get to compare rates and fees from up to 4 lenders with only filling out one 2 minute form.
• you may not fit the lending peramaters of one lender, but with four lenders your odds of being approved are increased.
• You choose face to face interaction, If you choose so you never have to see the lender. 35% of loans were closed in 2010 with never having to meet the loan officer. This saves time for both parties.
• Transactions are done by mail or email. you choose.

Click here to visit a mortgage quoting site

The first Company we called was one of the largest and most popular, lendingtree.com owned by news corp. We filled out thier app it took about 25 minutes and we recieved a single  phone call 3 days later. the person was polite and genuine, but was unable to help us because we put on our app that we owed more than the house was worth.

The second Company was Ditech,  The person who called us back did so in about 48  hours of filing out the form they  seemed to be in a hurry and we didn’t fit thier peramaters for a refinance. The represenative said that we needed 20 percent equity and a fico score above 720.

The third company we requested a quote from was mortgagetunep.net we filled out the form and it took about 2 minutes, They didn’t ask us for social security numbers and within an hour we recieved a phone call from a local lender stating that they recieved our information   and could help us with any situation we were facing. They told us what we could expect for a new payment and were courtiouse.

Summary: We recieved at least one phone call from all 3 mortgage quoting sites within a reasonable time frame , The first 2  sites asked for more personal Information that we didn’t feel comfortable giving Like SSN Numbers.  At CCWD we feel this comprimises safety for the user and recomend giving a social after speaking to a mortgage consultant.

 We also felt the first 2  Companies were looking for the cream of the crop. Mortgagetuneup let us know that they could help no matter the situation. or how bad our credit. with thier Short form we feel like we didn’t have anything to loose. We rated the companies on a 5   scale.

MoortgageTuneup

Lendingtree

Ditech

The bad debt can legaly tarnish your credit for a total of 7 years at whitch time it will fall off of your credit report, however until that account shows paid or settled in full. there is no way to obtain new credit. here are some free tips on how to remove a collection account from your credit report

1- Dispute in writing to all the credit reporting agencies that are reporting it
there are 3 major agencies Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. You can get a free report once yearly at http://www.anualcreditreport.com

2-write the company and tell them that you are disputing the debt and let them know that you are willing to settle for xxx.xx eventhough you feel you dont owe this. let them know you are willing to fight it and look up case laws that will back up your defense. they should be happy with somthing rather than nothing, but some would rather not collect anything.

3-let them know your broke, but your roomate whom you rent from is willing to loan you $300 if you agree to pay off a debt.
4-If a settlement is reached get it in writing. have them fax an agreement stating the facts. Do this before sending any money. If they send you the agreement and you western union the money keep your reciept and the agreement this is your proof to have it removed from your credit report.

Credit card rates are typicaly 10% – 27% , and most cards charge high fees if you go over your balance. Some new programs are allowing homeowners to finance as much as 103% of the value of the home in order to give relief to home owners. 

Dirk Smithson at Mortgagetuneup, a mortgage quoting service said that home owners have a better chance of qualifying for the 103% programs if they are employed full time and have been in the same line of work for at least 2 years. He also noted that you don’t need perfect credit. He has seen approvals for home owners with credit scores as low as 500 .

He said, ” It only hurts if you don’t try, One lender might say no, but another will be sure to say yes, thats what’s nice about our service, we have up to 4 lenders review the information.this increases the odds of an approval”

Mortgagetuneup serves all 50 states and all types of credit. Thier online form takes less than one minute. Once the form is filled out you will be sent a link to the lenders that have your information.

for more Information visit thier site. here

Example: Mary and Joseph have 3 debts. Visa 12,000 @ 22% - Mastercard 7000.00 @ 24% - and Amex 4000.00. @18% ,they would like to be out of debt in 12-24 months so they would make the minimums on the Visa and MC while dividing the Amex into 12 equal parts equaling  $333.33 at the end of the twelve months they would now have one debt down, feeling a sence of empowerment they now are able to divide the MC in to 12 equal parts $583.33 by adding the 333.00 that they were paying to amex they are able to pay off the debt in aproxamatly 7.5 months. now they are able to tackle the final debt. They divide the 12,000.00 into 12 equal parts for a payment od 1000.00 by applying the 583.00 plus the 333.00 they are able to pay 1916.00 towards the debt, knocking it out in roughly 6 months. Mary and Joseph paid off the 23,000.00 in debt in a little more than the 24 months that they had planned, but still did an exceptional job of sticking to the plan. thier reward is much more than being free from the debt, they have a sence of accomplishment that empowers them to meet any financial goal that gets in thier way.

