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Consolidating Debt – Investing In Debt Management

Consolidating Debt – Investing In Debt Management

John Dewey had quoted that a person’s money had more value than their credit. However, today’s creditors, like banks, do not share the same view. A good credit file report history is essential for obtaining personal loans thus, consolidating debt might be one of the next options. However, the inability to repay personal loans causes people to avoid calls from debt collectors and to miraculously pretend to forget any debts owed to their creditors.

The resulting fact is that all your banking, financial, purchasing, credit and store card, and other credit history is reported to credit bureaus by your creditors and recorded on your credit file. This file is designed to assist creditors, like banks, to evaluate your credit history and any risk you may pose in regards to repayments.

Bad credit is not a dead-end street, and you can repair and rebuild it in time with the proper management of your finances. However, one or more bad credit reports on your file will have you blacklisted by the banks, destroy your credit score, and stop you from investing in something you want, like a car.

A creditor’s negative credit report takes up to 7 years before it is removed from your credit file. However, you still need at least one year of good credit reporting after that before you can start getting credit or personal loans again. To avoid waiting 7 years for the item you want, like a car, even though you may have a very good income and professional status, consider a problem-free, loan for those with bad credit. Simply, apply to consolidate debt, your debts.

A debt management loan for those with bad credit does have a higher rate than normal personal loans. However, such a loan focuses on your current situation and regular and steady employment, whilst ignoring your past credit report history.

You benefit from promptly fixing your credit report history and credit score, and you can start to rebuild your life. You have the opportunity to work towards buying a home or negotiating a lower interest rate on your credit cards.

If you make your payments when they are due, the bad credit history personal loan will work for you. Without this, you cannot benefit from any major purchases you wish to make, like buying a car. This loan will work if you make it work.

Again, bad credit report history is fixable and not the end of the line for you. Most people have experienced bad credit at least one or more times in their life. Now is the time to rebuild and create your positive credit future by considering the benefits to you by using a bad credit history, personal loan, and the workable interest rates they provide. Need to learn more important benefits of consolidating debt? We can help!

Credit repair is as important as getting out of debt

Credit repair is as important as getting out of debt

Avoiding complications in credit repair is almost important as getting out of debt. When we have bills that were neglected simply because we didn’t have the money to pay the bills, or else we purchased items instead of paying the bills, we are in debt.

If you are considering a Home Equity Loan to get out of your current mortgage, don’t. Why? Simply because most Home Equity Loans get you deeper in debt and once you are obligated you will find the problem is more complicated than when you applied for the loan.

Lenders often target homeowners with financial difficulties offering them high-interest rates and making them believe it is a solution for debt relief. In most cases, this is where foreclosures come in, or selling homes come into place. The solution is only an option to get you in debt deeper. One solution then is for homeowners to consider Reverse Mortgage Loans. This type of loan is often as equity against your home, belongings, and so on. The loan offers a ‘cash advance’ solution and requires that the owner does not pay on the mortgage until the end of the mortgage term or when the home is sold.

Most lenders provide a lump sum advance, a line of credit, or else a monthly installment to the homeowners. Some lenders even offer a combination to the homeowners. This is certainly a good solution for repairing your credit and building your credit to a new future. The downside is that Reverse Home Mortgage Loans often are more suitable for the older generation of people that have built equity over the years in their homes. Another disadvantage is that almost all home loans require upfront payments, such as title, insurance, application fees, origination fees, interest, and so on. Therefore, it pays to ask questions and shop around before taking out another loan to repair or build your credit. Fannie Mae Home Keeper Mortgage Programs are one of the many that offer a Reverse Home Mortgage Loan.

Another option for paying off your debts and repairing your credit is to borrow the money from family members or friends. If you have someone that trusts you enough to loan you the money to get out of debt, it is often better than getting a loan. There are several options or questions you must consider before asking family members or friends to loan you the money to build or repair your credit. One of those questions should be obvious. Can these people afford to lend me the money to get out of debt? Are these people kind enough to loan you money without putting high demands on you? Of course, there may be interest involved, but remember they are loaning you money they could be spending on their own bills. Is it possible that you can repay the loan without complicating your situation further? Can I repay these people that loan me the money to free myself of one debt? How long do I have to repay the loan? Make sure there are no extra complications before asking friends or family for money to help get you out of debt.

