We Did It Once – We Can Do It Again! Why I Love Texas

Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 10:02 pm  
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TEXAS……Some interesting reading for us Texan’s 

   Ok, Folks. Texas has given you complainers plenty of time to get used to the election results. After listening to all the whiners after the election, some folks from Real Texas have decided that we might just take matters into our own hands. 

   First a little history lesson. It’s our independent nature to point out the people who enjoy the Texas Lifestyle have the right to secede and form our own country once again whenever the people of Texas choose to do so. Some other states also have this right. The difference is, Texas has actually pulled that trigger before. 

   Yes, Texas was an Independent Republic before it became a state and can secede. Nothing inherently prohibits that from taking place. 

   Let’s get this straight. John McCain, a real American hero, carried Texas by over a million votes. Texans can still smell the fires of the Twin Towers . We would also honor President Bush. George Bush simply did what any Real Texan would do and that is to go try his best to annihilate anyone who was responsible for attacking us. We don’t fault him for that. We applaud that sort of behavior. 

It’s Texas politics, Texas style.   We’re ready to secede. 

Don’t get me wrong. We’re like y’all – We just don’t want to be like y’all. 

#1: Barak Obama becomes President of the United States (all the other 49 states). 

#2: Ross Perot becomes the next President of the Republic of Texas and invites John McCain to be an honorary Texan. We honor our heroes in Texas and honor their service. McCain is welcome here and he can be Secretary of the Texas Navy. Native Texan George Foreman will be Secretary of Defense. 

After that is all said and done, we wish Mr. Obama well. We really do. 

We expect one of Perot’s first acts as President of the Republic will be to tear down the border wall and erect a 10′ wall around Austin to keep the “Austin Weird” folks in and away from the rest of us. If they will just pipe their Texas music out over the wall, it will keep the rest of us happy. ( Just kidding my Austin relatives on that one.) However, Willie will be Secretary of Agriculture and music. Wonder what he will grow?

So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic? 

   Here’s a few things to be aware of. Texas is the 11th largest economy on the planet. We are bigger than Spain and right behind Great Britain . We are also bigger than Russia . We are an economic force to be reckoned with. We have a constitutional amendment to balance our budget..and we do it. We also have a multi-billion dollar budget surplus this year. We are so big, we have our own power grid. Yes, that’s true. 

What else? 

NASA is in Houston . (we will control the space industry). We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States . Defense Industry? We have over 65% of it. The term “Don’t mess with Texas ,” will take on a whole new meaning. Oil – we can supply all the oil the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Obama states? Sorry about that. 

As David Werst said, “We’re like y’all, we just don’t want to be like y’all.” You can buy oil (pronounced like y’all) from us instead of terrorist countries that hate you. We will love you for paying so much to us instead of Saudi Arabia , Venezuela , Kuwait and others. 

You don’t want to ‘drill baby drill’ or put up with those nasty oil wells? Well, we do and we know how to do it without polluting the land, air, and sea. BTW-We have our own ports and shipping lanes. We’re also not “waiting on our FEMA check” to rebuild Galveston . We are doing it right now as we speak. 

Natural Gas – Again we have all we need and again, it’s just too bad about you blue Obama states who don’t want drilling. We’ve been driving around with 
those big tanks in the backs of our pickups for years now. We’ll switch over to compressed natural gas. Obama will figure a way to keep y’all warm..according to your need. Or, you could use ocean waves, or make friends with Hugo Chavez or what’s his name in Iran . 

Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications: Small places like Texas Instruments, Dell, EDS, Raytheon, Motorola, Intel, Austin Technology Centers Etc , Etc. The list goes on and on. 

Health Centers – We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, and other large health 
centers. We have enough colleges to keep us going: UT, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Texas State University , Rice, SMU, TCU, University of Houston , Baylor, UNT, Texas Women’s University, etc. Ivy grows better in the south anyway. We have a ready supply of workers (just open the border when we need some more). 

But, we won’t have an illegal immigration problem. Former Texas Governor candidate Kinky Friedman solved that. He proposed we pay 5 Mexican Generals a million a year to control illegal immigration-folks coming from Mexico to Texas illegally. For every 
illegal that slips through, we deduct $10,000. Wonder how many will get across the border into Texas ? We won’t need a Border Patrol. 

We like tourism. Come stay a while. Enjoy a Cowboys game or go to Six Flags over Texas ..then go home. We don’t need any more Californians coming here and messing things up. Or, they could live in Austin where we can keep an eye on ‘em. 

We have control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don’t have an army but since everybody down here is heavily armed and has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an army in 6 hours if we need it. That’s the Texas way. When the tower sniper started shooting in Austin a few years back, citizens piled out of their cars and pickups and started returning fire within 2 minutes. 

