Free Republic

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the housing market meltdown that led to the Great Recession. Is another crisis looming around the corner? Hopefully not, but it is worrisome that a decade later Washington is engaged in the same derelict behavior that caused the crisis. Government agencies are still issuing taxpayer guarantees on more than 90 percent of mortgages -- many with less than 5 percent down payments. Yikes. Worse, the biggest conspirators in the meltdown, the duopolistic credit rating agencies Moody's and S&P, which gave sterling AAA grades on these bonds up nearly to the date they collapsed...

The University of Southern Maine has withdrawn an offer for one college credit for students who travel to Washington to protest as Republican Sen. U.S. Susan Collins considers how to vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. USMaine President Glenn Cummings said Wednesday the “pop-up course” was hastily arranged without his or the provost’s knowledge. The Maine Republican Party shared a Wednesday email in which a university employee says students could receive college credit for taking a bus to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate. The email links to an online form asking students if they’re willing to...

Believe it or not, a recent study conducted by Research Now on behalf of Discover shows that young people are more in touch with their credit score than any other generation in the United States. While more than half of the population of consumers in the US — 61%, to be exact — reported that they are actively trying to improve their credit score, that percentage is concentrated in the younger generations. The highest concentration of those taking steps toward improving their credit score lies in the subset of Gen Z go-getters between the ages of 18 and 21, 87%...

Several gun-related businesses were suddenly — and without warning — disrupted in recent weeks when Intuit stopped processing credit card payments because sales were gun-related, The Post has learned.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/01/visa-card-network-crashes-and-sparks-payment-chaos Visa network crashes and sparks card payment chaos Millions left unable to pay in shops, petrol stations and railway stations across UK and Europe Payment chaos after Visa network crashes – live updates Patrick Collinson Fri 1 Jun 2018 12.40 EDT

Banks and credit-card companies are discussing ways to identify purchases of guns in their payment systems, a move that could be a prelude to restricting such transactions, according to people familiar with the talks. The discussions are preliminary but could be deeply controversial. Gun-rights groups have long resisted any effort to monitor which Americans own guns; there are federal laws limiting the government’s use of electronic databases of gun sales. The financial companies have explored creating a new credit-card code for firearms dealers, similar to how they code restaurants, or department stores, according to people familiar with the matter. Another...

J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup said Friday they are no longer allowing customers to buy cryptocurrencies using credit cards. "At this time, we are not processing cryptocurrency purchases using credit cards, due to the volatility and risk involved," a J.P. Morgan Chase spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "We will review the issue as the market evolves."

Democrats declare that Obama is responsible for the current economic growth we are witnessing. Republicans counter that President Trump’s pro-business actions over the last year are to credit for the current economic climate. We hear the arguments from both sides of the aisle as to why their man and their party was to credit for the continued prolonged economic expansion including steady job growth and record high stock market prices. Fortunately for President Trump, the professionals agree with his argument that he is most responsible for the recent economic gains. According to a Wall Street Journal poll asking 68 business,...

Modern finance has many complex moving parts, and this complexity masks its inner simplicity.Let’s break down the core dynamics of the current financial system.The Core Dynamic of the “Recovery” and Asset Bubbles: Credit Credit is the foundation of the current financial system, for credit enables consumers to bring consumption forward, that is, buy more stuff today than they could buy with the cash they have on hand, in exchange for promising to pay principal and interest with their future income.Credit also enables speculators to buy more assets than they otherwise could were they limited to cash on hand.Buying goods,...

July 23, 2015 The Obama administration formally announced that inspectors general will have to get permission from their agency heads to gain access to grand jury, wiretap and fair credit information — an action that severely limits the watchdogs’ oversight capabilities, independence and power to uncover fraud. An opinion, issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, says the Inspector General Act of 1978 — which was written by Congress to create the government watchdogs in order to help maintain integrity within their agencies — does not have the authority to override nondisclosure provisions in other laws, most...

