Showing posts with label credit score. Show all posts
Showing posts with label credit score. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Use Old Credit Cards to Raise Your Credit Score

The popularity of switching credit card companies has grown in recent years and with good reason. The climate of the credit card market is so hot that better offers are constantly popping up. Applying for a new credit card is indeed a smart thing to do if you are going to save money and not hurt your credit score.

You may already know but for those who don't, each time your credit score is queried it is recorded and if you accumulate too many of these it will hurt your credit. If at all possible you should not blast a request for credit from multiple lenders in a short time span. You should shop around and find 1 or 2 offers that best suits you and your situation, then apply for credit.

When trying to choose which offers are best for you, only consider the ones that will lower your current interest rate. This should narrow the choices to a handful. At this point you should consider your lifestyle. Almost all companies now offer some type of rewards programs. The goal here is to switch to cards that save you money and offer rewards that you will take advantage of, there is no need to have cards that accumulate skymiles if you do not fly.

It is important not to close old credit card accounts if you do not have to pay a membership fee. These cards are not to use, put them away and forget about them. The reason you want to keep them is they show a long standing credit relationship on your credit report this helps to raise your score. The available open credit limit also shows financial responsibility. The key is to not use these older cards anymore.

These tips should help you choose the right credit card offers and improve your credit score at the same time.

Looking for some credit repair ebooks to help with your credit repair decisions? Both of these are excellent choices: Debt Credit Repair 750 and also Totally Debt Free Lifestyle: Your Transition to a Better Financial Situation is also a good choice.

Here is a good place to check your credit reports. You cant repair what you don't know is on there. They can help: True Credit

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

An Easy To-Do Credit Repair All By Oneself by James Arther

Credit repair is a means that helps one to improve their credit report, get lower interest rates on loans and improve the overall credit status. There are a lot of service providers that offer services to fix credit problems and prepare effective credit repair programs. There are professional consultants who look in to the matter and repair the credit score for a nominal fee.

Some individuals are not very comfortable with sharing their financial information with other. For them, many websites offer tips and step by step guidance to prepare a credit report and a credit score all by themselves!

An easy five step credit repair system can easily be done by oneself. The first step towards a credit repair is to prepare the credit reports. A credit report prepared is half the work done. The next step is to carefully examine the credit reports and verify it with the creditors. It is important to find errors and inaccurate information in the reports; if any.

After careful examination of the reports and understanding of the same, one should identify with the pattern of payment. Consistent on-time bill payments can improve on certain mistakes. It is very necessary to have a good credit report to have a through credit repair. One should prepare the necessary documents that need to be submitted to the credit bureaus who prepared the credit report. The mistakes and the inaccuracies should be forwarded to the credit bureaus so that they know of the problems present in the credit report. One should keep a copy of all the letters, documents and forms that are being sent to the credit bureau. Communication with ones creditors is also very necessary to rectify and solve certain mistakes. After this, one should devise a spending plan that reduces the debt and sets a pattern to pay up at regular intervals. If one is facing difficulties to make payments, it is advisable to negotiate with ones creditors and plan out new bill payment scheme. Even though this will help only in the short run, one can save ones credit rating.



Debtips is a resourceful channel to make you finance literate and helps you in managing your personal finances. Credit, is the provision of resources by one party to another party. A Credit Report generates financial information about the individual and helps in Credit Repair.

Article Source: http://www.articlecube.com

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Calling Your Way Out Of Debt

Debt is a four-letter word we all want to avoid. However, the cost of living alone is so demanding that debt follows us wherever we go. We have to pay bills, pay for clothing, food, gasoline, taxes, rent, mortgage, car payments, college, etc, that sometimes it is next to impossible not to find yourself humming this four-letter word.

The best way to solve debt is to sit down and find solutions. Solving problems is the first step you will need to take to find a way out of debt. Once you start to see you have options, you can find it easier to cope with your stress and debts. If you cannot find new ideas to help you find ways out of debt, visit your local library and look for debt solutions and guides that walk you through steps in getting out of debt.