The above example is a rough example and is used only for explaing a ladder method. you should get with a financial planner for you exact scenario.

If your income doesn’t allow you to do this and your finding your self in a bind, you can consolidate the debt into a smaller more managable payment, the cons to this is that the payments are drawn out longer, but your credit is preserved and sometimes the lower payment can give that extra needed brathing room.

Example:  Robert has a 30 year mortgage at 7.5%  his payments are $1400.00 per month he also has 20,000 in creditcard debt at $800.00 per month. Robert has enough equity in his home to do a cash out refinance. he lowers his rate on his mortgage to 4.5% paying the credit card off at closing . his mortgage balance increased because of the payyoff of the cards, but his over all monthly payment went down to 1525.00 saving Robert 675.00 per month. Most Mortgage companies call this type of loan a cash out refinance. The rate Is usually a little higher, but as you can see still worth it in the long run.

The above example is to be used as an example only the rates may not be what the treasury is currently offering. To get the most current Mortgage Interest rates go to http://mortgagetuneup.net

(4 years) SOL on credit card debt if there is no contract, should be 4 years, you have to use the law to make your case. The exact law is below. The law states that the SOL in utah is 4 years. This law applies if it is not concidered a contract in writing. Now what makes it a contract in writing is ultimatly going to be how you present the case to the judge. This by the way is done all in writing. The 3rd judicial court in utah has handled most of these cases this way. I will explain th process later.

http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE78B/htm/78B02_030700.htm

I also pasted it below, keep inmind this is as of 4-19-2010

78B-2-307. Within four years.
An action may be brought within four years:
(1) after the last charge is made or the last payment is received:
(a) upon a contract, obligation, or liability not founded upon an instrument in writing;
(b) on an open store account for any goods, wares, or merchandise; or
(c) on an open account for work, labor or services rendered, or materials furnished;
(2) for a claim for relief or a cause of action under the following sections of Title 25, Chapter 6, Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act:
(a) Subsection 25-6-5(1)(a), which in specific situations limits the time for action to one year, under Section 25-6-10;
(b) Subsection 25-6-5(1)(b); or
(c) Subsection 25-6-6(1); and
(3) for relief not otherwise provided for by la

note:(this was amended to benifit the banks and hurt the consumer on
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 3, 2008 General Session)

A contract in writing: According to Utah law inorder for a contract to be in writing it must contain a signature for witch services are rendered. I will post the law if anyone wants it. It takes me along time to find these laws. so I will post them as needed.

In a nut shell, If a credit card co. sent you a card that you never asked for , you then used it and quit paying on it and were served by a court deputy after the 4 years, you don’t have to pay, but if you signed an application or contract they have a chance at winning. since it could be concidered a contract in writing. personally I would still fight it. The biggest reason I would fight it is because they usually take a credit card with a 300.00 balance and explode it to whatever they want to. In one case I saw a 300.00 explode up to over 3600.00 in my opinion this is reverse bank robbery.

The problem with consumers being sued by the big banks is that the banks are usually more educated, richer and more organized. Thanks to the internet we can combat the banks.

Standing up for our rights: If your in Utah we the public need to protect and preserve the rights of the general public. The banks hire people to go to the lawmakers, represenatives and other politicians to change the laws to benifit the banks. sign up on this site by doing so you will be helping your fellow neighbor in combating big banks and the unethical laws they put in place.

Rotating Credit card payment is a dangerouse thing to do, and why anyone would want to do it is beyond my comprehension, but here is the deal. Some people are under the impresson that if they pay there visa with thier mastercard they can live a cash free lifestyle, this concept will catch up to you eventually and you’ll be left with 2 maxed out credit cards to pay in full. this concept was popular in the ninties when credit card companies were handing out cards like candy. The banks now have software to detect this type of transaction. In theory it sounds good, but it wont work. the cc companies know all the tricks and you’ll be shut down as soon as they know what your plan is.

The best way to manage your credit card debt is to pay off your balance with Income you earn before the cutoff date, after this date they start charging Intrest. If youve maxed out your cards now might be a good time to think about a consolidation loan to wipe them out this wont be easy, you’ll need good credit, good income, and colateral. like a home or car with equity.