Posts Tagged ‘Credit Score’

Bad Credit, Credit Cards

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Credit cards are a luxury, not a necessity. They allow you to spend money that you don’t have on hand or if at all, with the full intention of paying it back to the bank or issuer that is essentially lending you the money. While it may seem hard to believe, there are several people out there that have trouble with the concept of having to pay money back to a credit card company. They usually end up having terrible spending habits and dig themselves a huge hole from a financial standpoint. This can severely impact them the rest of their lives, because they can be labeled with bad credit. Once you have a bad credit score, it can impact other major purchases you would normally be able to get without difficultly.

A credit score basically is your reliability on paying the credit card company back once the charge has been made. It shows how much outstanding balance you have in regards to credit cards, bank loans, mortgages, etc and shows your history of paying them all back in full and the time length it took you to pay them back. All these are factored together to give anyone looking to give you a loan an idea of what to expect from you past purchasing behavior. Why this is so important is because when you have bad credit, due to whatever reason, you end up having to pay higher interest rate as your punishment. Higher interest means you’re paying extra money on whatever you charged. If you had been able to keep your credit strong, you would have a low interest rate so less money would be wasted on credit card charges. (more…)

Cheap loans for debts

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

If you are in so much debt that you do not know where to turn, and have no way to get back on your feet, many consumers have contemplated (if they have not already filed for) bankruptcy. However, there are other solutions which you must consider before ultimately filing for bankruptcy. And, these alternatives, are much less threatening to your credit score, and the ability to take out future loans if ever needed. So, before considering bankruptcy, consumers can consider a debt consolidation loans. These debt consolidation loans are typically chosen by consumers who have defaulted on loans, and stopped responding to their creditors completely. Yet, choosing debt consolidation loans are a great way to pay off debts, and not have to file for bankruptcy.

Debt consolidation loans are the process of obtaining one loan, from a debt consolidation loans company, and using that loan to pay off all your creditors. Therefore, instead of making seperate payments to all your creditors each month, you will only be making one monthly payment to your debt consolidation loan company which is taking care of the consolidation process for you. The company will work on the debtors behalf, and contact all of their creditors. They will negotiate with these creditors to get a lower rate in order to pay off the entire debt; in other words, these services will write off a large portion of the overall debt you owe to your creditors.

Debt consolidation loans are a great option for consumers as an alternative to bankruptcy. The loan consolidation company will charge you a monthly payment, which will be put into a trust, and this will be used amongst making the payments to all your creditors. The debt consolidation loans company will also take their fee for their services from this monthly payment you make. Whatever is left after their fee has been paid, is spread out among all your creditors. These monthly payments will continue being spread to creditors until the agreed upon negotiated amount is paid in full. This consolidation service allows debtors to get out of debt for a much lower amount than they originally owe, and they will get out of debt than they would be able to otherwise.

Credit Repair – Maintain the Correct Debt To Credit Ratio

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Credit Repair – Maintain the Correct Debt To Credit Ratio

Many people believe that paying off their credit cards every month is a good idea. And if you are trying to stay out of debt, then I would have to agree with you. If you are trying to build credit and look good to your creditors, then paying off your credit cards every month is actually a bad idea. Let me explain.

Creditors and lenders dont make there money from annual fees on credit cards. They make there money on the interest that you pay each month. If you are paying off your balances each month, the creditors and lenders arent making any money. Creditors want to see someone that can maintain a balance each month and make payments on time. This goes a long way in showing your credit worthiness and actually is built into the algorithm that calculates your credit score.

Your debt to credit ratio is very simple to calculate. Suppose you have a credit card with a $10,000 limit. If your balance on this card is $2500 then your debt to credit ratio would be 25%. A good ratio to maintain to help raise your score would be between 30-35%.
Your ratio is based on all your credit card limits and balances and combined. This actually gives you some flexibility.

If you had a limit on one card of $5000 and a balance of $3250 then your debt to credit ratio would be around 75%. To fix this you could pay off a big portion of your balance or you could ask the creditor to raise your limit to $10,000. The latter costs you no money but alters your ratio to around 35%. With multiple cards there are many combinations to achieve a good credit ratio by upping the limits on some cards and paying down others. I think you get the idea.

It may not be necessary to maintain this high ratio on your credit cards all the time. Use this technique to build your credit fast. If you will soon be in the market to get a home loan or auto loan, perhaps begin moving towards this ratio several months before shopping for a loan. Once you get a loan you can let this ratio go down to something more manageable.

This is just one little technique that can have huge ramifications on your credit score. I hope it helps. And remember to make all your payments on time. This cant be stressed enough. Those 30 and 60 day late payments will kill your credit faster than you can repair it. Good luck!