Our citizens are licensed to carry handguns on their person. We have a saying down here: “If you mess with the bull, you’re gonna get the horn.” And an even more remarkable finding from the past.. Average murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Bush: 0.1 of one percent. Average murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore: 13.2. In Texas , even some of our school teachers carry guns. We won’t surrender our kids to nuts and terrorists without a fight. Don’t even think about messing with us. If you want the sticker, click on it. 

If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Texas DPS and ask them to send over a couple of Texas Rangers. We are totally self sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs and vegetable produce and everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don’t need any food. 

Arts? Bob Wills is still the king, but we also like different types of music, Country..and..Western. We even have our own beer. Lone Star, The National Beer of Texas . This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn’t a thing out there that we need and don’t have. 

Now to the rest of the United States under President Obama: Since you won’t have the refineries to get gas for your cars, we’ll sell you gas too. We’ll call the gas company Texasco or something like that. Happy to do it. You won’t have any TV as the space center in Houston will cut off your communications or ask you to pay for the signal. It will be Texas Direct TV. Hank Jr. will move here and be in charge of programming. 

Did you know we don’t even have an income tax? 

We have all we need here in God’s country and like I’ve already said, if we don’t have it, we don’t need it. We will have cheap, plentiful energy. The new Texas Secretary of Energy, T. Boone Pickens will be putting up thousands of wind generators all over the West Texas plains and since everybody else thinks Texas is full of hot air, we might as well take advantage of it. 

Good luck. Y’all are gonna need it. 

Signed, The People of Real Texas

Finally – Credit Card Companies Can’t Raise Your Interest Rate If You’re Late!

Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm  
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   At last there is some good news coming from the Fed. The Federal Reserve is expected to finalize rules—as early as next week—that would prohibit banks from jacking up interest rates on existing credit card balances, except under limited circumstances.

   If the rule goes through, credit card issuing banks can no longer use the universal default clause and raise your interest rate. Just think – no more late payments that lead to interest rate penalties. If the proposed rules are finalized, issuers will have to give customers more time to pay their bills and eliminate other practices seen as unfair or deceptive. Issuers will also have to make big changes to the way they disclose your account terms.

   The fine print that’s often easy to miss—such as changes to your APR or late payment—will have to be highlighted in boxes in your statements. And if a bank does change your interest rate, you will be able to opt out of the changes and pay off your balances under the old rate.

   The banking industry has argued that the proposed rules will restrict their ability to manage risk and will ultimately force issuers to be stingier with credit and cut back on promotional offers. Consumers will likely see higher rates on new credit cards and potentially more cards with annual fees, as well as fewer perks, according to experts. All the more reason to improve your bad credit because the banks will only be extending high credit limits to those with the best credit scores!.

   One thing to watch out for in the final rules: the scope of the exceptions. Currently, the proposed rules say that issuers can’t raise your rate unless you’re more than 30 days late. (The other exceptions: when you have a variable-rate card or a promotional rate that’s set to expire.) The banking industry argues that those exceptions should be broadened to include other trigger events, such as being late twice in a year.

   The Fed is going to act in a way that will fundamentally rewrite a consumer’s relationship with his or her card company and dramatically increase the protections afforded consumers and how their card product works.

Score one for the consumer!

All I can say is “It’s About Time!

Ten Common Credit Repair Mistakes

Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 10:55 am  
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“The Ten Most Dangerous Mistakes YOU Probably Make With Your Credit Scores And What To Do About It…”

   After coaching hundreds of students and clients, I have noticed that many people make the same mistakes over and over when it comes to dealing with credit, credit scores, and the credit bureaus.

   Since you are a subscriber to this blog, you will learn what these common credit repair myths are and how to never fall victim to them again. My friends in Austin, San Antonio,  Dallas, and Houston will have the benefit of me presenting these tips and more live to the different real estate investing groups in your city.

   I will discuss texas credit repair and how it relates to the current real estate investing marketplace.

   Here are the Top Ten Reasons Why Most People Fail To Repair Their Credit Properly And How To Make Sure YOU Avoid Every One Of These Deadly Common Mistakes

 

MISTAKE #1: Not Disputing Accuracy of Accounts That Have Late Payments Listed

   A recent 30 day late payment is much worse than an old Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. To dispute late payments you need to write a letter that states three things:

   First, the name of the creditor and number of the account you are disputing

   Second, the reason for the dispute

   Third, what you want the credit bureau to do

That’s It – How Simple Can It Be??

   Have you ever noticed that the most, if not all of the credit repair advice out there tells you to just dispute the account as “Not Mine”?  Of course you have. Just like most of the population, I’m sure you think that this is good advice.

