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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Credit Repair. The SILVER BULLET?

In recent weeks I have had to address the issue of what role the credit repair process plays in helping a person improve their credit rating.

The concept of utilizing credit repair to improve your credit rating is only one part of the puzzle and requires that the client understand that in most cases simply applying the credit repair strategy is not enough. A person must be willing to do other things to outside of the credit repair process to maximize the credit scores.

When you review a clients credit profile to see if they are a good candidate for the credit repair program we must first understand what the total profile of the client is.

• Does the client have a job?
• Do they have any additional accounts open that report to the credit report?
• If so are they able to make monthly on time payments?
• What type of accounts do they have open?
• How old is there oldest delinquent account?
• Do they use a budget work sheet?
• How committed to improving their credit score are they?

These are a few of the questions that are asked in the consultation process to better understand the client capabilities as well as there level of financial education and dedication to the credit improvement process.

It is also important to understand the client’s goals and expectations. If you don’t know this you are potentially setting yourself and the client up for failure. Clients need to have a realistic expectation of the credit repair process and any changes they may have to make in how they handle there finances.

The credit repair process often requires the client to re-establish new types of accounts to begin the rebuilding process. The effect of good payment history reporting to the credit report along with the deletion of unverifiable, obsolete and erroneous information from the credit report will have a profound effect on the credit scores.

Correcting one’s credit in many cases also means re-training a client in the way they handle and think about there finances. United Credit Education Services provides the necessary tools along with the credit repair process that allows a client to get proactive in the credit repair process by providing valuable financial education.

In closing the answer is this; Credit Repair is not the SILVER BULLET. It takes a combination of things all happening at the same time to improve the credit scores. It won’t happen overnight, but if you employee a series of tactics, one being credit repair, your chance of success increase dramatically!

For more information contact:

Mark BustamonteTri-Star Consulting Group
Certified Credit Consultant
http://www.tristarconsultinggroup.com/
http://www.fixmycreditanddebt.com/
866-840-2240 Toll Free
mark@tristarconsultinggroup.com

Thursday, September 20, 2007

What is Mortgage Acceleration?

Brief History:

Mortgage Acceleration is a concept that has been around for about 12 years. It has become fairly popular in New Zealand the UK and Australia. I have heard statistics that indicate as many as 30% of all mortgages in Australia utilize the Mortgage Acceleration Strategy.

Mortgage Acceleration; not to be confused with “Mortgage Elimination Scam”:

The Mortgage Elimination Scam of the early 80’s (may have been around longer and I am sure can be found today if you look hard enough on the internet) was a method were a home owner could contest the validity of the mortgage contract and actually have the contract voided and then get complete ownership on the property with out paying the mortgage. This scam cost many people there homes and/or a lot of money. Bottom line is if you borrowed the money for a mortgage, you most likely owe it.

The Market Place:

Today’s market place is a prime example of why Mortgage Acceleration is a good option. Setting a goal to be debt free from your mortgage and being able to establish some type of retirement account is what most people in this country need today. With Americans saving less then ever before in history, consumer debt in the trillions of dollars and just last month the foreclosure rate up 36% from the previous month (1 in 520 home owners in foreclosure), it seems to indicate that the American consumer needs to get back to basics; Paying off debt and creating saving for the future.

How does Mortgage Acceleration Work?

Mortgage Acceleration is process that minimizes interest expense on your home loan. In other words if you are currently in a 30 year mortgage at 6.5% and you are re paying the loan in the traditional manner then your interest cost is 6.5%. When you repay the loan using the Mortgage Acceleration Strategy your actual interest cost or interest expense is greatly reduced. In many cases depending on the variables your interest cost may only be 2% to 2.5%. This reduction in interest cost is accomplished by reducing the principle balance each month in your open end interest account (HELOC) that is used as the main tool to reduce your principle mortgage balance at strategic times during the life of the loan. This strategy in most cases will reduce the term of your primary mortgage by 2/3rds. Most of the clients I have worked with will save in excess of $100K and is some case $150K plus.

*All this can be accomplished with NO change in your current monthly expenditures.

Is Mortgage Acceleration good for everyone?

Not all clients can meet the minimal requirements to qualify for a Mortgage Acceleration Program. The basic requirements are; a specified amount of equity in your home (determined by analysis) as well as a good credit score. If you meet those requirements then the Mortgage Acceleration analysis should be closely reviewed to determine what the benefit are in savings and reduction of term for your specific mortgage loan.

What if I don’t quality for a Mortgage Acceleration Program?

