Focusing On Improving My FICO Score

May 15th, 2008 (Visited 30,584 times)

Having recently taken a focus on increasing my credit score after a period of paying off all my debt, I’ve decided to move this blog in a slightly new direction. Using online credit reports and alerts, I’ve been able to dispute a few very funny items on the reports (imaginary child support for example), and in the past 20 days have seen it shoot up 40 points!

After a while, it’s actually a lot like a game. I notice I’ve started checking it at least a couple times a week to see how things are reporting and such. Given the recent state of things with the housing market, recession, and economy in general, I figure it will be worthwhile to structure this site to reflect that.

For those interested in the random items I’ve posted previously – I’ve actually started a new blog specifically to deal with all the random stuff I encounter, although in a format that’s easier to update more frequently, and more interestingly. I’ll make a post about that shortly once I get everything up and running down there

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Mortgage Loan Assistance Plans Fail, Foreclosures Climb 65%, Bank Seizures Double, And Now A Whole CITY Has Gone Bankrupt? I’m Feeling Pessimistic

May 14th, 2008 (Visited 16,606 times)

Welcome to 2008.

Arizona and a few other states were recently declared to officially be in a recession. Candidates for presidency have been touting loan assistance programs to help people stay in houses they can’t afford for even longer – just on our your dime this time instead of theirs. Hell, even an entire US City has filed for bankruptcy.

I’m feeling pessimistic.

Making the rounds, I found these blurbs to pretty much sum up the financial status of the country. Sometimes it feels good to be “throwing money away on rent”. Especially as I almost took the dive on a “great offer” last year before deciding to rent it first for a year. Looking at this news, I have to say I’d rather be throwing money away on renting than throwing money away on buying.

U.S. foreclosure filings climbed 65 percent and bank seizures more than doubled in April from a year earlier as mortgage industry efforts to modify loans fell short.

More than 243,300 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, began in January 2005. One in every 519 households received a filing and Nevada, California and Florida had the highest rates. Filings rose 4 percent from March.

The worst housing slump since the Great Depression may push the U.S. economy into a recession. Falling home prices, which dropped the most in 29 years in the first quarter, are making it tougher for homeowners to refinance, and voluntary programs to change loan terms for at-risk borrowers haven’t helped enough people, said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates in Washington.

“Loan modification isn’t working,” Rheingold said. “It’s extremely difficult for a homeowner to talk to a servicer and even if they do, it’s hard to get the servicer to change the terms. You get voice-mail hell, they don’t return calls, you can’t get a live person on the phone.”

There was a lot of buzz about loan modification and there still is a lot of talk about helping homeowners and subsidizing failing lending companies, but I really hope none of it comes to pass. Part of the American spirit is being able to fail. Sure, there is a Microsoft every now and then who succeeds by the skin of their teeth, but for everyone of them, there are thousands of other companies who never left the tarmac.

Call me a jerk, but I’ve personally been through a major debt and credit problem when I decided to switch careers without any savings. Jumping out of the plane without a parachute is not too fun. It’s a great learning experience though. I came out three times better than I went into it and I feel I’ve obtained decades of life experience in only a few short years.

But the first part of all of this is accepting the loss. Losing your home, losing your good credit, losing your possessions, whatever. If you enable people with credit card debt and bad spending habits, you only prolong the inevitable.

The First Bankrupt City

This was just funny. Ok it’s “bad funny”, but still funny. I’ve never heard of an entire city filing for bankruptcy..

The Californian city of Vallejo, population 117,000, has filed for bankruptcy. A city has never filed for bankruptcy before in the US. Vallejo’s tax income has been shattered by a 26% fall in house prices. There are other cities on the brink in California. They’re lining up to file.

You can preach “Change” and “Hope” all day long.. but with the layoffs, foreclosures, and housing declines I read about each day on my RSS feeds – I’d much prefer something with more substance. Less talk, more numbers.

Another day, another dollar, I guess. It would just be really cool if I got to keep that dollar this time.

