When you cry “Fire”, you expect there is a fire. When you cry “Wolf”, you expect a predator is coming. The VantageScore created a major crisis this week that reached all the way to the White House. Unfortunately, there was no crisis, no fire, no wolf. It was all about nothing. This is a big one. Congratulations Vantage Score, you got millions of consumers excited and upset all about nothing. Nothing!

There are four separate home buyers purchasing the same exact home with the same sales price of $300,000, same seller concessions and down payment. Everything is the same for the four buyers except how much they eventually pay. You would think since the sales price is the same for the four buyers, they will all pay the same. They don’t. They all will pay different amounts. This unfamiliar oversight is the most costly mistake most prospective homebuyers make!

Most every homebuyer is unaware of the potential savings / she is bypassing by not knowing this critical information. This blog pulls the curtain back for homebuyers - your loan officer is not going to tell you this information. We will - this is critical to know!

Nathan Grant from Credit Card Insider says that closing a credit card will lower FICO credit scores. Say What!?! This is actually a strategy I use quite often to raise a consumer's FICO scores. He points out that there is a lot of misinformation, but he fails to realize, he is the one generating the misinformation by telling people to not close a credit card account.

There is a lot of misinformation about credit and finances. A story generated by a recent study from Lending Tree shows that consumer's scores drop when they purchase a home and take out a mortgage. This is absolutely incorrect! Have to call out this one.

Follow those free online credit scores at your own financial peril. Such scores are different from the lender's FICO® scores and can cost you lots of money. Curtis found out the hard way.