Update1 (03/01/10):

This new and alarming trend of borrowers prioritizing their credit card payments before their mortgage payments is even occurring amongst borrowers with high credit scores, according to FICO:

“We’re identifying lending industry situations in FICO Score Trends that to our knowledge have never been seen before,” said Dr. Mark Greene, CEO of FICO, in a statement. “Economic instability is creating unknown risk in lenders’ credit portfolios as well as counter-intuitive trends in consumer behavior.”

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now taking consumer comments regarding how they can improve upon the website ‘AnnualCreditReport.com‘. The recently enacted credit card reform has put new rules into place regarding the marketing of credit reports.

According to Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post, consumers have logged significant complaints against the website which offers free credit reports from the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian: Read the rest of this entry »

Why did Experian, one of the “big three” credit bureaus, decide to cut consumers off from accessing their FICO score? While details remain quite thin, the credit bureau decided to do so late last week. The only reason why that I have found so far is what CBS5.com’s Sue Kwon called “a behind-the-scenes battle between Experian and myFico.com.” Consumers may still access their FICO scores through the other two bureaus Equifax and TransUnion.

Experts insist that consumers should continue to pull their credit reports from all three bureaus once a year: Read the rest of this entry »