Archive for the ‘Credit Repair Info’ Category
Efficient Ways to Improve Your Credit
If you are one of the many Americans with less than perfect credit, don’t feel helpless. There are quite a few things that you can do to improve your credit rating. First off you should order all three of your credit reports. All three of the main credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) will send you a free copy of your credit report. Make sure to request a copy from all three. All three reports will contain different information as companies that report your credit items are not required to report and sometimes only report to one or two of the three credit bureaus. By getting a copy of all three of your reports you will be able to increase your credit scores at all three of the credit bureaus. You can request a copy of your free report by phone, through the mail or on the internet.
Once you have all three copies off your reports go through each one of them diligently. You want to make sure that everything on the report is reporting accurately. Check the dates, amounts, balances etc. If you find any mistakes highlight them so you can contact the correct credit reporting agency to have them fix your credit mistakes that you find. Each of the reports will have information on the back as to how to contact the credit bureaus to fix these mistakes. If you don’t find any mistakes then that is great! Do not be overwhelmed by the information on your credit report. After some time you will become familiar with all the terms you find on them.
After you are done looking at your report for errors you should review all the companies that inquired into you credit history to offer you credit. Usually this list is towards the end of the reports. You will find a list of loan companies, credit card agencies and any one else that ordered a copy of your credit report in an effort to extend you credit or offer you a job. You should remove your self from the lists that certain companies look at to offer you unsolicited credit. You can doing that by “opting out” at www.optoutprescreen.com.
The final thing you should look at one your credit reports is your available balance to credit limit ratio. This is the amount of your revolving (usually credit card) balances compared to the limit you have. Thirty percent of your credit score is based off of this percentage. You want your ratio to be lower than thirty percent for each account and also total. So in example if you have a discover card with a 10,000 limit try to maintain a balance of less then 3000 at all times. Sometimes you can request an increase to your credit limit. By doing so you can effectively lower your ratio just like paying down your balance. Since thirty percent of your score is at risk pay close attention to these numbers at any time you are thinking about applying for more credit as they have a significant impact on your credit scores and your ability to obtain new credit.
Please note that when you are working to make changes to your credit rating, it can take anywhere from one to two months before those new changes will take effect. If you are in need of obtaining credit please allow yourself ample time. For Professional Credit Repair make sure to check out Lexington Law Firm.
Tags: equifax, experian, improve credit rating, improve credit score, improve your credit, raise credit score, raise my credit score, raise your credit scores, repair credit score, transunion
The Real Cost of Bad Credit
It is difficult to say what the true cost of having bad credit since each person truly has a unique financial situation. Having bad credit could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars over a life time. Repairing your credit could go down as the best investment in your life considering how relatively cheap it is to fix. No one can afford to throw their money away paying high interest money to their banks.
Thinking about how much money you have already thrown away if you do have bad credit can make you sick! I was in the same boat for a long time. All though I didn’t have a mortgage, I did buy a car at a “buy here pay here” car lot. First of all I paid nearly twice what the car was worth (which is customary at these types of places) but secondly, I financed the car loan at 21.9%! I ended up paying $13,000 for a car that was probably worth $6000 when I bought it. OUCH.
If you currently have a mortgage or are thinking of buying a home, please make sure your credit is in order first. The difference in payment between a 620 and a 720 score on $250,000 can be $30,000 or more over the life of the loan.
It took me some time to realize just how important credit is. I mean after all, we learn about Shakespeare in high school, but we are never taught how important credit can be to our over-all financial picture. I fixed my credit, and it will go down as one of the smartest things that I have ever done!
I no longer pay twice as much for credit. I no longer worry about being approved for a credit card at the store or a loan at the bank to buy a car. I no longer have issues with my credit. I have the peace of mind that comes with being responsible with my money and I have control over my credit. I no longer feel lost when it comes to finances.
If you are not to this point yet, I really hope that you do some soul searching and get there. It’s not just about your money. It’s about your time. Your time is so very precious. If you ever want to stop living and thinking like a slave and finally have financial freedom, you need to change your whole state of mind. You need to repair your credit now and learn how to manage your money. Then, pass these valuable lessons on to your kids and extended family. It’s by far one of the greatest gifts that you can ever give someone. Get started today!
If you’re ready stop worrying and start living, let the professionals at Lexington Law Firm help you repair your credit.
Credit Scoring Secrets
You should realize by now that you have been assigned a “credit score” based on your credit history, but how do they come up with your score?
Every time you apply for a loan or credit card from a lender your credit report’s history and score will be scrutinized. Your credit score will most likely dictate whether or not you will be approved for credit.
Credit scores can range between somewhere around 300 and 850. The lower your credit score is, the higher the risk you are to the creditor. Statically, a lower credit score borrower is much more likely to default on a loan than a borrower with a higher credit score.
You should be aware of what your credit score is before applying for a loan. I suggest that you check your credit and your credit score at least once a year make sure it is accurate. Statistics show that 79% of all credit reports contain at least one error, with 25% containing at least one serious error!
To get your true “Fico” credit score the information from your credit reports are run through a mathematical equation that outputs your credit score. The three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion also have a similar calculation that they use, but it does not give you the same accurate score that a lender would look at to issue your approval. The following information from your credit report is used to calculate your score:
- 35% Payment History — Do you pay your payments on time?
- 30% Amount Owed – the amount owed compared to available balance on revolving account.
