Leadpile’s Blog

Some recent laws passed regarding our credit cards are taking effect this Thursday. Currently credit card issuers have an ability to change interest rates on existing balances without any sort of notice. Part of the new law taking effect Thursday will put a restriction on the credit card companies from doing this without a 45 day notice. They can still charge you penalty fees for late payments and over-limit charges, however being able to freely increase the percentage rate (fixed rate percentage) on an already existing balance, will be going away. Any change to our interest rate, late payment fees, over-limit fees or finance charges can still increase, but they have to now give us a 45 day notice. It seems that a lot of credit issuers have recently become very aggressive in even shutting down card holders cards if there was no activity. There is a potential “risk” involved to the credit card issuers, and they are scrambling to get rid of those sorts of consumers. The other thing that we are all witnessing is the credit card issuers reducing balances on our credit cards if they are not being utilized. Once again, this is the credit card issuers reducing their “risk” or potential exposure, however it is very much an inconvenience for many people that want to then utilize their credit cards for a larger purchase.
Reading over anything that comes in the mail from your credit card company is probably the safest thing to do to keep up to date on what is going on with your account. Maybe even utilizing your credit card randomly might even be a good idea if you want to maintain the credit card availability. That sounds a little odd, because the “right” thing to do is really maintain a debt free life and live within your means. The credit card companies are almost indirectly pushing Americans to use their cards… or LOOSE them.

With everything that has happened in the financial market in the last few years, many question if the responsibility falls on the consumer or the lenders (or both)? Is the responsibility of the lender to make sure the customer 100% know what they are signing, or it is the responsibility of the customer to ask questions if they do understand what they are signing? There are advocates on both sides, however the government now feels it needs to step in. NPR is reporting that Congress has drafted legislation that would allow the government to oversee all consumer financial products such as credit cards, mortgage loans and payday loans. This measure would prevent consumers from getting any sort of “loan” that they did not fully understand what they were signing. I am not quit sure how something like this can be regulated, but the government wants to step in and try to protect consumers in these sorts of situations. Many legislatures feel that the past behavior of our banks was that they would shop around till they found a lender that would take on their “unique” client situation. Unfortunately, what this caused was those “unique” consumers to then fall behind on their mortgages because they really can’t afford that mortgage.
No matter what, if you agree with government intervention in our financial market or not, the bottom line is our country needs something to change. The right answer is not always that easy to figure out, however one thing I do know is that to change our financial market there needs to be a combination of many people/groups that need to come together to protect customers…and sometimes protect the lenders (the good ones).

Lately it seems to be a dog-eat-dog world with all our search engines trying to get the biggest piece of the search engine “puzzle”. Yesterday I spoke about search engines and the need to bring new things to the table in order to stay competitive with other search engines. Ask.com is one of those search engines that is offering a unique service that other search engines are not offering. For instance, Ask.com is great for longer questions you want answered versus entering them in a standard Google search, and having to filter through all the results. Comscore reports that Ask.com’s ranking rose from 10th place to now 6th place, compared to other properties such as eBay and Facebook (in May based on unique users). This explains why a lot of Leadpile publishers are using this search engine to generate traffic to their payday loan, debt, auto finance, online education and other websites. Just like search engines trying to do something different to attract users, affiliate marketing and lead generators have to think of unique ways to generate traffic to their properties. Ask.com seems to be a good option to consider. It appears that others think so too, and that’s why their rankings seem to be headed in the right direction. Another GREAT alternative to the Google BEAST!

