Bad Credit

Psssst. Want some money?You too can get a "guaranteed" loan. Just call this toll-free number, send in a few thousand dollars and. . . .Sound good? What you might be buying is simply a chance to lose a few thousand dollars.That's the message from the Better Business Bureau as it prepares to announce today that "a national epidemic" of loan scams is ripping off consumers and small businesses nationwide.These so-called "advance-fee" loan schemes -- advertised in newspapers and magazines and on television and radio -- offer guaranteed money in exchange for fees ranging from $100 to $100,000 or more.

Do yourself a favor. If you've had bad credit in the past and are seeking a secured credit card to help you start a new track record, don't pay anyone $50 to $100 to help you find such a card.The banks listed below all offer secured credit cards, each with a credit limit equal to the deposit a consumer makes into an interest-bearing bank account.Too often, secured credit cards have been blatant rip-offs by companies that prey on folks worried about their credit. The current economy, with many folks losing credit or declaring bankruptcy, has brought out more vultures.

WASHINGTON -- Increasingly concerned that American banks are taking more risks, top regulators are moving to rein in aggressive competition among banks seeking to make business and consumer loans.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a Treasury Department agency that oversees the nation's 3,400 federally chartered banks, announced yesterday that its most experienced credit analysts would form a committee to double-check whether the nation's large banks are taking excessive risks.

Robert Robinson wanted to be a security guard. Easter Morris tried becoming a cleaning lady. Kyla Whiting sought work at a handbag outlet store. All say they were denied jobs because their would-be employers learned that they had bad credit. In response to such stories, state lawmakers now are moving to limit the ability of businesses to run credit checks on job applicants. "A credit report should not be the measure by which people are judged in terms of whether they can do a good job or not," said Sen. Catherine E. Pugh.

I have been living paycheck to paycheck since my divorce eight years ago. Needless to say, I have horrible credit. I am about to receive a large settlement from an accident. Where do I start to fix my bad credit? I need to buy a decent vehicle because mine is 12 years old and falling apart. Also, I would like to buy my own home. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You have a rare opportunity to set yourself on the right path. Don't blow it. First, make an appointment with a tax professional.

Republicans in Washington seem to have recognized that refusing to raise the debt ceiling and putting the nation on the brink of default in a trumped-up "crisis" isn't playing well with the general public, so they're switching tactics. Now, instead of blindly driving off the cliff of fiscal Armageddon, they are pushing for the Obama administration to prioritize federal obligations - so the country can be late on some bills but not on debt payments, Social Security checks and pay for active-duty members of the military.

She liked to save. Her husband liked to spend. So whenever Joanne Tupper, a Harford County beautician, earned a little extra money, she put it in a savings account under her mother's name.That turned out to be a good idea. When she and her husband divorced, they had a lot of debts to pay -- including some she had never even known about."I ended up paying them, because I didn't want his bad credit to ruin my name," she says of her husband's bills. "I knew that later I'd want to purchase a home on my own for my daughter and Ms. Tupper had the foresight to establish credit for herself before she was married.

Let's suppose you are a lifelong renter who has long dreamed of owning a home, but you've given up on the idea because you can't muster a down payment. And you know your credit record isn't perfect, either. So you think there's no way you could get a mortgage approved.Think again.In the greater Baltimore area, and around the country, the climate for first-time mortgagees -- even those with moderate incomes and shaky credit -- has never been more favorable.And you won't have to pay loan-shark interest rates for the privilege of borrowing.

For years if consumers wanted to know their credit score, they had to buy it. But starting this year, potentially millions will be able to get their score for free thanks to new federal regulations. Moreover, the score will be the actual one used to determine a consumer's creditworthiness — not one of the knock-offs offered online that can be off by dozens of points. "Knowledge is power," says Ed Rice, general counsel for Zoot Enterprises, which provides software to help financial institutions make credit decisions.

Thousands of Americans in debt over their heads are turning to nonprofit credit counseling agencies to help them avoid bankruptcy and return to solvency. But for many, that move is leading to more financial woes. A new breed of credit counseling agencies is more interested in making a buck off troubled consumers than in helping to rescue them from financial distress, consumer advocates say. These agencies are charging exorbitant fees, failing to disclose who is profiting and how from rescue plans and, in some instances, failing to pass debtors' payments on to creditors on time, experts say. At the same time, some of these nonprofit agencies are acting more like for-profits by paying executives lavish salaries or steering millions of dollars in business to for-profit companies run by friends or relatives, critics say. "The IRS has given out tax-exempt status to these companies without really checking whether they are filling their tax-exempt purpose," said Joseph Rooney, deputy commissioner of the Division of Financial Regulation, which regulates the groups in Maryland.