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You’ve probably seen the commercials-you know the ones with the catchy band playing in a seafood restaurant dressed up as pirates, or in the parent’s basement or at the renaissance fair.  Hopefully by now you’re thinking “free credit report.” 

Many people don’t even think about their credit score until they need to utilize it for financing. It is best to take preventative action in the security of your identity by reviewing your credit annually.

Just the other day I had a client in to discuss the possibly of refinancing their loan. While reviewing the credit report one of the accounts just didn’t seem right. The next day my client stopped by to thank me, it turns out his identity was stolen, and some credit cards were maxed out. Additional accounts were already opened by the thief but no charges were posted to them yet. My client was able to cancel the cards with a zero balance and have his credit file flagged for fraud.

Basically the fraud alert is attached to the credit report through the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. With the fraud alert, there are extra precautions in regards to a credit account being opened in your name, such as a credit card, car loan, cell phone or store credit cards.

Identity theft and fraud is not just limited to adults- minors can have their identity stolen as well. Since the reporting agencies don’t normally maintain credit files for minors, the process of reporting suspected fraudulent activity is a bit more documented, you may also want to inform law enforcement as well.

Be an aware consumer and put the safeguards in place to keep your identity yours.

With the historic event of the inauguration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden there is much speculation on how the new administration plans to strengthen the economy and how this change will impact the mortgage industry.

With the worse inauguration stock selloff in history, Barack Obama’s administration may need to initially work on jumpstarting the economy before turning their focus to the mortgage industry.

The general consensus in the mortgage industry regarding this new administration is that the government will try and keep mortgage rates low by offering more government programs since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are under the US Government’s control.

We are hopeful that with continued low interest rates and more mortgage programs likely to be made available the home values will begin to rise because of an increase in demand.

As President Obama addressed the nation and world on Tuesday, the challenges we face are real, serious and many. They may not be easily met or in a short time span.

With optimism we look forward to 2009 being a year of shift in the real estate industry, while protecting homeownership and cracking down on mortgage fraud.