FreeCreditDusters.com is LIVE!!!

Our team has been working on this site for over three months and we are proud to unveil it.
FreeCreditDusters.com is a complete resource for financial guidance and credit education. You can read more about what we do or even listen to our podcast. You can listen online or download it to your computer. We are very excited about this new tool and hope you enjoy it. Check it out!

Thanks,

Matt Sullivan

The New Face of FICO '08

If you have not heard yet the credit scoring system is getting a nose job. Actually it is getting a complete overhaul. Anyway, I thought it would be good to provide a few links on the subject and then we can talk deeper about it in the coming week.

If you would like to see how the new scoring system may have impacted your score we suggest you check your credit. check it out

Have a great weekend,

Credit Hawk

FICO gets a facelift - Quicken Loans - http://www.quickenloans.com/mortgage-news/article/709.html

New Credit Scoring Method Forgiving - http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8016232

The Devil Lives In My Mailbox

“I think everyone knows that something just isn’t right.” – Dave Ramsey

The devil lives in my mailbox.

There is something that feels very wrong about how the credit industry markets their products to us. I am stalked each and everyday by these companies who temp me with their 0% APR and 6 months same as cash offers.

Don’t get me wrong I am not anti-credit. I just wonder if it is possible for me to have a moment to breathe without being sold another car, mortgage, credit card, student loan, furniture, or an electronic gadget on credit. Could there be just one solitary website that does not flash a LowerMyBills pop-up?

The internet is a playground for these marketers. We as consumers are little children who are led into their world. We are wide-eyed with bankruptcy laced plasma screens and drunk on consumer credit injected Kia’s. It is porn for spenders and there is nothing to do but enjoy the ride.

I would love to be a fly on the wall for one of those meetings – you know the one. It’s the meeting where all the marketers come together and talk about us like we are lab rats. Maybe we are. They have the charts on our buying habits.

I bet they know when we are about to crash. It starts out harmless enough with the credit cards. You know just a few. Did you know we are called “Preferred” customers when we pay the minimum payment on credit cards?

So where does personal responsibility come into it? When am I going to grow up and realize that the guy at Best Buy is not giving away money when he hands me an application the moment I step into his store? So, can I really blame the credit marketers for being really, really good at manipulating me?

I am starting to wake-up and come to the conclusion that I have the biggest role to play as a consumer. As the master playwright William Shakespeare so eloquently wrote – “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts,”

I believe that my part to play is to simply exercise a little restraint and say, “No.”

Thanks for listening. What is your story with credit cards? How have you been impacted? Talk to me. Post your comments - I want to hear from you.

Thanks,

Credit Hawk - credithawk@live.com