One of the best solutions for finding a way to repair your credit is searching for the options to make the money yourself. If you have a mortgage payment and struggling each month to make ends meet, you might want to sell your home. Many homeowners go for this option simply because they make more money in the long run. Once they sell their home they are often able to repay their mortgage loan and then take out a loan for another mortgage more affordable. If you decide to sell your home to repair your credit and get out of debt, be sure that you look around for the best possible solutions in order to prevent further complications.

Make sure you know how much is owed on your home before you set a price for resell. If there are any repairs that are minor or major, try to repair them first before selling. If you can’t afford to repair the home, try to do the minimal repair so that you can up the price of the home you are selling.

Getting Approved For Your First Unsecured Credit Card

Getting Approved For Your First Unsecured Credit Card

Credit cards are considered as one of the necessities in today’s life. Besides, with an unsecured credit card, you can literally purchase any product or service without having money in your pocket at all. No longer will you run the risk of getting your money stolen by simply having a credit card.

However, with all the advantages that a credit card can give you, you will find that it is quite difficult to apply for a credit card and getting approved. There are a lot of things you have to consider before a credit card issuer or a bank can get you approved for a credit card.

The first thing you need to know and need to have when applying for a credit card is a good credit rating. Your credit rating is one of the essentials that a credit card issuer or a bank will look at in order to get you approved for a credit card. By having a good credit rating, you will be sure that you can get yourself approved.

However, if you don’t have any credit history or a bad credit rating it will relatively be hard or even impossible for you to get approved for a credit card. In order to obtain a credit history or repair your credit rating, you can always apply for a secured credit card.

Unlike an unsecured credit card, it will require you to deposit money on an account. The amount you deposit will be the credit limit for a secured credit card. You will also receive a monthly billing statement like an unsecured credit card.

You have to remember that a prepaid credit card and a debit card are different from a secured credit card. Debit cards and prepaid credit cards will never repair or build your credit rating.

One main disadvantage of a secured credit card is that it will usually have a high-interest rate than most unsecured credit cards. However, it is also a great way to control your credit card purchases. It is also a great way for you to become a responsible credit card holder and help you prepare to own an unsecured credit card.

Not only that it will also help you build a good credit rating or help you repair a bad credit rating. With this kind of feature, you will definitely get yourself prepared to own an unsecured credit card.

Owning a credit card will also mean being more responsible for your purchases. With a secured credit card, you can train yourself to be a more responsible credit cardholder. This is because, aside from the advantages that an unsecured credit card can give you, there are some people that buy irresponsibly. The feature that a credit card offers will usually tempt people to buy things that they don’t really need and will often result in getting into huge amounts of credit card debt.

By first getting an unsecured credit card, you will be sure that you can be a more responsible credit cardholder.

So, if you want to apply for an unsecured credit card, getting a secured credit card first is recommended if you don’t know what you are getting into or if you want to build a credit history or repair your credit rating.

Key To Wealth-Building and Avoiding Bankruptcy: Approaching Your Credit Rationally

Key To Wealth-Building and Avoiding Bankruptcy: Approaching Your Credit Rationally

The primary purpose of good credit is to save you money by helping you procure lower interest rates that otherwise wouldn’t be available to you. Interestingly, some consumers fail to recognize this fact when considering the appropriate option for debt resolution, sometimes resulting to bankruptcy. The main reason? A lot of people interpret their credit on an emotional level instead of a rational one.

That is, they think of their credit score as something more than it is. For them, it is more than just ONE tool that lenders look at to determine whether giving you a loan will be profitable for them. It becomes a matter of pride, not a matter of financial health. In the end, the mistake of thinking about one’s credit on an emotional level instead of a rational one can cost a consumer buried in credit card debt. Then, they only able to afford minimum payments thousands of dollars in finance charges and even more in the years of life consumed by financial anxiety.

Why Do Some People Were Engaged in Bankruptcy

Another part of the problem is that most people do not understand what makes up their credit score. It is happening even when they are trying to tackle the issue rationally. The largest components of your credit score ─ your credit history and the amount you owe ─ are both influenced by debt settlement, one negatively (credit history) and one positively (the amount you owe).

Your credit history is marginally more important than the amount you owe when factoring your score. However, the difference (5%) is rarely enough to compensate for the savings from enrolling credit card debt into a settlement program. The more money you’re able to save from enrolling in a debt settlement program, the less the credit impact should be considered a factor. Why? Because any higher interest rates that you’ll end up paying down the road as a result of the credit impact will rarely outweigh the money you saved by settling credit card debt.

Who benefits the most from a settlement program

  1. those people who owe a lot
  2. people who can only afford to pay the minimums
  3. people who are paying high interest
  4. all of the above.