Credit Monitoring Services – Great tool for credit repair

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

A credit monitoring service is an annual membership service. This service typically gives you immediate access to your credit report from one or all 3 major credit bureaus. You will also receive access to your credit score. This could be the credit bureaus own score or possibly your FICO score. You may want to opt for a service that provides access to your FICO score. This is the score most lenders will use to determine whether to approve your application for a loan or credit card.

As you begin repairing your credit you will be able to monitor your credit score at periodic intervals. This will let you see if the changes you are making are having a positive effect. This can be a great benefit as you will be able to tell immediately what is working and what isnt. Some of the services even offer tools to let you see what changes will benefit you the most, such as paying off a certain credit card, before you even make such a change. This can be very beneficial in determining your strategy to repairing your credit.

By combining your credit reports from all 3 credit bureaus, you will easily be able to see the differences in your credit reports between all credit bureaus. Since each credit bureau maintains its own consumer credit database, dont be surprised to find differences on each one of your credit reports. This is why its essential to get a copy of all 3 credit reports because you wont know which credit agency in advance that a lender might check your credit with.

Alerting is a feature that allows you to receive email notices if any major changes happen to your credit report. Most services allow you to monitor changes from all 3 credit bureaus. This can be an ideal way to detect Identity Theft. Also, if you are in the process of getting a home loan or auto loan, you will want to know ahead of time if something changes in your credit report that may hinder your approval process.

Many of the credit monitoring services even offer Identity Theft insurance. By being enrolled in their service, you entitled up to $25,000 in damages if you are a victim of Identity Theft.

Credit Monitoring as a service then allows you access to your credit report at all 3 credit bureaus, and the ability to see the bureaus own credit score or you FICO score. Alerts can be setup to notify you of significant changes to your credit that could be Identity Theft.

Check out my 3 bureau credit monitoring review page for a breakdown of the most popular companies offering credit monitoring services.

Credit Counseling Vs. Debt Settlement

Sunday, March 6th, 2011

Credit counseling or debt settlement? While naturally Franklin Debt Relief is inclined to argue on behalf of debt settlement over credit counseling, we also recognize that its impossible to declare which program is better because it depends on a number of variables that differ from individual to individual. The purpose of this article is break down which factors you should consider before choosing the appropriate option.

1.What can you afford? Credit counseling programs tend to be a lot more expensive than debt settlement programs. The reason is simple: credit counseling only produces results on the interest rates, whereas debt settlement is able to actually negotiate the amount you owe. Simply put, if you are in a true financial bind, then the clear choice for you should be debt settlement, and on a pure money saved basis, debt settlement will almost always be the answer. Although this is undoubtedly an important factor, it is not the only variable to consider before making a decision on which program is best for you.

2.What sort of credit impact can you tolerate? Some credit counselors out there will undoubtedly tout that their program doesnt affect your credit score negatively. This is a play on words. Sure, your score wont drop, but ask any lender what the impact is to your loan application. Let me save you some time—its devastating. That being said, debt settlement is no better for your credit, and lenders in general definitely do not like seeing debtors seeking outside help for their financial situation. On the flip side, they definitely do not like seeing the past due marks from enrolling in a settlement program. So lets consider this example: Four years ago, John decided to use credit counseling, and Mary decided to follow the debt settlement path. They both have the same income and expenses, and they both apply for a $200,000 mortgage. Who is more likely to get it—John, who is 1 year away from completing his credit counseling program, or Mary, who finished her debt settlement program 1 year and half ago and has since been rebuilding her credit? While this may vary from lender to lender, in general Mary would be considered the better loan applicant. What if John paid a lot per month and they both finished their respective programs in the same amount of time? By itself, the credit counseling program would be better for your credit, but when you factor in the fact that Mary would probably have more savings to contribute to a down payment, shed still probably be considered the better loan applicant. Do I think this is fair? Not at all. Its ridiculous that lenders are so harsh on clients of credit counseling programs. Unfortunately, the system is flawed, but until there are adjustments made to correct it, debt settlement clients will be in a more favorable position to obtain new credit upon completion of their program.

3.Who do you owe? So you can save more money in debt settlement, but not always. If you owe a more aggressive creditor like Citibank, then its possible that credit counseling or bankruptcy may be a better option for you. The reason: Citibank not only tends to settle for more on average, but they are also more likely to pursue legal action to collect a debt. Although under most circumstances debt settlement is still successful with these creditors, it is a much riskier undertaking when youre dealing with Citibank. If you cannot afford credit counseling and your debt is exclusively with Citibank, then unfortunately youre probably better off filing bankruptcy.

4. What is your personality type? Ive read just about every article online regarding credit counseling versus debt settlement, and Im amazed by how most finance authors eliminate the human element from this discussion. The bottom line: debt settlement is not for the faint-hearted. There is no guarantee that everything will work out completely as planned. Some settlements may be higher than estimated. Some settlements may be lower than estimated. You will inevitably get some creditor calls. This is the nature of the program, and you must be willing to accept some level of uncertainty before enrolling.