Don’t worry. If you don’t qualify immediately do to equity position or credit score. There are programs that are designed to prepare you for the Mortgage Acceleration process. Two issues that need to be addressed are the equity and the credit score. Most programs out there today do not have a program in place to addressing these issues, you either qualify or you don’t, period.

The systematic approach to prepare a client for the Mortgage Acceleration is to attack all of the interest bearing personal debt first in a fashion that will minimize interest expense and reduce the pay off term, usually 1 to 3 years. That approach will usually fix any credit score related issues. Now we can apply the margin created through the pay off of the personal debt to increase your equity position so that the HELOC strategy can be put in place with in a few years. Now you will have the opportunity to pay off your mortgage in 8 to 12 years versus 30 years.

Why have we not heard of Mortgage Acceleration before?

This one is really pretty easy. Banks. Lenders, finance companies or what ever you choose to call them, earn there money on the interest they charge you and any other additional fees they can tack on to your loan. So you can see that it is really not in there best interest to make you aware of any method of repayment that will minimize there profit by reducing the interest cost or term of the loan. The longer you have the loan and the more interest you pay, the more profit they make.

As well we have been marketed to for years about how we can make the minimal payment and stay with in our budget and continue to borrow more and more. Most people today have no idea how much interest there paying on there debt or how long it will take them to pay it off. It is time to take responsibility for our individual financial wellbeing and stop allowing ourselves to be lead to the slaughter like sheep’s by the financial institutions.

For more information on Mortgage Acceleration and Personal Debt Elimination please contact:

Mark Bustamonte
Managing Partner
Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC
www.tristarconsultinggroupllc.info
866-840-2240

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Debt Payoff: An Old Strategy Re-born

In this day an age of a “Market under Fire” consumers are inundated with all types of financial strategies encouraging them to stay on track with their credit and debt. While marketing firms for retail shops continue to create new ways to encourage the same consumers to spend smart. An interesting concept that these firms propagate is that we can save money while spending. An oxymoron of sorts seeing how you can’t save and spend at the same time… or can you?

Well, the fact is that we will always have expenses and certainly there are many strategies that can be used based on an individual’s specific situation. While there may not be a way to spend smart per say, there is a way to strategically spend whereby the consumer can create savings and retirement.

The newest strategy to hit the US market is the mortgage acceleration and debt elimination program. It is the paradigm between the need to spend and the desire to save. This program allows for the homeowner to create a checking account that combines the their mortgage and attributes from a credit card to accelerate the time it takes to payoff their mortgage as well as other interest bearing accounts. The mortgage acceleration and debt elimination programs provide consumers a great mathematical formula in a software base where the user can simply plug in the debts, payment dates, interest rates, etc. of their current debts to find an exacted date of debt payoff.

These mortgage acceleration plans can cost from $3,000 to $6,500. A combination of both mortgage acceleration and debt elimination plans can find the consumer paying in the upwards amount of $12,500. Seemingly costly however, if consumers consider that by enrolling in a program they will save on average $150,000 in interest payments. The initial cost is truly minimal and often times, is captured through some type of financing agreement so that the cost to consumers is not “felt” during the program progression.

As good as these programs are there are still questions as to who can these programs help. The answer is everyone however the limitations for most providers is that since the mortgage acceleration product requires some type of Home equity loan or line of credit, only those with a favorable credit score (that being defined as a 680 middle score or above) can qualify for the mortgage acceleration programs.

So these programs are great but unfortunately limited in scope for most. But where there is a will there is a way…

I will address some of these concerns and possible solutions in the next commentary.

Brian Green
Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC
Managing Partner
http://www.tristarconsultinggroupllc.info
1-240-354-8817

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC Press Release

San Francisco, California… August 19, 2007…. Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC was formed this year and very quickly became a full licensee of products and services developed over the years by Financial Freedom International, Inc. a significant player in the personal debt and mortgage elimination arena.

Their combined vision and effort is to help people to achieve their uniquely individual financial purpose. The keys to achieving your financial freedom are:

• Define your Financial Purpose.
• Remove the Obstacles in Your Way (Debt).
• Consistently Apply Proven Financial Principles & Build Wealth.

Who are the principals of Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC?


  • Brian Green a resident of Maryland. Brian was an Economic Major at Frostburg State University. He is President and C.E.O. of the Diligence Corporation. More over he is a Licensed Mortgage Originator- State of Maryland, Experienced Mortgage UnderwriterExperienced Mortgage Processor and Certified Debt Counselor since 2000.