   According to the “experts” the credit bureaus only have 30 days to verify the account or they have to delete the negative information. Ok, so is anyone surprised to know that the Credit Bureaus will ignore this type of consumer dispute ALL DAY LONG!

   What’s going on here? It’s actually very simple…The Credit Bureaus don’t delete negative account  information when you dispute like this. Why? Because these types of disputes are the easiest to verify! 

   If they can match four pieces of information (which you supply by the way when you dispute something with the credit bureaus) such as your date of birth, Social Security number, address and name, then the account is yours and they will not re-investigate.

   And guess what?

   Most everyone is still teaching this same worthless tactic. The better way is for you to force the credit bureau to confirm data in your credit report and in the account itself. Dispute the current balance, date of late payment, or date the account was opened. 

   The credit bureaus probably won’t do this correctly within the 30 day period required by law and then you can demand removal. Quit quoting the FCRA act and trying to sound like a lawyer. If you get the bureaus to try and verify account details instead of correct reporting you will never get these items deleted.

   I realize that this doesn’t make a lot of logical sense, and it’s hard to ACCEPT… but GET OVER IT.

   Until you accept this FACT and begin to act on it, you’ll NEVER have the success with repairing your credit like most of my students.

 

MISTAKE #2: Not Disputing Bankruptcies and Other Public Records From Your Credit Report  

   What do most people believe to be true about having a bankruptcy or public record listed in their credit report? Right! They believe that those items stay in your credit report for 10 years or something, maybe even forever!

   Well, I have news for you… YOU CAN REMOVE ANY NEGATIVE INFORMATION IN YOUR CREDIT REPORT THAT IS OUTDATED OR INACCURATE. NOT ONLY CAN YOU, IT IS YOUR RIGHT

   To remove these items from a credit report, many people write letters to the credit bureaus disputing specific information on the record that is displayed in their report. 

   Why is this strategy successful? Because there is a question of who is the “source” of the verification. Courthouses do NOT report to the credit bureaus. The bureaus get their information from third parties or they have people on their payroll go down and get the information.

   That is a CLEAR violation of law.

 

MISTAKE #3: Not Reducing Credit Card Balances to the Correct Percentage the FICO Scoring Algorithm prefers.

   In our quest to manage credit and keep some sort of balance on our credit cards as the “experts” tell us to do, we utilize too much of our available credit on our credit cards

   Another HORRIBLE idea.

   There are many schools of thought on how much debt you should carry on your revolving credit card balances. Some experts say to keep your balance to 50% of your available credit limit. Others recommend a 40% or 30% ratio. While it is always good to keep your credit card  balances low, you also want to utilize your credit cards since the issuing banks make money when you use their cards

   Remember though, the FICO Credit Scoring Model lowers your score when you use too much of your credit limit. When you use 40% of the credit limit on a card you lose points with the credit bureaus. As you use more of your available credit limit…50%, 60%, 80%, 100% your credit score goes down. 

   Speaking from personal experience and the experience of my students and clients, the “magic percentage” that will yield you the biggest bump in your FICO credit scores is 5% to 7% of available credit limit. 

   Always try and keep the balance around 5%. 

 

MISTAKE #4: Not Having Credit Accounts From Major Lending Institutions

   You want to have major institutions like Bank Of America,Chase, Wachovia, etc on your credit reports. Companies like Capital One, CitiFinancial, Providian – those that you see advertised on late night TV and those that have teaser rates will suppress your credit score. 

Why? 

   Because the Credit Bureaus know that people with these accounts are more risky. These banks are not premium tiered lending institutions. They aren’t sub-prime, but pretty close.

   If these types of accounts are on your credit report, your credit score will suffer and you’ll pay higher interest rates for everything. Only get accounts with big, well known, and reputable financial institutions. Make sure to pay them in full every month, on time and only use about 5% to 30% of the credit limit. That’s a great way to increase your credit score. 

 

MISTAKE #5: Not Suing Creditors Who Report Incorrect or Negative Information

   Creditors generally have the same responsibility under the law to maintain accurate information….and just like the Credit Bureaus, they often fail to do just that. So first, go ahead and dispute the negative line items on your credit score with the Credit Bureaus. Just because they send you a letter saying that the credit report account is accurate, doesn’t mean that the creditor has actually provided proof of this to the Credit Bureau.

   By law the Creditor and Credit Bureau can only prove the account is accurate with a signed written contract by you or other original documentation. If the Creditor has not followed the law ….you may be able to file a legal Action against them. 

   Many people simply sue in Small Claims Court which costs between $35 and $100 depending where you live.  Don’t worry, it’s easy. 

