Comments (0)

By Sills, February 3, 2010 6:48 PM

Newly-bankrupt consumers have many questions about how their credit score will be affected. How much harm will bankruptcy have on my credit score?  How long will it take before my credit score begins to recover?

I recommend these six strategies to minimize the impact of your bankruptcy and speed up the recovery of your credit score.

1) Check your credit reports from all 3 credit bureaus.

2) If you see errors, contest them with written letters.

3) Bring any accounts you are behind on up to speed.

4) If you do have previous delinquencies, get in touch with the creditor to ask if there is anything that can be done to get the late payment removed from your credit report.

5) It is important to keep credit accounts below a 35% use threshold. If you have an outstanding balance of over 35% of your available credit in any credit accounts, make sure they get paid down or transfer your balance to another account.

6) Pay off in-store financing accounts; this kind of credit can actually harm your score.

Today there is very little human input into the credit decision making process. Instead, decisions (such as whether you receive credit and at what interest rate) are determined by mathematical algorithms used by major credit bureaus which generate a “credit score.” Fortunately, Congress and public interest groups have pressured companies to disclose their credit scoring algorithms. While the exact formulas are not public knowledge, here are five factors that are known to be considered by credit bureaus:

1) Payment history – 35% – Late payments will rapidly cause damage.

2) Amounts owed – 30% – Your credit balance owed to any one creditor should be under 35% of available credit.

3) Length of time you have maintained accounts- 15% – Rather than closing old accounts, keep them open and use them from time to time.

4) New credit – 10% – Multiple new credit applications at the same time will harm you.

5) Type of credit – 10% – Installment debt with set payments is better than open ended credit card debt. For example, finance company debt like furniture loans can harm your credit score, while auto and mortgage loans can help it.

About the Author

*The following article about how to rebuild your credit after a bankruptcy was contributed by bankruptcy Attorney Jonathan Ginsberg, our expert bankruptcy contributor whose website can be found at: http://www.thebklawyer.com/thebkblog/

Comments (0)

By Beth Pardue, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier to receive and submit credit card applications. It can be very tempting to fill out all of the online forms available to you. But be careful, it could end up costing you–consider the following issues before hitting that “send application” again.


Be aware of card offers promising “pre-approved” credit. You may be a prospective customer, but you still have to apply for credit. Each time you apply, the card company obtains a copy of your credit report. All these credit card applications count as inquiries that, if concentrated over a short period of time, can negatively affect your credit score


With online credit card applications, you should also consider the security of your personal credit information. Take Security and privacy concerns seriously. Limit your online application to card companies that use industry-standard practices for security and privacy. Look for 128-bit encrypting, which scrambles your application data and requires a de-scrambler to read it.


Additionally, the card company’s Web server should use Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Look for an online application on a secure screen of the Web site. This is usually identified with a padlock or similar icon, or has a URL that begins with the word “https.” The company should also clearly state its privacy policy for handling your financial data.


————————-

Note: This article may be freely reproduced as long as the authors bio paragraph at the bottom of this article is included, the article is published as is (unedited) and all URLs are made active hyperlinks with no syntax changes.

————————-

About The Author
This article was written by Beth Pardue who has over 10 years of experience in the financial industry assisting clients with assorted financial needs. To learn more about credit reports or to get a free credit report online please visit: http://www.credit-report-credit-score.com

Author: Beth Pardue
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Comments (0)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

By: jensholz@gmail.com

When it comes to choosing a credit card, you have many options to consider as a means of achieving your goal. Ultimately you want a credit card that is the cheapest, and that gives you the most flexible terms and conditions. However, judging those two factors can be difficult for those of us that are not credit card experts. Before you decide for sure that you wish to get a credit card, why not consider the alternatives that are available?

The Alternatives

Debit Card should you want a credit card as a means of ensuring that you can pay with a card, then why not consider getting a debit card instead? This will mean that you are not borrowing any money and that they money is coming out of your bank account.

Bank overdraft you should consider using a bank overdraft if you are wanting to borrow money over a longer period of time, as you may find that it will work out cheaper than a credit card. A bank overdraft is basically like a loan of money, however all it means is that you are allowed to have a negative balance in your bank account.