  • Mark A Bustamonte a resident of Missouri. Mark is the Corporate Trainer for new representatives with VR Tech Marketing Group. He is a Certified Credit Consultant for 8 years – Certified thru Central Michigan University. Mark instructed a 12 week EAP Approved Credit Repair and Debt Management Courses for UAW – United Auto Workers (St. Louis and Kansas City Assembly Plants) and is Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist – CMPS Institute


  • W. Jay Williams a resident of Georgia. He earned a B.S. Management, U.S. Air Force Academy and served 5 years as Air Force Acquisition and Procurement Officer.Jay is the owner of Platinum Financial Group, LLC, and GA Licensed Mortgage Broker Company. He has 8 years of Mortgage Origination Experience, 11 years of Real Estate Investing and has Bought, Sold and Managed Over 40 Properties.

Financial Freedom International, Inc. was co-founded by John Rivera & Carol Walker. For the past decade they've worked together on the vision of a debt-free America, which they believe is one key to successfully fulfilling our individual and national destiny of pursuing wholesome stewardship of natural resources and greed-free prosperity.
http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/28375 Meet The Founders.

Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC will market products and services aimed at educating and implementing solution for clients to overcome problematic areas that have become present-day epidemics to over 75% of American consumers. These areas include an abundance of debt, poor credit ratings and the lack/loss of homeownershipThe following issues are challenging everyone since 42% of monthly incomes go towards interest payments:

  • Financial Health - Living on less than they earn
  • Financial Fitness - Keeping more of what you earn by developing sound money-management habits.
  • Financial Freedom - Freeing up what they have and will yet earn, by getting out of debt and managing their assets wisely.
  • Financial Retirement - Enjoying what they have earned, because they now have BOTH time and money.

This is only possible when the first three pillars are complete.

Roadmap To A New Paradigm:


  1. No out of pocket costs or obligation to receive an analysis of yourfinancial profile.
  2. Often no out of pocket cost for our elimination services.
  3. There is usually no change in the amount of your monthly payments.
  4. Mortgages paid off in an average of 6-12 years.
  5. Most consumer debts (credit cards, car loans, student loans, and more) paid off within 6-12 months.
  6. Clients can totally payoff of all your debts including Mortgages 6-12 years average.
  7. Debt elimination strategies work for Individuals, Families and Businesses.
  8. This is NOT a debt negotiation or debt management service that ruins your credit.
  9. Working with us actually increases your credit rating.

The Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC and Financial Freedom International, Inc. are committed to helping you live your life debt free. Join us, learn more and welcome to a new paradigm (a new way to think) about Financial Freedom.


MORTGAGE ACCELERATION - A Realistic Step Toward Wealth

Mortgage debt! Why do we have it? Why can’t we get rid of it? Our modern day society has adapted to living in the moment which usually results in living beyond our means. With all the buzz of failing mortgage lenders and economic backlash, the real winners in this economy are the ones who have taken hold of a disciplined approach.

Mortgage acceleration, not to be confused with bi-weekly payments or a one-time additional mortgage payment toward principle each year, is no hype. The thought of paying off a brand new or existing mortgage in half the time without increasing payments seems way out of line to most. But why? Is it because our parents and grandparents didn’t do it? Truthfully, our parents and grandparents would’ve loved to accelerate their mortgage because they grew up in a time where priorities involved discipline, hard work and family values. They weren’t concerned with keeping up with the Jones’s by vacationing, having nice cars and looking good no matter what the cost.

Truth is, mortgage elimination and gaining wealth is a reality. Yes, it does involve a disciplined process and accurate budgeting. Without those two characteristics, you may as well plan to be in debt forever whether you own a home or not.

The basics of mortgage acceleration involve a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) which acts as a checking account. The HELOC is the driving force which is used to drive down the principle balance of your main mortgage. It lessens the amount of accrued interest over time and as a result saves you thousands of dollars in the process. Once again, your regular monthly payments DO NOT change.

There are many companies offering some form of mortgage acceleration ranging from $1,300 - $5,000. Truthfully, that’s a small price to pay considering the amount of money you will save. Plus, the fee usually comes from your HELOC and is recouped in the form of saved interest payments within a few months. But be careful, some companies may not provide you with what you need regardless of price.


Tune in to my next article when I discuss the pros and cons of the different types of mortgage elimination companies who offer this product. I will also give my recommendations as to which one will work for you.


Jay Williams
Tri-Star Consulting Group, LLC
Managing Partner
www.tristarconsultinggroupllc.info
http://www.financialfree.com/agent/186887
(678) 325-0423