49reasons

I have and Advanta card, great credit score and always pay my bill early (not on time but early). Advanta is in dire financial straights. Stock is down more than 70% (even worse than most banks) and they are desperate for new business. The problem is that Advanta does severe bait and switch on customers. They gave me 0% and then without warning changed the rate to 9.5%. Google advanta and you'll see many worse stories that this. I did not change my spending, did not exceed any limits, did not violate any agreements, and did not incur any fees. They simply offered 0% one day, and upped it to 9.5% the next. Pure bait and switch. Stay far away from this company.

There was an excellent article in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago, about how credit card companies are in bed with Universities and there are serious conflicts of interest. The article is called "Colleges Profit as Banks Market Credit Cards to Students". If you're a student, please be aware that your school may be getting a kick back from the credit card companies they invite on campus. Schools are also selling student information to these companies. Instead of using university leverage to get lower rates and better deals for students, they are just taking kick backs. It is really shameful and wrong. Instead of promoting responsible credit use, many universities are using students to make money off of banks. Read the article and beware!

link to article > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/business/01student.html?scp=4&sq=student%20credit%20card&st=cse

Please remember the number one rule of real estate...it's all about the deal. The listing agent, the buyer's agent, the appraiser, the mortgage broker, the underwriter, the inspector, the lawyer, the seller...all of these people only get paid if the buyer buys! Remember that everyone wants the deal to happen so they can get paid, and that they want to deal to happen as quickly as possible. Remember this and you will be ahead of the game. Believe me, it is a game. The buyer has all of the control, but very few buyers know it. If you have a little experience, buy through the listing agent and not with a buyer broker. Remember everyone wants the deal to happen. Use this to get the best price from, the seller's agent (yes, the seller's agent). They make 6% if you don't use a buyer's broker. Bid low and they will promote your offer over someone with a buyer broker. I'm not being cynical. I'm telling the truth. Ultimately, you count on a Realtor to know valuation but very few of them do. Most Realtors are not very knowledgeable about the properties they list. A car dealer usually knows more about a car he's selling even though the deal is much smaller. I rarely meet a listing agent that even knows the basics of a property they are listing. It's sad but really you are your best agent. Bid to the seller's agent and find a good inspector.

The problem today is that spreads are historically high. Spreads are the difference between the 10 year note and the rate a mortgage lender will give you. Historically, the spread is about 1.5 to 2 basis point. Right now, spreads are 3.5-4%. Banks are nervous and losing money, so spreads are increasing. The lender keeps the spread. Right now, mortgage rates should be about 4%. Rates change daily in the market. Go to finance.yahoo.com to track the daily trends. Ticker symbols are ^TNX for 10 year notes.

Though this data suggests a trend, keep in mind that there are many other variables behind the credit scores above. In general, this correlation makes sense, but 0% utilization people could be very active card users that always pay off their balance each month. Also, to fit the correlation above, you have to fit the consensus model from which it was derrived, which I don't. My score is much higher than it should be compared to the graph above. That is because of the many other variables that play on the FICO score. Utilization rate is typically 30% of your overall score, per myfico.com