Equifax data breach prompts Fannie to change guidelines

 Loan Guidelines, Residential Mortgage  Comments Off on Equifax data breach prompts Fannie to change guidelines
Jan 202018
 

For more information, please contact me at (512) 261-1542 or steve@LoneStarLending.com.

By G. Steven Bray

The recent Equifax data breach affected millions of consumers. One of the remedies suggested by cybersecurity experts was for consumers to freeze their credit files with Equifax. The credit bureau made it easy for consumers to initiate the freeze, so many followed the advice.

Unfortunately, cybersecurity experts aren’t mortgage experts, so they didn’t realize the potential ramifications of freezing one’s credit. Mortgage guidelines require a lender to obtain credit information from all three major credit bureaus. If credit has been frozen, the applicant must unfreeze the file before the lender can approve the loan.

Fannie Mae recognized the potentially significant impact of this situation and changed its guidelines. For now, if a borrower’s credit file is frozen at one credit bureau, a lender can proceed as long as credit data is available from the other two bureaus and at least one of them reports a score.

Credit bureaus may boost your credit score

 Credit Scoring  Comments Off on Credit bureaus may boost your credit score
Feb 152017
 

For more information, please contact me at (512) 261-1542 or steve@LoneStarLending.com.

By G. Steven Bray

The three national credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian) announced that they will change the way they collect public record data. These are items like judgments and tax liens that appear on your credit report. The change is due to concerns the bureaus have with the accuracy of the data. Specifically, the bureaus will:

– require public records to have minimum identifying information including a person’s name, address, and SSN and/or date of birth; and
– require public records to be collected and updated at more frequent intervals.

So, why should you care? The bureaus have analyzed the potential effects of this change and have concluded that:

– approximately 96% of civil judgment records may not meet the new requirements; and
– as many as half of tax lien records may not meet the new requirements.

If a record fails the meet the new requirements, the credit bureaus will not include it on your credit report.

The changes are expected to take effect no later than July of this year.