debrashultz.com

Credit scoring is becoming more important to mortgage pricing so now would be a terrific time to brush up on your credit education.

If you understand how the system works, after all, you can make it work to your advantage. One terrific place to start your research is at myFICO.com.

Published by credit scoring powerhouse Equifax, [...]

Average gas prices reached an all-time U.S. high Tuesday, touching $3.40 per gallon. San Francisco and Tulsa are the nation’s bookends at $3.94 per gallon and $3.11 per gallon, respectively.

But before you wonder if relief is coming to your family budget, remember that “rising gas prices” is a conversation we have every April.

Using data [...]

Today is Tax Day so here’s some IRS-related trivia to share at the water cooler:

Did you know… President Lincoln and Congress enacted the first income tax in 1862 to pay Civil War expenses.

Did you know… The Civil War income tax was repealed in 1872, revived by Congress in 1894, [...]

Through 5 days of see-saw trading, mortgage rates ended last week relatively flat; the downward tick into Friday’s close was a boon for home buyers this past weekend.

It may be short-lived, however.

Oil continues to sit near all-time highs and a slew of inflation-related data is crossing the wires this week.

When inflation pressures are high, mortgage [...]

Getting approved for a conforming home loan is now tougher than before.

Again.

As home loan defaults mount, government-sponsored financier Fannie Mae has imposed new guidelines on what it will lend and to whom, highlighting the need for a strong credit profile and a downpayment.

In other words, Fannie Mae is outright declining mortgage applicants whose [...]

Every two years, the Jump$tart Coalition issues a “personal finance” exam to high school seniors.

The test highlights the importance of personal financial literacy among America’s youth and comes at an especially important juncture.

Many experts — including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke — believe that basic financial knowledge is essential for (and lacking in) teenagers. [...]

In three weeks, the Federal Open Market Committee will meet again and markets anticipate another cut to the Fed Funds Rate.

Based on data compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland at the close of business yesterday, traders put the probabilities of the Fed’s next move at:

62 percent chance that the Fed Funds [...]

News sources like to use the term “credit crunch” in describing the U.S. economy, but they rarely define what a credit crunch is and what it means for Americans.

A credit crunch is when the amount of available loans suddenly decreases over a very short period of time.

Usually, it follows a period of lending [...]

Mortgage rates edged lower last week, buoyed by a weak employment report for March.

After shedding 80,000 jobs last month, the number of working Americans is lower by 232,000 so far this year.

Many pundits are claiming these figures are proof of a U.S. economic recession but it’s important to keep the data [...]

For the third month in a row, the economy shed jobs, suggesting that the U.S. is in a recession.

March’s monthly loss of 80,000 jobs is the largest since March 2003 and follows January and February’s losses of 76,000 each.

The weak data is edging mortgage rates lower as we head into the weekend. [...]