[I begin] with the story of a series of Socialist scholars conferences that Barack Obama attended when he lived in New York City between the years 1983 and 1985. And when I finally reconstructed what had gone on at these Socialist conferences that Barack Obama attended, I truly was amazed because what I saw was a kind of map of Barack Obama’s entire subsequent political career. It was at this Socialist conferences in New York in the mid-’80s that Barack Obama encountered the groups, the strategies, and the mentors who would guide him throughout his entire political career. [T]hese Socialist...

**Yes...this is a vanity*** On behalf of all of us here at Equifax, I want to express my sincere apology to you and anyone affected by our recent data breach. I can assure you that our number one priority going forward is taking care of you and giving you better control over access to your Equifax credit report. We realize that you likely enrolled in TrustedID Premier reluctantly, and unfortunately it may not have been an easy process. At first we were not fully prepared for the volume of calls, visits to our website and emails received in response to...

The southern, privately built section of Texas 130, which has been an obstacle course of bumps and cracks since shortly after its October 2012 opening, will see $60 million of pavement repairs over the next year in 35 spots between Mustang Ridge and Seguin. Crews in many cases will be removing five feet or more of the road’s “sub-base,” the treated and compacted soil layers that underlie the highway’s asphalt driving surface, replacing it with soil with different, stronger properties, and then repaving those rehabilitated sections. Some repairs will also include installation of impermeable layers of soil alongside the road...

The emails have landed in my inbox, one every other day or so since Equifax revealed that cyberthieves had helped themselves to the Social Security numbers and dates of birth of more than 140 million Americans in the company’s files.**snip**I want out of Equifax’s system. That company no longer has permission to make money off my personal data. I want them to delete my file and never start a new one.**snip**So, can you dump Equifax? And if not, shouldn’t you be able to?

SEARCH FOR SOLUTIONS   Hackers broke into the credit-report company Equifax and stole personal data on up to 143 million Americans. Individual actions can help control the damage. And collective action may lead to new safeguards. The Equifax breach, which occurred over 2-1/2 months, compromised personal data, including Social Security numbers. The incursion affects three-quarters of US adults with a credit score. Here’s a concise look at what happened, the variety of steps that consumers can take, and the pressure for new steps to guard credit data. Q: What happened? From mid-May through July, hackers exploited a weakness in the...

A week after Equifax disclosed it suffered a massive data breach that may have compromised sensitive information belonging to 143 million people, the credit reporting agency's chief information officer, David Webb, and chief security officer, Susan Mauldin, are retiring, effective immediately, the company said in a statement Friday evening.

Credit Karma said it will add Equifax to its credit monitoring service as part of its free product, which proactively notifies members of significant changes to their credit report. It includes a whole suite of notifications for significant changes in credit queries, such as opening new accounts, a change in the status of an account, new personal information or a hard inquiry or application for credit. You'll probably find most of this in some other credit monitoring services, but Credit Karma is now looking to offer it for free as it looks to create a more simple tool for consumers...

You may have never used Equifax yourself -- or even heard of it -- but the credit reporting agency could still have a treasure trove of your personal information. Equifax said Thursday that 143 million people could be affected by a recent data breach in which cybercriminals stole information including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and the numbers of some driver's licenses. Additionally, credit card numbers for about 209,000 people were exposed, as was "personal identifying information" on roughly 182,000 customers involved in credit report disputes. Equifax is one of three nationwide credit-reporting companies that track and rate...

A number of people have argued over the past few days that Hurricane Harvey will NOT boost the US housing market. As if any such argument would or should be required. Hurricane Irma will not provide any such boost either. News about the ‘resurrection’ of New Orleans post-Katrina has pretty much dried up, but we know scores of people there never returned, in most cases because they couldn’t afford to. And Katrina took place 12 years ago, well before the financial crisis. How do you think this will play out today? Houston is a rich city, but that doesn’t mean...

To determine if your personal information may have been impacted by this incident, please follow the below steps: Click on the below link, “Check Potential Impact,” and provide your last name and the last six digits of your Social Security number. Based on that information, you will receive a message indicating whether your personal information may have been impacted by this incident. Regardless of whether your information may have been impacted, we will provide you the option to enroll in TrustedID Premier. You will receive an enrollment date. You should return to this site and follow the “How do I...