Posted in Funny, Just Shocking, Tragedy, What Do YOU Think? | 1 Comment »

‘My daughter deserved to die for falling in love’ – Iraqi Father Murders Daughter After She Is Caught Talking To A Soldier

May 12th, 2008 (Visited 16,021 times)

You can’t group people into a single label. “Iraqi” does not describe everyone in Iraq as far as beliefs, fervor, and other human attributes are concerned. Just like the term “American” now seems synonymous with mean, fat, lazy, and greedy.

I’ve covered some of the animal abuse from US Soldiers in Iraq and it’s elicited some very emotional responses.

Now to cover extremes on the other side of the coin, I wanted to share this story. It’s sad.. It’s deplorable.. But I think it helps to balance out both sides of the issue and show that idiots and assholes are all over the globe. They wear all sorts of uniforms. They follow all sorts of religions.

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. ‘If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,’ he said with no trace of remorse.

..

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British soldier in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city’s Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.

Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. ‘They are men and know what honour is,’ he said.

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Posted in Ask The Internet, Just Shocking, Tragedy, What Do YOU Think? | 11 Comments »

Is Wal-Mart’s Lack Of Security To Blame For What Could Have Ended Up A Mass-Killing?

May 7th, 2008 (Visited 23,975 times)

Wal-Mart never ceases to amaze. It’s a curse and a blessing depending on who you ask. It’s a place that matches prices of competitors – even without coupons, a company that employs the elderly, while also providing one of the worst employment opportunities around. At least if you ask the Wal-Mart employees who work there.

As a result of the “Low, Low Prices” offered there, it’s not surprising to hear that the security system at Wal-Mart, enforced by senior citizens, can sometimes allow rampant theft to take place, and even more serious crime like the instance below.

If nothing else, it makes you think about where you go and who else is there. Standing in line for lunch, about to get onto the freeway with your windows down, or even in your cube at work. Crazy is everywhere, it seems.

And while most places of work are not immune to workplace violence, most also don’t stock alcohol, guns, and bullets either. Not that that’s a bad thing – but it does seem to merit some additional thought to security. When something like this happens – should the store share some of the blame?

Elijah Payne – The 18 Year Old Man In Black

Elijah Payne… He became upset with some of his co-workers at the local Wal-Mart and decided that it would be a good idea to go out to his car at 2am… paint his face black… and stroll back into the employee lounge and start shooting up the place.

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Posted in Just Shocking, Tragedy | 3 Comments »

Worst Mother Of The Year! Barely Legal, Three Prior DUI Charges, and Now On Number Four After Being Arrested Stoned and Drunk

May 2nd, 2008 (Visited 39,253 times)

This upsets me physically. Especially so close to Mother’s Day. A friend sent me this and I couldn’t help but feel incensed that unless something tragic happens in the next couple weeks, this woman will be somebody’s mother.

Meanwhile, there are well meaning potential parents out there who desperately want children but cannot have one of their own.

If there was ever an argument for sterilization, it is Nicole VanNeil:

Nicole VanNeil is just a year over the legal drinking age, but already has four arrests for driving under the influence.

In the latest case, Hillsborough Sheriff’s Deputies say VanNeil was eight months pregnant when she was pulled over and failed her field sobriety test.

VanNeil’s bulging belly can be seen on video taken from the deputies dash cam. She later refused to take both a urine and breath test and was also charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Her previous DUI arrests came in February of 2004, April of 2005, and a month later in May of 2005. All three of those DUI arrest happened before her 21st birthday.

(TampaBays10 Local News)

The video from the dashcam of the police car has been released and can be seen below:

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY An 8 months pregnant Lutz woman has been arrested for driving under the influence and other charges.

Hillsborough County deputies said Nicole Vanneil, 22, was swerving and crossed the yellow line while driving on Hanna Road in Lutz on April 17. They said they smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from Vanneil’s car and found marijuana in a pill container and a pipe under her seat. They also said they found drug paraphernalia in her car’s center console.

It looks like Nicole is all set to join the fabulous mom’s club along with these two wonderful mothers:

Brittney Spears

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Posted in Celebrities, Just Shocking, Photography, Tragedy, What Do YOU Think? | 8 Comments »