I organized the following 4 questions in this order on purpose. After all, if you cant afford credit counseling, then its pretty much out of the picture as an option for you anyway. I dont mean to sound overly cynical, but we live in a material world and issues like having an anxious personality must be sacrificed when you dont have the money necessary to freely exercise this aspect of your character. On the flip side, if you have 100% Citibank debt, it would be foolish for you to choose debt settlement over credit counseling or bankruptcy just because you fancy yourself a risk-taker.

There are countless other variables that influence whether debt settlement or credit counseling is appropriate for you (i.e. what state you live in, your income source, etc.). Your best bet is to discuss your individual situation with someone knowledgeable in these arenas.

Personal Liability on Business Credit Cards

Monday, February 7th, 2011

If the business does not meet these criteria, the business credit card issuers will use the credit history of the principal making the business credit card application as their basis for evaluating credit risk.

Do note that most business credit card issuers will not approve your application for a business credit card unless you agree to the personal liability provision. This essentially makes a business credit card the same as a personal credit card from a personal liability point of view. Hence, whenever your business fails to repay the business credit cards, the issuer may invoke the personal liability agreement in order to collect payment from the business credit card principal.

Because of this personal liability provision on your business credit card application, your personal credit reports will also contain a record of your business credit card history. You will therefore damage your personal credit score if you make late payments on your business credit cards. If your business accumulates a big debt, it will inflate your personal debt burden and cause you to appear overextended.

The personal liability agreement, however, is not always cast in concrete. If you can show that you diligently make your regular payments, you should be able to convince the issuer of business credit cards to remove the provision after a few years. It would really be up to the issuers whether they decide to grant you your request or not. Nonetheless, you could always try to negotiate with them. Whatever the case may be, endeavor to have the business establish its own credit history. This will eventually allow you to separate your small business credit card from your personal credit records.

You must be aware that since business credit cards are not intended to be used by consumers, the consumer protections applicable to personal credit card are not necessarily present in business credit cards. When making use of personal credit cards, the law grants you the right to dispute billing errors on your account within the specified period of time. Within this period, the card issuer cannot mark the disputed amount delinquent or cancel the card. This particular right of the consumer is not applicable to the holders of business credit cards.

When you receive ordered merchandise in poor condition, you cannot dispute the charges and in case the vendor refuses to cooperate, request the business credit card company to intervene on your behalf as they do in the case of personal credit cards. With business credit cards, you are largely on your own.

So, should you carry a small business credit card rather than a personal credit card? The answer is: Yes. Once your business has established its track record, you can separate personal and business finances. That will work well both for you and your business.

Credit Card Offers – Credit Card Application

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

Everything-Credit-Card.Com is a website that is dedicated to everything that is credit cards. On this site they offer you the best type of cards. There are the cards that offer airline miles, bad credit cards, balance transfer, cashback , there are cards with cash rebates. There are low interest rates cards and gas rebates. There are prepaids cards an rewards cards. There are so many different types that you would think that there is a card for everyone. On this site you can fill out any Credit Card Application for any card you want. What you should do before you apply for credit cards is that you should apply for a free credit report.

This is very easy to do. Go online to Free credit report .com and click on the tab for free annual credit report. Everyone is allowed one free credit report per year. These reports do not include the credit score, for those the credit card company will charge a small fee. Then you follow the instructions, there will be a phone number where you can call and order online but it is automated and they have a hard time getting all the information.

You can go online and you can order and they will send you via the mail. Check out and see where you stand and what if any bad debt is on there as well. Try not to make too many credit inquiries because they actually go on your credit report, so dont answer all credit card offers you get in the mail or online through email. There are many free credit report resources that this is not the only way. You can actually get the report via email as well.

If you are the owner of a lot of bad debt, you should take steps to correct that. Try debt consolidation, with debt consolidation you want to be able to pay all of your bad debt by contacting a debt consolidator company and show them your credit report and then they will work up a settlement in which the credit card companies are willing to accept and then for a low monthly payment you can pay down your debt.

This will eventually clear up your credit. If you choose to do nothing about credit cards that have been written off as bad debt. You can wait 7 years and the information will come off of your credit report. But if you pay back the debt, it will show bad debt but it will also show that you paid it which looks better to other potential creditors. Credit repair is hard to do , it is possible but it can take a months to a year to reestablish good credit.