Having many resources can help you to pull up new ideas that lead to solving problems. Rather than allowing problems weigh you down, take action now and find solutions that will reduce your stress and your debts.

If you have access to the Internet, search the engines to find relevant links that guide you into debt relief. Stay away from companies that offer to get you out of debt for a high monthly fee. The concept of getting out of debt is to relieve self of extra burden, such as a new bill. For the most part, you can call your creditors and make payment arrangements. The creditors are often glad to hear from you. Rather than have the hounds from hell hunt you down, the creditors would rather keep you as a friend, since they want you to pay your debt and incur future debt with their company.

You have recourses when it comes to finding ways out of debt. Debt elimination is not an option, since when you get rid of one debt another will follow. You get the point. The solution is getting out of the past debts you owe, set a budget and avoid spending more than you can afford. Pay off one debt at a time, until gradually you find relief.

To avoid incurring additional debt, stay away from credit cards. Only use your credit cards to pay bills, and payoff your credit card as soon as possible to avoid high interest rates. Stay away from payday loans also, unless you see that you can avoid late fees and can payoff the loan right away. Keep in mind however, that payday lenders often attach a steep fee.

The above tips are just some of the many ways to keep out of debt and manage the debt that you already have. If you can manage your debt effectively you can save a massive amount of money over the years in interest.

Martin Lukac represents RateEmpire.com mortgage rates marketplace which connects consumers with multiple mortgage companies that compete for their business. RateEmpire.com is a destination site of refinance rates and home equity rates.

Article Source: http://www.information-overload.eu/articleland

Credit Score and How It"s Built

Credit Scores are so important because they are used for everything today. They determine the interest rate on loans; auto, personal and mortgages. They determine the premium you will pay for auto insurance etc.

How do you build an excellent credit score? There are three important factors that build you score.

1. History - your payment history is an important part of building your credit score. The credit bureaus monitor the amount of delinquencies (past due accounts) you have. It is very important to make your payments even if it is the minimum on time. Judgments and collection accounts will have a larger impact on your score; the drop in points will be substantial. Medical collections are seen on credit reports all the time usually for small dollar amounts. FYI: If the collection agency is not updating the file it is recommended to leave it alone. From what I have learned if it hasn't updated in six months it is no longer impacting your score. If you now pay that debt it will re-active the history and effect you score. I'm not saying don't pay the debt because it looks better in the long run that it is paid when applying for a mortgage it will need to be paid. I'm saying if it is small amount to pay it in full because if you are making payments the negative history will start reporting again.
2. Length of Credit - this makes up a good portion of your credit score. If you have no credit score and are just starting out it takes at least six months of good payment history to establish a credit score. When starting out do not go out applying everywhere in town since the inquiries also affect your score and you do not want to have excessive inquires on your report. Try not to take out a lot of new credit all at one time since this will affect the history and make it look like you have all new credit.
3. Capacity - this is about 35% of your credit score and often the most misunderstood. Capacity is were they look at your revolving credit limits (credit cards, overdraft, HELOC etc) and compare the balances that are carried. For example if you have 10 credit cards with $10,000 line each and you carry a balance of about $500 a month you will have about 90% capacity available giving you a higher score. If you have one card with a $1000 limit and you carry a balance of $900 every month you will have about 10% capacity giving you a lower score. This is very important: DO NOT CLOSE CREDIT LINES! If you are disciplined and do not use the credit limits given to you do not close them. Closing them can decrease your capacity therefore decreasing your score.

This is a simple explanation on how a credit score is built. Please pay close attention so you too can have an excellent score and get the low interest rates you deserve.

By Lisa Burkhardt is Editor of http://12546bc.NewCreditApplications.com. and http://www.work-home-today.com; great resources.

Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com