Bank Loan a bank loan is often the best solution when you need a loan of money over a longer period of time, or if the amount you need to borrow is a larger amount than what a person would usually borrow using a credit card or a bank overdraft.

Friends and Family if you want to borrow money, then you could consider asking your friends and family rather than asking a financial institution. Although many people are in a position where they are not able to do this; some are, and if they can, then it can often work out to be a good solution.

Factors to Consider when Choosing a Credit Card

APR when choosing a credit card, one factor you need to look at it APR. APR is the amount of money that you will get charged for borrowing money. This amount means the interest rate that you will be charged over the course of a year, and is usually presented in percentage form.

Limit this is the amount of money that you will be allowed to borrow. When you reach the limit on your credit card, then that is you; you are back to having no money. Despite that, limits can often work well for ensuring that you keep any debt under control.

Credit Rating if you always pay your bills on time, then you will most likely have a good credit rating. If you manage to always pay your bills on time with a credit card, then this will also help to make you look like a person who is more than capable of sound financial management. Because it is important to keep a good credit rating, you should always do whatever it takes to keep your credit rating as good as possible.

About the author:
Jens Kleinholz is a president of pollera. He writes about billig Kredit and schufafreier Sofortkredit.

Comments (0)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

First-person accounts from mortgage professionals

Douglas Muir, CEO, Credit Justice Services

As published in Scotsman Guide’s Residential Edition, September 2009.

As the owner of a national credit-repair company, I have had to surmount much criticism. I feel for the mortgage industry and the bum rap it has received of late — but the credit-repair business often receives an even worse repute and is sometimes painted as illegal and even evil.

Fighting labels such as “scam artist” and “liar” can be tough, but honest and transparent communication can help do just that. I also believe that educating clients — and making sure to educate myself — makes a big difference.

In 2007, when discussion had just begun about the since-passed Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, I was invited to visit with staff members of Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) office to speak about the three major credit bureaus and credit cards.

After noting a 2004 Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group study that showed 79 percent of credit reports contain inaccurate information, I challenged the group to allow me to pull credit reports on several individuals. One intern volunteered for the sampling.

When we pulled his credit report, he was shocked to discover the report indeed contained inaccurate information. His tri-merge report showed a late credit card payment that he said he made on time. The score also was 60 points lower than that of a free report he had pulled days earlier.

As we discovered these things, I told the group about consumers’ legal rights and how the Fair Credit Reporting Act empowers consumers to control their credit information. The law states that the three major credit bureaus must prove consumers’ credit reports to be true and accurate. If the reporting bureau can’t verify the information, it must be removed.

It was an honor to speak with the senator’s office and to participate in a small way with the passing of the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, which President Obama signed this past May. The act, which is set to take effect in February, is designed to prevent universal default, a practice in which banks raise consumers’ interest rates based on their payment behavior on other, unrelated accounts. It also will prohibit banks from randomly changing the terms of consumers’ existing contracts and will allow card-holders an opportunity to cancel cards or pay off accounts if a legitimate reason justifies an interest-rate hike.

The act also will help consumers avoid sudden hits to their credit scores resulting from lowered limits, which can create a balance greater than 40 percent of available credit and cause a credit score to drop significantly.

In essence, the bill gives U.S. citizens an important voice — their own — when it comes to credit-report fairness. It also will assist mortgage professionals, who share the goal of helping consumers fulfill their dreams of new, ongoing and secure homeownership. By confirming consumers’ rights, the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act will provide consumers protection from banks that in the past raised rates at their whim. For mortgage brokers, this should mean fewer surprises during the loan-approval process.

As the economy continues to struggle, first-time homeowners face a tight credit market, and many existing homeowners struggle to avoid defaulting on difficult mortgage payments. Mortgage brokers and credit-repair specialists should team up to provide these consumers advice and guidance.

One way to best serve clients is to educate and inform them about their rights, choices and options. A client empowered with information is more able to make informed decisions and more likely to think of brokers and credit-repair experts with esteem rather than with contempt. As we move forward, I think brokers and credit experts can agree that our mission is to create financially independent consumers who enjoy the comfort and security of homeownership. Together, we can do that better.

