I opened my monthly credit card bill last week, and sure enough - right in there with it were courtesy checks inviting me to spend up to my credit limit on the card (about $50K) --- for anything I might want
I have had a significant increase in high CD rate offers as well as those "courtesy checks". My son (age 20) has had a dramatic decrease in credit card offers!!!
Used to be... when you asked a banker for a loan, the first words out of his mouth were, "what do you have for collateral"? But since the DemoCraps boosted "Affirmative Action Lending", the bankers stopped asking about collateral, income, down payment, documentations, etc.... The FIRST level of blame for this whole mess is/was AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LENDING.... DemoCrap sponsored, DemoCraps resisting any and all efforts to regulate or reign in excessive lending to non-qualified borrowers. Lots of wrong-doing followed, but we likely would NEVER have had this mess at all without the DemoCraps greedy, selfish support for unsound economic lending. Hope you keep THAT in mind when you go to the polls to vote for NOBama...
I have recently purchased a home and I can tell you the standards for getting a mortgage is very different. No more less than 20% down mortgages and every piece of income must be documented period. My wife and I have a credit score in the high 700's and zero debt, never even bounced a check and we make good money but we had to shop around for a while to find what we wanted. The biggest change I noticed is in two areas: The scrutiny and the type of products available.
It should have NEVER been otherwise. After all, the bank IS lending depositors' money and should have a high expectation that the loan will be repaid... and collateral/equity to fall back upon if not. In addition, the underwriter of the loan (usually the bank) should be required to hold that loan until it is "seasoned".... 3-5 years. Borrowing a large sum of money should never have been considered as a RIGHT in America... it's a privilege to be EARNED.
the only difference i see, is i dont get as much mail offers to open up a credit card or for any other loans...about a year ago i was getting 10 a day,,, now i dont get any...peace
Gnome, your smart son of a gun and level headed on most things you write. But your dead wrong on putting all the country's problems at the feet of the democrats. The republicans have not been more fiscal conservative than the democrats. It isn't a no brainier on who to vote for. I adopted a mindset that has saved me thousands of dollars and many hours of headache, it is simply people don't change. If someone, a customer, subcontractor, employee, and even a friend has been hell to work with and is a pain in the ass and always screws up, chances are they will continue, so I cut ties with that person or company. It doesn't mean I'm in love with the person I replace them with. Sometimes the replacement is as bad as who I just cut ties with, but not often. In my opinion the republican leadership has been screwing up for a decade, so I'm cutting ties with them, they probably are not going to change. Do I love Obama, no, but since I've fired the republican leadership that's all that is left.
I'm not a fan of the RepubliClowns myself... and I think Bush will go down in history as the worst president of all time. However, it's a FACT what I said at Affirmative Action Lending and the DemoCraps role in it... So, you say, "it's a no-brainer whom to vote for"? WhooHoo... another vote for Ron Paul!..
gnome - don't blame it all on the democrats, there's PLENTY of blame to go around. dems pushed FRE/FNM stuff in the 90s, repubs in the 00s. i remember bush saying that he encouraged FRE/FNM to give easier loans to minorities way back when, and i screamed @ the tv when i heard it. this i found in a quick search, but i'm pretty sure it's the same time as when i was so upset at this stupid "have everyone have houses" bill. http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/06/17/bush.minority.homes/index.html "President Bush touted his goal Monday of boosting minority home ownership by 5.5 million before the end of the decade through grants to low-income families and credits to developers." ... "He urged Congress to expand the American Dream Down-Payment Fund, which would provide $200 million in grants over five years to low-income families who are first-time home buyers. The money would be used for down payments, one of the major obstacles to home ownership, Bush said. It is anticipated that 40,000 low-income families -- receiving about $5,000 each -- would benefit from those grants, he added. " ... "Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the federal Home Loan Banks -- the government-sponsored corporations that handle home mortgages -- will increase their commitment to minority markets by more than $440 billion, Bush said. Under one of the initiatives launched by Freddie Mac, consumers with poor credit will be able to obtain mortgages with interest rates that automatically decline after a period of consistent payments, he added. " and http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021015-7.html EDIT: this one's a doozy as well, esp. the ZERO-DOWNPAYMENT INITIATIVE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/achievement/chap7.html