If you own a home and you need to refinance your mortgage, before you make any crazy decisions try looking into any and all Home Mortgages Resources, which includes refinancing or a home equity loan. Dispense all of your resources before doing something rash. Some times people juts need a little help. Some people need a few hundred until Friday when they get paid. This is when Payday loans come in. These are quick, easy and some are no income loans. The money is taken right from your bank account.
If you need a few hundred or a couple of thousand, look into all of your personal loan resources and see if you can come up with a legitimate loan. Paydays are legit but in places like New York they are not allowed. The payback amount, some say are too high for the small amount you borrow.
Visit www.everything-credit-card.com today and find the great offer credit card that best fit your needs from select various credit card offers. We can also help you find best rated auto loans, auto insurance, payday loans, personal loans, home morgage loans that suits your finacial needs and much more ……

Credit Card – Suggestions

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

Suggestions of cards that are created and maintained for people with an imperfect credit history. Numerous cards that allow those with no credit to apply and successfully be granted a credit card in order to begin building up and improving their credit card history.

The first card offered is the Orchard Bank Gold MasterCard. This card comes with all the privileges and benefits of a normal gold card and reports to all 3 credit bureaus monthly. This monthly reporting can help improve your credit score. The annual fee is $79 and the late fee is $35. The card offers a 25 days grace period and an overlimit fee of $30. Thee APR is on the high end at 14.9%.

The next card on offer is the First Premier Bank Gold MasterCard. This card offers instant notification of approval and 24 hour access to their premiere quality customer service. There is a low APR on purchases, a 25 day grace period, a $25 late fee and a $25 overlimit fee. As with the Orchard Bank Gold MasterCard, a consumer needn’t worry about his or her credit history in order to be considered for this card.

Another card suggested by Credit.com is the Centennial MasterCard. This card offers a low APR on purchased and quality customer service. It also has a 25 day grace period, a $25 late fee and a $25 overlimit fee. The site also recommends the Total Visa Card. This card offers an instant online decision as to acceptance and monthly reporting to all the major credit bureaus. You can access your account online for free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The annual fee is $48, the grace period is 25 days, the late fee is $29 dollars and the overlimit fee is $25.

The last two cards are the First Premier Bank MasterCard and the New Millennium Bank Secured Platinum Visa or MasterCard. The First Premier Bank MasterCard reports to all the major bureaus, has a low APR on purchases, a 25 day grace period, $25 late fee and $25 overlimit’ fee. The New Millennium Bank Secured Platinum Visa or MasterCard does not require a credit check, will approve you regardless of your credit history and has credit limits up to $10,000. The annual fee is $59, the late fee $20 and the overlimit fee $25. However, the APR is an astounding 19.50% so if any of the other cards are available to you, it may behoove you to seek them out before you apply for The New Millennium Bank Secured Platinum Visa or MasterCard.

Banking With Bad Credit

Friday, December 31st, 2010

If you have bad credit, then banking and using financial products can be hard. However, there are ways that you can bank with bad credit and still get the features that you want. Also, if you have good credit there are some actions you can take that will easily ruin your credit score and reduce your ability to get the deals that you want. Here is some advice on banking with bad credit, and how to make sure your credit rating isn’t affected by your banking decisions

Disputing your credit report

One way to ruin your credit rating is to dispute all of the items on your credit report. Although disputing items that you know to be wrong is a good idea, some people try and dispute all items because unless the agency responds within 30 days they have to remove it. The problem with this is that if all the items on your report are removed, a bank or lender doesn’t know if you are a good or bad borrower. They will not take the risk and so you will be left unable to get the financial products that you want. To avoid this, only dispute items on your credit report that you know to be inaccurate or false.

Not paying bills on time

Another way to hurt your credit rating is to pay your bills or bank fees late. If you do this then your credit report will show that you are unreliable, and the interest rates and fees that you are charged are likely to increase. Although it isn’t always possible, try and pay your bills on time. Using an online bill paying system can help you to keep track of when you need to pay.

Bad credit affects your banking

If you have bad credit, then it will affect all aspects of your banking. Your bank is likely to be much tougher on you if they know that you are unreliable or have bad credit. You will be charged higher rates, and you will have limited access to features. Having bad credit will reduce the chances that you can get a competitive credit card and loan from your bank. Although you can still use a bank, having bad credit will harm your ability to use your bank to the fullest.

Improving your credit

There is no easy way to improve your credit, and the best thing to do is to simply pay your bills on time and then when you have the opportunity to borrow, do so cautiously and make sure you borrow only enough to show the bank you can be relied upon to pay the money back. If you are with a bank a long time and show them you are reliable, then you are more likely to get a better deal.

Switching banks

If your credit problems are behind you but you still think that your current bank is giving you a poor deal, then maybe it is time to switch banks. If your current bank won’t reward you for your loyalty, then a new bank might reward you for switching over to them. Even people with bad credit are welcomed by banks as new customers, and so it pays to regularly shop around for the best deals. Although banking with bad credit can be tricky, if you stay financially stable and are willing to look around for a good deal then you will get the level of service that you require.