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 Consumer Credit

November 4, 2004

November 3, 2004

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit News               
Washington, D.C. - November 4, 2004

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today issued three notices expanding previous relief from Notice 2004-66, which suspended certain income limitations requirements under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code for certain low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties in Florida that were affected by the devastation caused by Hurricane Charley and Hurricane Frances. Notice 2004-74 provides similar relief for Alabama areas struck by Hurricane Ivan; Notice 2004-75 includes relief for Ohio areas struck by severe post-hurricane storms and flooding; and Notice 2004-76 amplifies and supersedes Notice 2004-66 expanding relief to Florida areas struck by Hurricanes Ivan and Jeanne as well as the original areas affected by Charley and Frances. Click here for copies of the notices.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit News               
Denver, Colo. - November 4, 2004

The Colorado Housing & Finance Authority (CHFA) announced a low-income housing tax credit (LITHC) application workshop December 2, 2004 from 9 a.m to 12 p.m. in Denver, Colo. CHFA will explain the new features of its LIHTC application for 2005 and share tips that will expedite the processing of the application. Interested participants can RSVP by e-mail to paulah@colohfa.org. Attendance is limited to 40 participants and reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis and priority will be given to multifamily housing developers. A second workshop will be scheduled for December 7, 2004 if interest from multifamily housing developers exceeds the 40 spaces available.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit News               
Washington, D.C. - November 2, 2004

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today finalized a rule setting annual housing goals for government sponsored entities (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the next four years. These targets will increase year-by-year from 2005 through 2008. HUD's rule establishes new subgoals for low- and moderate-income, underserved areas, and special affordable percentages of home purchase loans that are purchased by the GSEs. HUD says the final rule includes consideration of more than 300 comments received from the GSEs, Congress and a broad spectrum of organizations within the mortgage finance industry. After analyzing the comments and reviewing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, HUD reduced by one percentage point some of the housing goals from the levels contained in the proposed rule.

Don't Get Scammed!

Last week an e-mail scam was perpetrated on Discover Card users, in which the scammer sent messages to millions of people suggesting that they click on a link to re-enter their important data into the Discover Card web site.  When they clicked on the link, they saw the actual Discover Card web site - but when they entered the data, instead of going into Discover's database, it was sent via e-mail to the thief who sent the e-mail.  It was clever - because it gave none of the usual indications that you were dealing with a thief.  Except that the first rule of thumb is to NOT give your valuable information out to somebody who requests it by e-mail.  In many cases, this is an easy suggestion to obey; but the case of the Discover Card, it was more difficult - almost a perfect scam.  The Discover people acted quickly, placing obvious notices on the page to which the e-mail scam message linked, and subsequently sending out the following note to their card holders.

This is from the Better Business Bureau:

Many credit repair operations 'guarantee' that they can remove negative information from consumers’ credit reports, even if the negative information is accurate and timely, "said Elaine Hugunin, president/CEO of the BBB serving central and northern Arizona. This is absolutely not possible".

More than 60 credit repair operations have been identified as selling instructions about how consumers can substitute a false Social Security number for their current number and 'start fresh' with a new credit identity. They claim the scheme is perfectly legal.

"This is also not true. In fact, it is a felony, and any credit repair operation that claims it can improve a consumer’s credit report and charges for that service in advance is violating the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), a new federal law designed to help consumers combat fraudulent credit repair scams," said Hugunin. "The only true way for a consumer to repair a poor credit report is through time and personal debt repayment plans."