Jordy Blog

My brother Nate is in Boston making calls for the Romney campaign today. Contact me with your phone number if you (or anyone you know) would like to donate.

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I’m happy to see microlending taking root in Iraq because I think business investment is one of the best ways to create stability in any region.  Sadly, the number of sound investments available in any region correlates positively with the stability already in place.  These microlenders are taking significant risks to help fund businesses in a place where hard-working people may not have a lot of options for financial success.  Hopefully these small businesses are successful and repay their loans so business people in volatile regions can continue to attract new capital and build stability one good job at a time.

Thanks Kiva for making these microloans happen!  Thanks to the lenders as well!  I hope that microloans will someday be a major part of my personal investment portfolio.

My sister Shannon pointed me to this Daily Herald article about an industry that’s taking advantage of loopholes in the credit reporting algorythyms. The article tells how Instantcreditbuilders.com helped Alipio Estruch raise his credit score over 150 points in 3 months by adding him on the accounts of several “credit renters”.

Credit renters are people with good credit scores and long payment histories who charge a fee to have a person temporarily added to their accounts, lending them credibility that can save 100s of thousands of dollars over the course of a 30-year mortgage. Credit renting obviously becomes dangerous for lenders AND borrowers when the borrowers begin to bite off more then they can chew. Still, it will certainly appeal to some –especially given the recent changes in the subprime lending market.

No doubt the 3 major credit reporting agencies will be all over this soon, but the “credit faking” industry will certainly adapt with them. At any rate, this is the first time I’ve seen black hat techniques being used institutionally in the credit industry. This could get interesting.