Douglas Muir is a credit-industry expert and CEO of Credit Justice Services. He speaks to mortgage professionals internationally about the importance and effects of credit. Since opening in 2004, CJS has helped more than 18,000 consumers improve their credit scores, and the company is the fourth-largest credit-repair company in the U.S. Contact Muir at (904) 757-0880, dmuir@creditjusticeservices.com or www.creditjusticeservices.com.

Comments (0)

By Donny Lowy, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

In this area, your work is definitely easier now than in the past. Because of the pressure from consumer advocates and regulators credit reports are much easier to read now and there have been significant changes in the credit-reporting industry. You should know that the rise of identity theft was a key consideration for lawmakers when Congress wrote the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act. When that process was taking place, consumer advocates and others called attention to the growing importance of consumers understanding how the credit system works.

Nowadays, bad marks on your credit report can determine whether you land the job you’re applying for, how much you pay for auto and homeowners insurance, and your credit card interest rate, plus whether you have to pay your utility or cell phone company a deposit. Keep in mind that you have to focus on identifying what’s bad on your reports and the information you’ll need for planning your repair effort. Remember that there are different styles and formats of credit report. However, most of them derive from one of the three super-bureaus that supplied the information being reported.

Congress understood that an informed consumer would be less likely to fall to scams, and would be able to have a stronger control of their financial well being, provided that they could understand and have access to information.

For this reason Congress mandated that credit reports be written so as to make their information
very clear to the consumer.

http://www.Justurbanlife.com is your source for credit. You can obtain loans, mortgages, credit cards, cash advances, even if you have a poor credit score. http://www.justurbanlife.com is also perfect for you if have a good credit score. For personal or business needs, http://www.justurbanlife.com is your source for cash.

Author: Donny Lowy
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile game news

Comments (0)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

COMING SOON!!

BetterCredit101.com will be featuring MORE information on how to establish credit, apply for credit, and how to get a credit card! Keep checking back…we’re going to continue to add information that YOU can use to get Better Credit.

Comments (0)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

[ad]

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=6a3ae5148e&view=att&th=1226568eab56568b&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw

Where did the money go?

Comments (1)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

If you didn’t know this already, having a good credit score is more important than having a lot of cash. Putting aside the insanely rich, most people just don’t have that much cash laying around. Some of us have only have a few dollars left over after expenses. Some of us manage to save a few thousand dollars. But unless you have several hundred thousand dollars in cash, you’re going to need a good credit score to get around.

I know from personal experience that having a bad credit score prevented me from getting into apartment after my divorce. I argued with the property manager briefly saying “But I can pay you 2 years of rent up front! Why won’t you let me live here?” She explained that by law they are only allowed to accept three months rent plus the first and last months rent. However, my application to live in the apartment cannot be approved because of my bad credit! You can imagine my frustration. But I just wanted to share with you one example why having a good credit score is more important.

Your credit score is calculated using a something called FICO. It was created by Fair, Isaac Company. It basically takes into account how much debt you have and your payment history over time. If you’ve been making regular on time payments for years, then you probably have a great credit score. If you’ve been late recently, and I mean in the last 6 months, then your credit score is going to drop. And if you been making late payments over and over in the last 6 months to 2 years, your credit score is going to be very poor. If you have a lot of relative debt, which means all your credit cards are maxed out, then that will lower your credit score even more.

So what can you do if you have a low credit score? I’m going to give you a couple of strategies that attack the to biggest factors affecting your credit score.

1.If you have old accounts that are already paid off, don’t close them! Remember, you want to keep your available credit as high as possible for as long as possible. Having more credit available versus your debt improves your credit score.

2.If you have current credit cards with a balance, don’t pay them off right away. For example: You have a $3000 credit card. Every month you charge about $2000 to it, but you pay it off before the end of the month. Although this won’t hurt your credit score, it won’t help it either. You need to carry some portion of that balance over to the next month, even if it’s just $100. Remember regular payments over time improves your score.