To my surprise Visa Inc is reporting that US consumers are using their debit cards more than their credit cards. I find this surprising because it seems for years and years consumers have been using more and more credit cards, and getting more and more in debt. The debit card however is a new facet of spending in the fact that it utilizes money you have, not money you don’t have. However, any time you purchase something online you are advised to use your credit card because of the fraud protection policy. Does this mean the fraud policy is not the same on your debt card as the credit card? It seems not, but why is that? NPR.org goes on to point out that these two cards are very different if the cards are stolen. Why would laws be so different for something very much used in a similar fashion? In reality, credit cards are worse to use for the consumer, so why is there more protection to the consumer? Credit cards cause more long term damage such as having to then look to consolidate or settle debts, or even file bankruptcy. Maybe the banks should look at becoming more uniform with what the credit card companies are doing to protect their clients….
Then again, do the banks make any money on debit card purchases… they certainly do with the credit card purchases.

Debt consolidation is the replacement of several loans with a single loan, often with a longer repayment period and a lower monthly payment. LeadPile is your source for Debt Consolidation leads.

Why is there such a demand for this type of lead?

Very scary statistics have been collected about debt in America. Here are just a few:

• The average American household has 13 payment cards, including credit cards, debit cards and store cards; therefore, resulting into an enormous 1.3 billion payment cards in circulation throughout the United States.
• Americans carry, on average, $5800 in credit card debt from month to month.
• 96% of American’s retire dependent on government aid, charity or even other family members.

Because of such statistics, many Americans have economic dilemma. Debt consolidation is similar to a cold glass of water in the desert. It’s something you need and it offers relief and convenience, even if at the very last minute. Debt consolidation is a great way to move toward Financial Freedom. All that is required is simple planning and a good Debt Consolidation Company.

A debt consolidation company can work with customers by assisting them to negotiate with Card Companies.

For Debt Consolidation Companies seeking Debt Consolidation Leads, LeadPile is the obvious as one of the Nation’ Leading places for this type of lead.

Credit Cards

Liz Pulliam Weston really knocked it “out of the park” with her article entitled “The Truth about Credit card debt. This may be the best article written on Credit Card Debt and its statistical manipulation ever.

Nice job Liz! And thanks for making it available to me…

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/creditcardsmarts/P74808.asp

PDL Industry Blog pointed out some lenders are thinking about implementing installment loans as a boost to their existing Payday Loan Business. These new potential regulations regarding capping the interest rate, do not appear to affect larger banks offering short term loans. The larger banks APR tends to be below the capped APR that the state is looking to implement, however the payday loans APRs are the ones that would be feeling the effects of the potential rate cap. This could be why some payday lenders are looking at new types of “loans”, where some of them have longer terms and possibly a little higher loan amounts. These sorts of changes could reduce the overall APR that the consumers are seeing. The results = the CONSUMER is happy because they got the much needed loan… the LENDER is happy because they could provide this service to the consumer… the STATE is happy because it meets all their requirements of the lending regulations.

It looks like the LeadPile Exchange will blow out another vertical in very short order! Stay Tuned…

Thursday the House of Representatives passed a bill that has potential to protect consumers from the credit card companies. It appears this potential law could pretty much affect all credit card holders. The good news is some of this could be implemented within 90 days if the law makes it through the Senate and our nation’s president. The Associated Press points out some of the details of this new bill. The bill would prevent retroactive rate increases and prevent credit card companies from giving credit cards to anyone under the age of 18. “This is a unique opportunity to end abusive practices that afflict millions of families across the nation, to contribute to our economic recovery, and to take a stand for American consumers,” Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the bill’s primary sponsor, said after the House vote. “Now it is the Senate’s turn to act.”

With our nation’s auto makers, mortgage companies and financial institutions getting a “bail out”, it is kinda nice to see the government lending a helping hand to consumers when it comes to their credit cards.