To illustrate this point, consider the following examples.

Let’s assume that you owe $30,000 in credit card debt. Your average annual percentage rate on these cards is 19 percent. You are only able to afford the minimum monthly payment, which in your case adds up to $750 total. Given this scenario, it would take you approximately 12 years and $108,000 before finally, you dug out of debt. In a debt settlement program, however, it would take approximately 3 years and $16,500 total to eliminate your debt. That’s a $91,500 difference versus making the minimum payments. Rarely will your subsequent higher interest rates ever make up the savings from debt settlement, especially when you consider the fact that you can always refinance any loans once you’ve built up enough equity?

One of the most frustrating things to come across in our industry is a consumer who owes a lot. Despite this, he is only able to afford the minimums. He is also unwilling to sacrifice his credit even in the slightest bit in order to climb out of debt and save money. I recently dealt with a consumer from the South Side of Chicago who was $40,000 in the hole with credit cards. His interest rates were at 29 percent. He was only able to afford the minimum payments, which amounted to $1700 total in his case.

When he tried to convince the creditors to lower the rates, they simply told him that based on the amount of outstanding debt on his credit report he was too much a credit risk, so they needed to charge him higher interest. When he tried to obtain a home equity loan, he was turned down for the same reason. It happened ven though his credit score was in the high 600s.

Yet when I mentioned that our debt settlement program might impact his credit negatively, he scoffed. There was no way he would ever affect his credit negatively. At the end of our conversation, I tried to refer him to our affiliate credit counseling company. However, he wasn’t interested because enrollment in a debt management plan would appear on his credit. His decision to stay on course with the minimum payments will ultimately cost him over $20,000 a year. Probably his young children the opportunity to attend a 4-year college, maybe more.

This consumer failed to be realistic and rational in his approach to the impact of debt settlement on his credit. It worsened his financial situation significantly. He thought of his credit score not as something that can save him money by getting him lower interest rates on loans. Rather, it’s a some sort of social marker on where he was at in life. He considered the idea of a negatively affected credit score probably much like someone in the Middle Ages. He thought about the idea of being excommunicated or the way a 14-year-old feels about not being part of the “in crowd” at school.

When considering your debt resolution options, I urge you to look at the options available to you realistically. Here is a famous Winston Churchill quote on democracy. Think of this when comparing debt settlement to the other options available to most consumers.

Debt settlement is the worst form of debt resolution, except for all the rest of them.

How To Repair A Bad Credit History

How To Repair A Bad Credit History

We all get into financially tight situations from time to time. Short term financial demands can catch anyone by surprise. It could be around the birth of a new child, medical expenses, or just Christmas or birthdays. Whatever the reason, without care, financially tight situations can result in a bad credit history.

It’s possible to get a bad credit history very easily. The credit reference agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion maintain details on almost every adult in the country and they have a level of detail that for many are frightening.

As a matter of course the credit reference agencies have your personal details, your name, address, and previous addresses, as well as credit information. If you have a mortgage they know about it. If you have any loans, credit cards, or store cards they know about them and they know what payments you make.

If you rent your home the odds are they know. In fact, they usually know the details of virtually all financial arrangements where there is any risk of a debt arising.

If you’ve applied for loans, credit cards, or any other purchases or financial arrangements they know you applied, even if the application was unsuccessful. They also know how much you borrow, your monthly repayments and if you are ever late with a payment – even if it’s by one day and caused by things outside your control!

How do they know? All the banks and financial institutions routinely tell them. The reason they tell them is that it is in their interest to do so. They know that by telling the credit reference agencies all the details an accurate picture of your financial position is created. A picture they can use the next time you apply for credit.

If you do miss a payment it will be recorded and that information stays on their records for 12 months! If you default that stays on for at least 3 years! Just missing a couple of payments can very easily mess up your credit score.

Once you have a bad credit history it can be a real nightmare. With a really bad credit history, you are pretty much financially disabled from everything except transactions that can be covered with cash.

Finding an apartment to rent, trying to buy a car, putting a down payment on a house, or applying for a credit card or a loan from a bank are all activities you are barred from with a bad credit history.

Banks, businesses, and decent landlords can see a bad credit history a mile away and will avoid you like the plague. As a result, all the steps that are supposed to build a good credit rating are no longer available. How can you break out of this credit catch-22 once you get stuck in it?

A good place to start is to contact a credit counseling service. Depending upon where you live there may be a free service you can use otherwise you may be forced to use a paid service. Paid or unpaid all these services do the same thing. They will conduct a complete financial assessment of your situation. It is imperative that you tell them everything, so don’t hold back any debts, they need to know.

