Leadpile’s Blog

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.

The holidays are here and more and more of us are getting more and more in debt trying to prepare.  The unfortunate thing is many consumers were already in a bad situation with their debt, and now the holidays are going to add to the mess.  There are various options out there to help consumers with their debt situation. Debt consolidation, debt settlement and credit repair are a few services that help consumers with resolving their debt situation.

Debt Consolidation:  Working with a company that helps you consolidate all your credit cards into one payment.  A lot of companies can even work with the creditors to pause any future late charges or excess fees from being added to the current balance.

Debt Settlement: Working with a company that works with the creditors to get balance settlements.  A certain percentage of the total debt amount is paid, versus the whole amount and the balances continuing to get larger.

Credit Repair: Working with a company to help educate and direct you in the right direction regarding your credit.  There is a lot of information to know about your credit report and how to really optimize getting the most of your credit report.

According to Consumers Affairs, here are some things that determine if you need help with your debt:

There was a recent report by Channel 15, that brought up a study done by Vanderbilt University. In this study it pointed out, “Payday loan customers who are approved on their first application are more likely to file for bankruptcy than those whose initial applications are denied, according to a study out of Vanderbilt Law School. ” I am not sure I understand where this is going as far as trying to point out a bankruptcy filing rate with those that took out a payday loan. The people that could not get a payday loan probably did not qualify for the loans because of some sort of income issue or other specific requirement the payday lenders require. I would think this sort of individual had more potential of falling behind and contemplate bankruptcy, don’t you think?
Leadpile Lead Exchange has been generating payday loan leads for some time now. Blaming or relating  bankruptcy filing rates to those that have taken out a payday loan, and not those that have been approved for one, just does not make sense to me. Does this also mean that someone who took out a new auto finance loan is more likely to file bankruptcy, versus someone that applied for an auto finance loan and was denied? There are people that have a lot of outstanding past due debt that I would say is more of a correlation to filing bankruptcy, versus someone who took out a payday loan.  Those that did not manage their debts properly, had an expected loss of job, or those that had a major financial change in their life are more of a cause of someone filing bankruptcy. Payday loan = bankruptcy?  Payday loan = what else?

In the midst of banks going under and consumers struggling to survive, another bank transaction has happened. According to consumer affairs, Capitol One has purchased Chevy Chase Bank. Chevy Chase bank has a large presence in New York, New Jersey, Texas and Louisiana.

     I think the oddest thing about another bank merger happening is, that I am not sure how many more of these mergers can really happen?  What other banks are out there anymore?  Also, I am not sure about your area of the country, but there are other “new” bank branches showing up on intersections all over my city.  I thought banks had no money?  How are they building all these new locations around our towns?  Maybe Leadpile Lead Exchange should start generating leads of businesses wanting to open a new bank…. no I don’t think so.

On a serious note, it is just a little odd to me to have so many banks either going down or being purchased, to then see new banks opening up in our cities. Are they going to be able to lend to all these consumers who are not qualifying at these other “struggling” banks?  I hope so because people need help right now!

Help with repairing your credit is something pretty much everyone could use a little assistance on. With a tough economy, Americans are needing to worry about more important things like paying their next electric bill. However, when that time comes where they have the ability to get help, credit repair is a great option to look at. Credit repair assistance can be a very informative service, that once you learn what makes up your credit report, you will be able to use the valuable information in the future.
Leadpile Lead Exchange is currently generating a large volume of credit repair leads. These consumers need the help now and are looking for someone to provide that service. Knowledge is power when it comes to your credit report, unfortunately not everyone is in a position to have great credit. Knowing we have a large demand for this lead type, and the large amount of consumers wanting assistance, Leadpile has rolled out some text links/landing sites for lead sellers to use.

www.countrywidecreditfix.com
www.creditfixnationwide.com
www.mycreditjump.com
www.personalcreditassist.com
www.uscreditfix123.com

If you are currently not working with Leadpile to purchase or sell credit repair leads, I recommend it!

Credit cards are a way of life for most Americans. According to Time.com, in the last 10 years credit card balances have gone up 75%, yet consumer’s wages have gone up only 4%. Increased balances and the number of credit cards consumers have, has allowed credit card companies to reap the rewards for years.  These credit card companies have always survived in tough economic times because they were able to generate lots of revenue from things such as late fees, however more and more consumers are now facing charge off. The charge off rate for default consumers is expected to reach 10%, which is double what the rate has been for the past 10 years. If there are more charge offs, that means credit card companies will be in the RED, because defaults/charge offs will far surpass the revenue they are bringing in from things such as late fees. So, what does that mean will happen?
In the case of American Express, they just became a bank holding company in order to receive some low cost funds and a piece of the $700 billion bailout. In the case of Citigroup, they layed off 10,000 employees and will begin imposing higher interest rates on it’s 54 billion cardholders. With other credit card issuers, there is bound to be some increased interest rates passed down to the cardholders and increased fees. The only way to really avoid the effects of these credit card issuer’s hardships, is for consumers to manage their money better where they avoid any additional late fees and also look at not incorporating any new debt. The only option I can see is looking at debt consolidation or debt settlement to avoid getting in a deeper hole. Leadpile Lead Exchange generates a lot of debt leads where consumers need help and need help now. Hopefully, they can ride the wave before any sort of credit card “bubble” bursts and they are affected in an even worse way.

It is official…

Leadpile Lead Exchange is officially generating the lead type of Loan Modification.  There are so many consumers out there wanting help with the mortgages they are in, and we are now connecting those consumers with companies providing the service.

The sad part about this lead type is that the some lenders that actually issued the loans are the ones now trying to offer loan modification options.  I know this is happening because I received a letter from my original lender, however I am not delinquent on my mortgage or not about to experience any “life changing” experience to cause me to need a loan modification.  My guess is they are just sending out notifications to everyone, in hopes that there are some that took out a loan with them that are falling behind at this point. Why were things like this not offered to the consumers at the time they got the original mortgage?  We all know there are some consumers who just could not wait to get that cash out on their refinance, however there are a lot of consumers that were maybe put in loans they had no business being put in.  Our lead marketplace is here to try and match up consumers with service providers, no matter what the circumstances were.

The information we are capturing for the loan modification lead type:

1.  Full contact information

2.  Monthly Income

3.  Credit rating

4.  Home value

5.  Mortgage balance, interest rate, and adjustable, fixed, or interest only interest rate

6.  Consumers monthly obligations

7.  Have bankruptcy filings been started already