Cheryl Nerbes, Author at Approved Consultant Solutions

How To Bounce Back From Bad Credit Ratings – Starting Today

14 November 2020
by: Cheryl Nerbes
in: Blog
Tags: bad credit rating, credit bureau, credit card, credit card company, credit cards, credit rating, credit repair, credit report, debt management, debts, secured cards, secured credit card
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Credit has a very important place in most people’s lives today. Bad credit ratings can prevent you from having essential things we need every day, such as, use a credit card, rent an apartment, qualify for financing for large purchase department store items, or buy a car, just to name a few.

If for whatever reason, you don’t make timely payments to a creditor or miss a payment, your creditor reports this to the credit bureau, and it is added to your credit report. If you do this too often, or default on a loan, you will have a bad credit rating and a low credit score. Once you have a bad credit rating, many doors will be closed to you: you will be unable to obtain most kinds of loans, and without a credit card you won’t be able to shop online, or rent a car, or do many of the other things you have grown accustomed to doing.

For these reasons, it is important that you protect your good credit rating. However, if misfortune causes a change in your circumstances and your credit-worthiness becomes an issue, you should begin your credit repair as soon as possible.

How to Repair bad Credit Ratings

Credit repair is usually a slow process requiring you to build your credit rating little by little over a long period of time. Although you might consider going to a reputable company offering credit repair services, you can effectively repair your own credit.

A good place to start repairing bad credit ratings is to get your credit report from the credit bureau and examine it carefully for errors. If there are no apparent errors, you can then begin your credit repair.

First, obtain a secured credit card and use it regularly but sensibly. Pay your monthly installment amounts in full and on time. Secured credit cards are issued by companies that usually cater to people who have bad credit. These types of credit cards usually require that you give an initial deposit equal to the card’s credit limit. For example, you give the company $500 for a card with a $500 credit limit. They have the right to use that deposit against any balance you have that remains outstanding for too long.

Using this formula, the credit card company assumes no risk because you will never owe more money than they are holding as your deposit. Secured cards also require annual fees that regular credit cards do not.

Using secured credit cards and paying the bills on time is one of the best ways to improve your credit rating. You develop a history that shows lenders that you take your debts seriously, and that is what lenders want from you — to be paid in full and on time.

To your advantage, paying bills on time not only helps in establishing a good history for you, but it also eliminates late fees and other financial penalties that make paying your bills so difficult.

Some Steps Towards Credit Repair

Credit is an essential tool for most people’s lives. A good credit rating allows for many things that we take for granted: having a credit card, being able to rent property, qualifying for in-store financing, etc. If you fail to make payments towards a creditor this will affect your credit report collected by your credit bureau and will make doing the above things difficult if not impossible. When your credit rating becomes poor, you must take steps as soon as possible to repair it. Credit repair can be a slow process and requires that you build a better credit rating over time. Here are some steps you should take:

1) Add accounts to your credit report. If you are denied credit, you should immediately obtain your credit report from the credit bureau in question. Once you have the report you should examine it closely for errors. In the event that there are no errors, you may find that your credit rating is “poor” not because of outstanding debts, but because you don’t have enough of a credit history to inspire a good rating.

Many types of credit from smaller organizations are not tracked by credit bureaus. Things like gas-cards or department store cards are not usually on your credit report. As long as the account is verifiable, most credit bureaus will add it to your file. They are not obligated to do so, and thus usually charge a fee for this service. By adding these accounts to your credit report you will establish a better credit rating.

2) Credit Counseling. Once you become mired in debt, the process can feed on itself, and it can be difficult to get out of it. If you find yourself having continual problems with your credit repair, you should consider credit counseling. It’s important to notice the distinction between a credit counselor and a credit repair company. The former is usually a non-profit service that offers advice and guidance on credit repair, while the latter are for-profit companies of dubious ethics that generally charge fees for steps that you can easily take care of yourself. A good credit counselor will help you make a realistic budget and stick to it and help you make practical decisions with regards to your outstanding debts.

By adding whatever accounts you have in good standing to your credit report, and seeking credit counseling if necessary, you will make headway into your ultimate goal of credit repair. The difficult thing about credit is that it takes a long time to build a good credit rating and a very short time to destroy it. When your credit rating has been marred you have to understand that there is no quick solution: you will have to build your credit rating again – essentially from scratch. If you avoid the temptations of credit repair companies that promise a quick and easy credit repair for a fee and think instead of long term changes to your budgeting and spending habits, you will – over time – be successful in credit repair.

Start Today To Get Your Credit Card Debt Under Control

Credit card debt can mount up quickly and can soon become overwhelming. And in addition to the debt itself, if you get behind the late fees and over-limit fees can make this situation much worse.

One way to get a handle on credit card debt is to opt for weekly payments. In this way, you will pay off every week what you have charged on the card, and this can be much more manageable than waiting until the end of the month when the balance is much higher. Paying weekly can also help reduce the amount in interest you are being charged.

If you really can’t get a handle on your credit card debt any other way, you can always turn to the Consumer Counseling Center of America. This is a non-profit organization that can help you if find yourself in serious financial trouble. They can provide you with credit counselors who can go over you’re your debts and income and help you develop a repayment plan. CCCA will also negotiate with your creditors and can often help to lower interest rates and late payments. Working with a debt counselor will often keep your creditors from harassing you on a daily basis.

Another important step in succeeding with credit card debt counseling is to stop using your credit cards. The easiest way to do this is to cancel all your credit cards except for one, and this one should be used only in emergencies. No credit card debt counseling plan will be effective if you continue to use your credit cards. You have to completely stop using them and pay off the balances. This will require self-discipline on your part but is a vital step.

If you can, you should also consider transferring your credit card balances to the credit card with the lowest interest rate, and then canceling the higher rate cards. Some credit cards offer a limited time no-interest period which can also be useful in paying off your credit card debt.

When looking for a credit card debt counselor, be wary of groups claiming that they can cancel all your credit card debt and repair your credit for a fee. These are very often not legitimate organizations and have conned many consumers out of their hard-earned money when they were trying to get debt relief. Do your research and find out about these groups before agreeing to do business with them.

At the end of the day, it is you who are responsible for your credit card debt. Develop a budget for yourself and be diligent with your repayments, and soon you will be debt-free and enjoying your hard-earned money.