Some other things to consider. If you can only make one payment, pay your mortgage first! Followed by installment loans like your car payment, then your credit cards. When you have multiple payments of the same kind, (i.e. two car payments, five credit card payments), pay the one with the highest interest rate first. Even though nothing feels better paying off a small balance and seeing $0 due, you will save more money in the long run paying off the higher interest rate balances sooner rather than later. This in turn will leave you more money to pay off the small balances.

All these strategies and tips will greatly improve your credit score over time. But there are ways to improve your score much more quickly. Get a copy of your credit report and look for errors. You’re allowed to see your credit report free once a year from each of the three major credit bureaus: experian.com, Equifax.com, and transunion.com. If there are any errors, there are simple ways to have them removed. Sometimes it’s as simple as calling the creditor that reported the bad information. Sometimes you just need to write a letter challenging the error. Either way, removing errors in your credit report is the fastest way to improving your credit score.

About the Author
Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area. For more information on how to improve your credit score visitFree Credit Reports

Article source:
How to Improve Your FICO Credit Score

Comments (1)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

How to Build Credit History — powered by eHow.com

Comments (0)

By Ed Vegliante, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

Credit repair advertisements claim to guarantee a quick fix on your credit report. They promise for a fee (not always disclosed at first) to clean up your credit history so that you can qualify for a new home, car, insurance, a job, or premium credit cards. Before you sign up with one of these companies, you need to know some facts.

The real facts on fixing your credit score

The real truth is that no one can legally remove information on a credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows you, the consumer, to request an investigation of information in your file that you dispute as inaccurate or incomplete. There is no charge to you. There are other steps that you can do yourself, without paying a credit repair company, such as:

*You are allowed a free credit report if a company denies you credit, insurance, or employment (if this is a part of your employment application) provided you request a report within 60 days of this denial. The notice will give you the name of the consumer reporting agency that provided this report. You can dispute information that this denial is based upon. Under FCRA, both the consumer reporting agency and the information provider are responsible for correcting inaccurate or any incomplete information in that report.

*Put in writing what information you believe to be inaccurate. Include copies of any documentation that supports your claim. Be sure to send this letter to the credit reporting agency, and send it certified mail so that you can prove it was mailed and signed for at their end.

*You will get a response within 30 days. During their investigation, they must forward all your documents to the merchant or vendor that provided the negative credit information and report back to the credit agency. If they find that the information is inaccurate, they must notify all three reporting agencies of their findings: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

*When the investigation is concluded, you must receive a copy of the results in writing and a copy of the dispute if it is changed. It the disputed item is changed, the credit reporting agency cannot put the disputed information back into your file unless it is verified as accurate by the merchant or vendor.

*The credit reporting agency must send notices of a correction to anyone who received your credit report in the past six months. You can also have a corrected copy sent to employers that did not hire you based on your credit report.

Removing a bad credit rating

When you have a bad credit rating based on negative information that is accurate, you can only wait for it to be removed over time. By law, a credit reporting agency can only report negative information for seven years and bankruptcy for ten years. For unpaid judgments, the reporting period goes back seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out. Criminal convictions and applications for over $150,000 of life insurance have no time limits. By starting to pay your bills on time and contacting the creditors that you cannot pay, you can start to change your credit profile to the positive side, but that will take time also.

If you do decide to use a credit repair company

Start by getting a free copy of your credit report. Then assemble all your credit card bills and write them down. This will give both you and your credit repair company a starting point. By law, credit repair companies must give you a brochure, Consumer Credit File Rights Under State and Federal Law when you sign a contract for their services. This contract must clearly specify your rights, obligations and fees. The contract must also clearly detail the descriptions of the services they will perform for you, how long it will take to see the results, and any guarantees they offer you. Members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are non-profit organizations providing free and low cost services to consumers with a wide range of plans, covering most types of credit used, including home mortgages.

Credit repair companies can help if youre drowning in debt. Before you sign a contract, check out these low cost and free options you can do yourself.

Ed Vegliante is the owner of http://www.credit-card-surplus.com a well organized credit card directory enabling the user to compare and apply for a credit card. View a variety of credit card offers and find links to secure online credit card applications.

Author: Ed Vegliante
Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Comments (0)

By Sills, September 21, 2009 5:21 AM

How to Compare Credit Cards — powered by eHow.com