   Provide proof to the court – including the letters you sent – how the creditors have not proved or removed the account. Write about how their actions have hurt you financially and created mental anguish and hardship.  You don’t even have to ask for money unless this is required and then ask for $1,000. 

   Just make sure you ask for complete deletion of the negative account on your credit report with all Credit Bureaus. 

   Do you think they’ll want to send the President of their company to your county to appear in court. 

Nope. If they just ignore you and don’t show up in court that’s ok too. Either way, you win-and the account gets deleted-permanently. 

 

MISTAKE #6: Not Adding Good Credit Accounts To Your Credit File

   Get added as an “authorized user” on an account of someone like your husband or wife who has a great credit history with a company. (Note that the Credit Bureaus often mix up negative information from other people on your account.) Often, that account will be reported to the Bureaus as yours too! 

   Now, the Credit Bureaus claim they are cracking down to prevent people from improving their scores this way. However, remember that Credit Scores are created “on the fly” by the credit bureaus and what your credit score is – depends on the scoring model used. 

   So, this positive history from someone else is probably only NOT counted when you are applying for a mortgage if your lender is using the FICO NextGen Model.

   Make sure your lender is using the FICO Classic scoring model. More than 80% of lenders DO use the FICO Classic so you’ll probably be in luck! 

 

MISTAKE #7: Not Disputing, Correcting, Removing ”Aliases” or “AKA’s” from your Credit Report

   Many different names tend to make you look like a higher credit risk and will lower your FICO credit scores. If you have too many names in your credit file, it will also make it more likely that someone else’s name will match a few letters of your name and their negative info may accidentally be reported in your credit report.

   A simple letter stating that these are NOT your names and requesting deletion should do just fine. Make sure to include your full name, address, and social security number in the letter so the credit bureaucan identify you properly. 

 

MISTAKE #8: Not Disputing, Correcting, or Removing Old Addresses From Your Credit Report

   Different addresses indicate less stability and lower your score. If you have too many different addresses in your credit file, the FICO Credit Scoring algorithm will lower your scores. 

   Why you ask? Well, for a couple of reasons:

   One, too many different addresses indicates less stability and a higher credit risk. 

   Two, if the profile of people in your neighborhood have lower scores or economic profiles, your score will 

be lowered as well. That’s especially bad news for people in low income areas and who live in Senior citizen communities. Isn’t that discriminatory? Do you think that is fair? What if you are in the Military? 

   What if you’re a salesman or get promoted a lot and have to move around the country? You can challenge the addresses on your report as not accurate…for lots of different reasons. 

 

MISTAKE #9: Using A P.O. Box or Mail Box Service When Applying For Credit  

   Using PO Boxes and Mail Drop boxes indicate higher credit risk. You look less stable and will have a lower credit score with the credit bureaus if you have a PO box rather than a physical street address. 

   Of course, people who are NOT credit risks have PO Boxes and Mail Drop boxes for legitimate reasons like protecting their privacy and themselves from identity theft…but the credit bureaus don’t care. 

   If you think getting a box at Mail Boxes Etc which has a physical address…can get around this, you’d be wrong.

   The Bureaus have a list of almost every single Mail box drop location in the country. They will flag you as more credit risky and your credit score will be lower on all three credit reports from the major credit bureaus! 

 

MISTAKE #10: Identifying Yourself As “CEO” or Owner Of Your Business

   If you own a Business and/or have CEO or Owner in your title, the Credit Bureaus view you as a more credit risky entrepreneur. Making yourself CEO or President is a perk of owning your own company, but you should change your title to General Manager or Chief Financial Officer and report this to the credit bureaus. 

   Salaried positions are viewed more favorably. So to improve your credit score, change your job title and dispute the accuracy of any title or employment position that isn’t yours. 

   When people find issues with their credit and try to act to make repairs, they can often make the situation worse by not understanding what variables go into their credit score.

   Here is a bonus tip for you – DON’T CANCEL OLD CREDIT CARDS OR LINES OF CREDIT!

  This one seem counter productive, but keep those older cards and lines of credit open after you have paid the balance down to zero.  15% of your credit score comes from the length of your credit history. Canceling your oldest credit card can impact this portion of your credit score.

   Also, if you have balances on other cards, cancelling an old credit card can also worsen your debt ratio, which makes up 30% of your score. If you don’t have other sources of credit that are older than seven years, you should not cancel your oldest credit card.  Also, 30% of your score comes from the ratio of your credit card debt and your credit limits.

   Thus, if all of your cards are maxed out, your credit score is suffering even if you’re keeping up with the payments. Focus on paying down the cards with extra payments.  To sum this one up, keep your older lines of credit open even if they are paid off.  This will help you both in your length of credit history and on your debit ratio.

Stay Tuned!

 

Your Credit Score Insider,

 

Mark