San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I have a 800+ FICO score and also pay off my credit cards monthly. I have 3.

Two of them reduced my credit lines. They said something to the effect that after reviewing my credit history they have come to the conclusion that since I rarely used more than 30% of my credit line, it was too high and unnecessary so reduced it.

I'm not sure where the tightening is coming from. My brother just bought a place. He put down 3.5%, with a gift from our parents. My parents also co-signed on the loan. The loan is for almost 6x his income, the lender knew he required a roommate to even make the mortgage payment. And the place is a fixer-upper. This is in Lakewood California, where for some reason prices have started to uptick a bit.

Same here. I recently signed up for a CC to get some airline mileage. Get the statement, and it is for a limit of 25K! I am wondering if this is good for my FICO, which is quite high. Should I call and have the limit reduced or just cancel the card? I am also a deadbeat, pay off CC every month--have been debt free for years.

0% balance transfer offer from shittybank...

I love Citi they gave me 0 percent for a year. $100 gift card to Ruths Chris just for signing up. Plus I get a $100 gift card everytime I rack up 10,000 thank you points. So far I paid them $0 in interest, gotten $300 in free Ruths Chris. And I earned 4% interest on the balance I carried until I recently paid it off before the 0% promo ended. So far so good I'm up about $600 in gift cards and interest over the past 15 months.

Be very careful with Citibank

I just got a letter letting me know that my current (very low) interest rate is being bumped up to a much higher rate.

I have a very good credit score, pay over the minimum amount every month

the bump is 11 points

I have the choice to opt out - meaning keep my lower rate and not use the card any longer.

I am opting out.

My honey got the same letter, btw

One other thing.

The day I got the letter, I called right away to talk with someone there about it.

I got the "all circuits are busy" voice recording

I thought to myself, "I bet you're getting slammed with calls today if you just did this to thousands of other people."

We got the same letter. Wife getting bumped up or else opt out. I thought maybe I'd missed a payment or something but nope. We are more like 700-ish.

Maybe just people who live/lived in the Encinitas area got screwed?

lol

How's Ojai going for you, Enorah? Are you adjusting well, and are you happy you made the move?

I'm seriously jealous here. ;)

I love Ojai and am very happy to have made the move, thank you for asking CA renter.

My honey dug up the front yard and put in a vegetable garden and we have a wonderful abundance of a variety of produce.

The community here is just right for us, we have gotten to know people very well and easily.

:)

But, it is H-O-T

A few months ago Meredith Whitney said that banks were going to pull a total of 2.5 trillion consumer and business credit lines by the end of 2010. At they time a little over a trillion had been pulled. I believe this was March.

Try getting a new mortgage from your bank lately? Nope, they want minimum 15-20% DOWN for conventional 30 year fixed rate mortgage. Real estate prices in San Diego have not dropped enough for most folks to put down 100k on a new home.

US Bank just gave me a zero percent credit card offer. Also got offer for one of those "Black Cards"
which I promptly shredded when I saw the astronomical annual fee.

Btw, what's wrong with banks asking 20% down? I don't consider that tight in my book.

I got the 'we are raising your rate unless you opt out' letter too. I dont really care, cause I have never missed a payment and never for a second carried a balance. I am supprised I didnt get a letter saying "if you keep this s&!t up, we are canceling your card." I have no fees, and obviusly no interst payments, but get a rebate every month that cuts my payment by a few bucks. The way I see it, they are paying me to use their card to collect the merchant fees I generate. They have gotta hate me.

I dont really understand why people care so much about what the theoritical interest rates are. Pay your bills and it is 0%, plus some rebate credits.

Strangly, I guess this is one of the few cases where the irresponsible subsidize the responsible.

Me too. $495/year, but you get concierge service! And a carbon fiber card that is "sure to get you noticed"! And, uh ... did I mention the carbon fiber card? I love getting noticed!

Same here, but I think we're in the minority. Everyone my wife and I talked to when we recently bought our house seemed to think it was odd--almost subversive, really--that we had no debt, FICO scores approaching 800, and 20% down that came from actual savings. It's like we were being un-American or something.