Find out how you can use cardcub.com to get a better credit card. cardhub.com CEO also talks about the recently launched Gift Card Wish List and Gift Card Exchange.

During a recent interview with a Salt Lake City newspaper, I told the reporter that I gave the CARD Act a C+. How can the most significant set of consumer protection laws since, well, ever, be anything less than a home run? Simple: Because some of the CARD Act is either meaningless, unfair, based on anecdotal evidence, or just plain silly:

45-Day Advance Notice for Interest Rate Increases – There’s nothing in the Act that requires the notice to be accompanied by fireworks, so if, say, 90 percent of the cardholders trash their notices without evening opening them (and many people do), then it won’t matter if they come 45 days in advance or 450 days in advance. Meaningless!

Under 21?: You Need a Co-signer – Would you trust a 21-year-old with $10,000 any more than you’d trust an 18-year-old? I didn’t think so. There’s no evidence that proves a 21-year-old is in any better shape to manage credit cards than an 18-year-old. Anecdotal!

No More Over-Limit Fees – Thanks for motivating the credit card issuers to come up with another fee to replace the revenue they’ll lose by not being able to charge me an over-limit fee if and when I do charge over my credit limit. At least I could see that one coming. This one was also unfair to credit card issuers, as it kicks them squarely in the wallet. Unfair!

Gift Cards Can’t Expire for Five Years – What a great idea... Give me no incentive to get rid of the small deck of gift cards that have been taking up space in my top drawer for years. Without a realistic expiration date, there is less of a sense or urgency to actually redeem them… and that’s NOT anecdotal. The law should have been that gift cards HAVE to expire after 30 days. Talk about a run on the mall. It would be like cash for clunkers. This was just plain silly!

John Ulzheimer is obviously beholden to no one, which is exactly the opposite of the people who wrote or fought to weaken the CARD Act.

John Ulzheimer – Credit scoring and credit reporting expert and author, John is the President of Consumer Education for Credit.com. Formerly with Equifax and Fair Isaac, John shares his unique insight of the inner workings of credit scoring models and the credit reporting industry on CreditBloggers.com.

Gerri Detweiler, our very own Debt Expert and Credit Advisor for Credit.com, appeared on FOX 35 Good Day recently. Gerri shared her insight on all of the different options for getting out of debt, including DIY debt reduction, credit counseling, debt settlement and bankruptcy.

To find out more, watch the clip:

, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and real estate friend, Stephen Bing – each donating between 10-million and 25-million dollars. The entire list can be viewed at clintonfoundation.org-backslash-contributors. A recent trend shows many credit-card companies skyrocketing their rates about 2-tim … “bill clinton news” “breaking news” “citibank credit cards” “credit card fraud” “credit card news” “credit card rates” “hillary clinton” “national news” “political news update” “secretary of …

I recently wrote a blog discussing the tightening of various underwriting rules by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  FHA has now joined the fray with an announcement of various ways they are tightening the rules.

First, the most important change is the proposed increase in the initial Mortgage Insurance Premium from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent. The initial premium is not a cash payment but instead is added onto the loan balance.

For example, if a borrower were to make a 3.5 percent down payment on a $300,000 home, the nominal loan amount is $289,500. Adding the MIP of 2.25 percent, or $6,513.75, yields a final loan amount of $296,013.75. After making ten years of payments, the loan balance would still not be reduced to 80 percent of the initial purchase price.

Second, FHA has asked Congress for permission to increase the annual premium that is charged to borrowers. Currently that amount is one-half of one-percent, or $123.34 per month. The effect of this change, assuming it is approved, will be to start increasing the FHA reserves that have been bettered by recent losses. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, the agency's reserves fell 72 percent to about one-half of one percent of the balance of the loans it has insured.  

FHA is going to require a minimum FICO score of 580 rather than the previous limit of 500 to get the 3.5 percent down payment program. According to Money-Zine, only 15 percent of Americans have credit scores below 600.  

FHA will do loans for people with FICO scores of less than 580, but they now have to make a 10 percent down payment. At a score of 500, about 97 percent of people have better credit. But FHA says that these are "borrowers who have historically performed well." Given the losses on the FHA portfolio of loans, I would like to see the data that shows such good performance.

In another move, the amount of allowable seller concessions was reduced from 6 percent of the purchase price to 3 percent.

Not mentioned in the article is the widespread rumor that FHA will increase the minimum down payment to 5 percent. Additionally, there is a move in Congress to increase the maximum FHA loan amount in high-cost areas from $729,750 up to $829,750.

Speaking as a loan originator, this makes me wonder why in the world we are doing loans for people who have such bad credit. Neither do I think that it is wise policy to allow 3.5 percent down payments on loans of $729,750 or $829,750. This is not much different than zero down payment loans that created so much of our current problem. Anyone who can qualify for a loan amount that large should have had the financial foresight to save enough for a reasonable down payment, say 10 percent.

I realize the FHA commitment to under-served communities, but the large group of people who have been financially irresponsible does not fall within my definition of "a community." Trying to serve that group is (at least in part) what got us into the current mess we are in.

Randy Johnson – Author of How to Save Thousands of Dollars on your Home Mortgage and Savvy Borrower articles, Randy is a mortgage broker who has financed over $1 billion in properties. He writes about home buying and real estate finance topics for CreditBloggers.com.