Companies working with consumers to modify their mortgages has been going on for almost a year now. However, Ocwen Financial Corp (a servicer of sub-prime mortgage) is one of the first mortgage servicers to begin modifying mortgages under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program. The new government program was rolled out in an effort to help mortgage holders who are potentially going to fall behind on their mortgages.
According to Business Journal,”For a loan modification, lenders would have to reduce the mortgage payments to no more than 38 percent of the borrower’s income. The Treasury Department would share the cost for lenders to cut that debt-to-income ratio to 31 percent.
Loans could be extended to up to 40 years. Those lenders who do participate would have to modify all loans, not just the worst ones. Loans originated before Jan. 1 are eligible for the program, which runs through 2012. Homeowners who have an unpaid principal balance of as much as $729,750 can participate. There are also incentives for firms such as Ocwen (NYSE: OCN) that service these loans.
They will receive an upfront fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established created by the initiative. They will also receive “pay for success” monthly fees – as long as the borrower stays current on the loan – of up to $1,000 a year for three years.”
Leadpile Lead Exchange has seen the loan modification lead type go through periods of high demand to not much demand. Maybe this lead type has some more life in itself in our marketplace. There still seems to be consumers that will want to be a part of this new government plan. We shall see…..

I have to share a great website that I was recently introduced to.  Mint.com is a great site for anyone looking to manage their bills & finances all in ONE place.

According to the website, “We download, categorize and graph all of your finances automatically every day, so you know where you’re spending, without spending any effort.”  With consumers going through trying to manage their credit cards and really seeing where they are spending their money, this site will allow people to do that without the high cost of hiring someone.  I went through the process myself just to see how long it took, and I have to say it took only minutes and it is a secure site.  Making sure you are entering your account information on a secure website (HTTPS) is very important when working with personal information on the internet.  I have to say I am a little nervous of entering my personal information online, however I did proceed forward with it. Working at Leadpile Lead Exchange has helped to educate me on knowing what to pay attention to when surfing the net, and this website appears to be a great trusted site for EVERYONE to look into.  The other question I was wondering was, “how does this website make money, because this service is FREE?” After searching more and more, I found lead generation is what this company is doing.  They are offering “pertinent” financial services to consumers throughout the process.  Check it out… you might learn something about your own financial portfolio.

The economy is bad, and consumers are needing help with their mortgages and debt. Leadpile realizes this, and so does our advertisers/lead buyers. There are loan modification and debt companies out there looking to help more consumers. Leadpile is looking for those people to be matched up with our advertisers to provide these services.

Leadpile Lead Exchange makes it quick and easy for lead publishers.  Here are the offers you can get up and going in minutes.  This is a great way for these consumers to fill out the required information, and be matched up with those that can provide the service to them!

In recent news the Fair Isaac Corporation is rolling out an updated FICO score.  A FICO score was created back in 1989 to help consumers and businesses determine consumer’s credit worthiness.    All 3 credit reporting agencies (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian) will be implementing this new scoring.  

Some things that are changing with the newly updated FICO score:

1.  Ignoring of small collection accounts

2.  One credit problem forgiven

3.  Changes to authorized users and how it affects your credit score

Things you will want to now pay attention to with regards to your score:

1.  The more credit you use in regards to your balances versus credit limits will affect you more now.

2.  Don’t close $0 balance accounts now.  Keep them open and don’t use them.

3.  You will be penalized if the lenders close your accounts.  To prevent this, charge one time per month to keep activity going if you want to keep the account.

4.  Diversify what credit accounts you have active.  For instance, have some installment accounts (IE- CAR loans etc) AND revolving credit.  This shows you are able to maintain both types of credit.

Fair Isaac is hoping these changes will help with getting a better depiction of credit worthiness.  Lenders will like it more because there is going to be a more precise score of their credit.  Consumers will like it more because if that score is higher, that makes the cost to get more money (loans and new credit) cheaper.  The better your FICO score is, the more credit you have available and the lower your rates will potentially be to borrow money.  This seems to be a win win situation for consumers and businesses.

Leadpile Lead Exchange wants to help consumers and businesses to be connected with regards to any financial matter.  This new FICO score will most likely promote more consumers to want to take a deeper look at their scores and how they can maybe get them higher.  Credit repair companies are probably a really good option to look at to help do that.