- 15% Length of Credit History — How long have you established credit?
- 10% Types of Credit – variety is the key here.
- 10% New Credit Obtained — Have you applied for a lot of credit lately?
This information should give you an accurate idea of which factors on your credit report are impacting your scores the most. Remember as well that the more recent an item is the more affect it will have on your credit score. A late car payment from last month will hurt your credit score more than a 3 year old collection will. Credit report repair is not rocket science once you understand the basics of credit scoring.
Turned Down for a Loan? What Next?
So you were turned down for a loan. What’s your next step?
Your first step is to find out the reason for your credit denial. You should receive a “turn down” letter from the lender that you applied with in the mail. This letter should include the main reason for you being turned down for the loan.
Review Your Credit Reports:
Get a copy of your three credit reports. To find out how please visit my review your credit page. Review your credit report taking special care to look for any negative items such as late payments, collections, or public records. Most of these accounts will stand out on your credit reports as they are usually listed separate from the positive accounts. These types of negative records will lower your credit scores and make you appear to be a much risky borrower.
Hire a Professional to Repair Your Credit:
Your very next step would be to hire a professional service to accurately dispute your negative accounts showing on your credit reports. I recommend the experts at Lexington Law firm as they have helped remove over 600,000 negative items from credit reports in 1 year. Their entire process is put together to make everything as affordable and easy on you as possible. You can start for as little as $99 down and $39 per month.
Monitor Your Credit Scores:
Once you have signed up you will want to monitor your progress. I personally use a service that allows me to check my credit reports and scores every month. I have used this service since 2005 and I love having the peace of mind accurately knowing what is on my credit at all times. Using a credit monitoring service will also alert you to any negative changes to your credit reports instantly.
Being turned-down for a loan is not fun. It can amount to a great deal of stress, but it can serve as a wakeup call and make you take a hard look at your current credit standing. Take control of your credit today!
Life after filing Bankruptcy
Filing for bankruptcy often brings with it mixed emotions… relief that your creditors will now stop calling you along with the fact that your bills have now disappeared. At the same time though, you have feelings of guilt and failure. What about the fear of knowing that you are now carrying around the “bankrupt” label? To recover the fastest, you must decisively move forward and live your life.
You are Not Alone: Over 1 million people file every year. People from all walks of life and all kinds of personal and professional backgrounds file bankruptcy. Many famous people have filed bankruptcy as well. Some say that they reached the height of their success after they had filed bankruptcy! If you can accept this is a small bump in the road it, too, will pass.
Credit Rebuilding: The first thing that will need to be done is to re-establish credit. Once you file bankruptcy you will lose your positive credit history that was reporting on your credit report. All your accounts will begin to show up as negative items if they weren’t already reporting that way. Building new positive credit will begin your path towards repairing your credit. You will find bankruptcy friendly creditors on my Build Positive Credit page.
Save More: The average American’s saving rate is terrible. You must start saving NOW, even if amount you start with is small. Since you have filed more than likely your debt load is much lower so you should be able to put some away towards an emergency fund. Please don’t put this advice off. It might be best if you set up an automatic transfer from your checking account into your savings account weekly.
Start Your Credit Repair: Your credit report will have multiple errors after your bankruptcy is discharged. Creditors forget about updating your report when you file against them. You will be surprised how many accounts continue to report you as late or even charged off, with balances etc. This will have a terrible effect on your credit scores. It is imperative that you start your credit repair process as soon as you’re discharged. Not doing so will just delay your healing process.
All this may seem a little overwhelming, but the truth is that learning to handle money is something crucial that we all need to learn. I find it ridiculous that we learn so little about personal finance in. It’s no wonder why so many people go through life “charging” everything only to have to file bankruptcy. Please learn from your mistake and make a major change in the way that you live.
Remove a Charge Off from Your Credit Report
Charge offs stay on your credit report for 7 years from the date of last activity on the account all the while damaging your credit scores. That is such a long time for one mistake to affect your entire financial being. Just one charge off can prevent you from getting credit including; a decent car loan, credit cards, personal loans or can even stop you from qualifying for a mortgage! If you do qualify your interest rate will most likely be much higher costing you tens of thousands on the loan.
Understand that the reporting of items on your credit reports is completely voluntary. No law demands that all your accounts be reported to the credit bureaus. Creditors report at their will.
If you have the ability to pay the charged account do so. The credit might accept less than what is owed as a payoff “in full” meaning that the account is satisfied and closed. What I advise is to have the creditor either update the account to “paid as agreed” “never late” or remove the account in its entirety. Get it in writing if they agree to do so before you send any money as things tend to be forgotten once the creditor gets what they want (your money).
Some creditors will lie and tell you that once a trade line is reported as “charged off” then it must remain that way. This is simply not the case as creditors use software to update the credit bureaus and can do so at anytime at their discretion. The simple fact is charge offs get removed from credit reports using this method all the time!
If your charge off is already in a paid status then perhaps the only effective way to remove a charge off is to dispute the accuracy of the trade line with the credit bureaus. This is can get a little complicated. There are definite right ways and wrong ways to dispute. If you mess up you can almost guarantee that the charge off account will stay with you for the entire seven years. That is where I recommend hiring out the help. Credit repair is most certainly something you can do yourself…if you have plenty of time to research the dos and dont’s. I recommend hiring Lexington Law.