A laundry list of readers questions.
It's time to take care of business. Here are answers to some of your recent questions. Anyone who wants to throw any other issues into the wash, please put your questions in the box at the right.
With no notice, three of my credit cards slashed my credit limits by more than $10,000 each. Then they doubled my rate and changed from a fixed rate to a variable one. Is there anything that I can do?
Matt in Coral Springs
You could call your credit card company and make the case to show your situation hasn't changed. But honestly, I don't believe it will work. Credit card companies are doing these things to good customers everywhere. I don't believe they care what the reaction is. What I'd do instead is start shopping. For a better card or set of cards.
Where can I find textbooks to buy used or at a discount
-Melinda
A few years ago I wrote about the savings that can be found on websites devoted to textbooks. Since then, plenty of competitors have entered the fray. So along with my list, below, you might try some of the others, including Better World Books, which gives a portion of purchases to a fund to increase global literacy.
Popular sites for buying and selling textbooks:
half.com
TextbooksRus.com
ecampus.com
Buy.com
TextbookX.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Amazon.com
BestBookBuys.com
Can you buy a house if you do not have a job?
-Leanne
I hope not. Isn't that part of how we got into this mortgage mess, because people who couldn't afford to repay mortgages were allowed to borrow anyway?
Seriously, though, there are cases where you can buy a house without having a job. If you have enough cash. Or enough assets that are producing income that will cover the mortgage, a job isn't always necessary.
But a loan that doesn't require proof of income is very hard to get these days.
Harriet Johnson Brackey, the personal finance columnist for the Sun Sentinel, is an award-winning business reporter. Her columns for 2008 were named "The Best in the Business," a national award chosen by her colleagues at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
Comments
My husband opened a secured credit card (5000) in 2007 to establish credit.
It worked! His credit score was in the high 700's in the begining of 2007 when we were pre approved for a mortgage.
During this time he has received other credit cards & decided to close the secured account and get his 5000 cash deposit back.
He paid the balance & agreed with the CC company to deduct any possible future finance charges from the security before returning the 5000.
Unfortunately, we were out of town when the 1st late payment for 2.49 came in & when the 2nd came for 4.78 & was finally paid the damage to his credit score was done, down to the high 500's!
We were in the process of buying a home & his credit score was now too low to secure financing due to this and we were forced to cancel the purchase contract.
What can we do to rectify this.
The CC compant says they did nothing wrong???
Posted by: kathy | July 29, 2009 5:12 PM