Links and Minifeatures 06 04 Monday

By Dan Melson on June 4, 2007 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

**********

Jury indicts Jefferson in bribery probe. More here: Officials say Louisiana congressman is being indicted

He was re-elected after the FBI found $90,000 wrapped in tinfoil in his freezer. He was using his congressional offices to shelter evidence against him from the FBI, resulting in a big stink when the FBI got a warrant from a judge and raided the offices, and found the evidence, and still he was re-elected. He diverted Army and National Guard resources for personal use during the aftermath of Katrina, and still he got re-elected, documented on 60 Minutes for crying out loud.

He's a Democrat, but it wouldn't matter if he were Republican, Libertarian, Reform, or anything else. This is evidence of a broken system, when somebody this bent can nonetheless get re-elected.

**********

A Bad Day In Africa (Short video)

I'm pretty sure most of us have had days where it seemed like that tree appeared out of nowhere at the last possible instant.

3 Comments

My Boaz's Ruth said:

Credit-score "transplants" can create monster mess

Any thoughts on how this change is going to affect the FICO scores of spouses? Is it going to make it a better deal for a household to apply for two different credit cards with the same company, and each use their own or something? I agree people are vastly abusing the system, but I fear the fix is going to cause problems as well.

June 4, 2007 7:55 PM

Dan Melson said:

I read a similar article today, calling the process "piggybacking" In any case, the article "Improving Your Credit Score and Tradelines", describing precisely this, is one of my more popular articles.

As for how the fix will change the system, nobody can say, yet. They have to have some kind of standard modeling for it. Nor is it anything you should pay for, unless you don't know anyone who's responsible about credit - in which case, you need new acquaintances.

It's always something to avoid. Suppose your "benefactor" has a late payment or go over half their credit limit? Now there's a hit to your credit! Furthermore, it always hits your debt to income ratio, in that whatever the monthly payment is will be counted as a debt you owe. Since neither of these is something under your control, you want to avoid tricks like this unless there are no better alternatives

June 4, 2007 9:42 PM

My Boaz's Ruth said:

I have no interest in piggybacking someone else's FICO. But right now my husband and I share our credit lines, etc. So if "authorized users" no longer get credit for credit, I can easily see it getting to the place where one of us will have good credit and the other will have none, since they are just an authorized user on all the credit lines.

(And yes the credit cards do treat authorized users differently. the American express was in my husband's name and I was just an "authorized user" despite the fact that we are married! So they wouldn't let me order a new statement or look at the statement online (which was what they kept suggesting I do instead of ordering a new statement grrr) or any number of maintenance kind of activities. we ended up cancelling over it.)

June 4, 2007 11:42 PM

Please be civil. Avoid profanity - I will delete the vast majority of it, usually by deleting the entire comment. To avoid comment spam, a comments account is required. They are freely available, and you can post comments immediately. Alternatively, you may use your Type Key registration, or sign up for one (They work at most Movable Type sites) All comments made are licensed to the site, but the fact that a comment has been allowed to remain should not be taken as an endorsement from me or the site. There is no point in attempting to foster discussion if only my own viewpoint is to be permitted. If you believe you see something damaging to you or some third party, I will most likely delete it upon request.
Logical failures (straw man, ad hominem, red herring, etcetera) will be pointed out - and I hope you'll point out any such errors I make as well. If there's something you don't understand, ask.
Nonetheless, the idea of comments should be constructive. Aim them at the issue, not the individual. Consider it a challenge to make your criticism constructive. Try to be respectful. Those who make a habit of trollish behavior will be banned.

Search my sites or the web!

--Blogads--

blog advertising
--Blogads--

blog advertising --Blogads--
**********

C'mon! I need to pay for this website! If you want to buy or sell Real Estate in San Diego County, or get a loan anywhere in California, contact me! I cover San Diego County in person and all of California via internet, phone, fax, and overnight mail. If you want a loan or need a real estate agent
Professional Contact Information

Questions regarding this website: Contact me!
dm (at) searchlight crusade (dot) net
(Eliminate the spaces and change parentheticals to the symbols, of course)

Essay Requests

Yes, I do topic requests and questions!
If you don't see an answer to your question, please consider asking me via email. I'll bet money you're not the only one who wants to know!

Requests for reprint rights, same email: dm (at) searchlight crusade (dot) net! ----------------- Learn something that will save you money? Want to motivate me to write more articles? Just want to say "Thank You"?
Aggregators
Add this site to Technorati Favorites
Blogroll Me!