If possible they will help you set a budget and find a way for you to repay the overdue payments, past debts, or forgotten bills. This will involve you paying extra to cover the arrears. Even if this is possible it will not, on its own, immediately repair your credit rating as the details of the missed payments and bad debts will stay on the record for at least 12 months.

If you are unable to clear any overdue bills or payments the counseling service will then approach your creditors. They will seek to come to some arrangement which allows you to pay smaller amounts over a longer period. They will initially seek an informal arrangement with each creditor but they can also seek formal arrangements where you pay an affordable amount, usually over 5 years.

So long as you keep up these reduced payments, and depending on the type of arrangement and where you live, after 5 years the debt may be cleared and your credit score will improve. Any arrangements with creditors will be notified to the credit reference agencies and are normally help on file for 3 or 6 years.

A third option, and the quickest, is to take out a consolidation loan to pay off all your debts leaving just one lower payment to make each month. If you own your own home – either outright or on a mortgage – this loan can be secured on the property either as a mortgage/re-mortgage or a separate secured loan.

With a property as collateral, it is relatively easy to get additional funds as the lender will have the security of your home and if you fail to pay, sometimes only one or two missed monthly payments, they will go for repossession to get their money back.

Without collateral obtaining a debt consolidation loan is more difficult but not impossible. Without the security of a property however, you will normally pay a significantly higher interest rate.

If you clear all of your debts using a debt consolidation loan cut up any credit cards and close the accounts. Make sure you don’t fall into the same trap again.

So long as you make all the due payments and you are in control of the situation, many of the pressures will ease and, with hard work and self-control, your bad credit history will become a thing of the past.

How To Contact a Creditor To Help With Credit Repair

How To Contact a Creditor To Help With Credit Repair

Good credit has become nearly a necessity these days. Credit has become almost essential to buying a car or a home (unless you have large amounts of cash lying around) and with the advent of online buying, it’s generally difficult to operate without some kind of credit card. Unfortunately, credit does cause problems for some people. Minimum payments on credit cards can be missed, or a loan could go into default and your credit rating will begin to slide. When you have negative activity, the creditor reports it a credit reporting agency, who then records it on your credit history. A tarnished credit report can be tough to clean up, as most negative items will remain to stay on your report for seven years before they expire and are removed.

If you have a bad credit history, you’ll end up dealing with previously unknown problems. You can’t rent a car or buy things online, renting a property will be difficult, and getting a mortgage may be impossible. It’s important to repair your credit as soon as you notice a problem because you’d be surprised at what kind of credit repair you can accomplish by being proactive.

The first thing you should do if you fall behind in your loan payments is to contact your creditor. This can be scary and many people take the opposite approach, avoiding “collection calls” out of embarrassment or even fear. Unfortunately, it’s best to deal with the problem immediately and to avoid long-term credit difficulties. Contact your creditor right away – as soon as you find you are having trouble with debt.

Remember the solution to your credit repair process starts with your credit report, and what is on your report is what your creditor reports about you. By contacting your creditor, you may be able to discuss possible payment plans or alternative solutions. It is in the creditor’s best interests to work with you, as if you go into default, they might never get paid.

There are many reasons that you should contact your creditor immediately, but most of all, it helps to speed up the credit repair process. Once you’ve contacted your creditor, suggest a payment system that works for both for you. Be sure to propose a payment plan that is realistic for you, and stick to it. Defaulting on these payments will look to the creditor as if you were just trying to stall and avoid further payment.

When you contact your creditor about your outstanding debt, be sure to remember that it is in your best interest to convince your creditor not to report your non-payment to the credit report agency. By facing up to your payment problems, contact your creditor right away, and creating a payment system that will work for both of you, you are taking a very effective step credit repairing your credit.

Five Tips For Building A Good Credit Score

Five Tips For Building A Good Credit Score

Improving yourself is always a good thing. If you thrive hard to become a better public speaker, you can might yourself a promotion. Exercising and going to the gym can help you lose weight and have the figure you have always wanted. But the best thing of all is improving and building your credit score. This can help you save hundreds and thousands of dollars on your biggest purchases.

For some, it may be hard to keep up a good credit score but actually, improving credit is not that hard to achieve. You just need to be patient and learn a little bit about the credit scoring system and how it works.

A person who is patient and willing to improve their credit profile can do it easily. There are five things that they can follow in order to boost their credit scores.

1. Check your own credit report from time to time. It is necessary to regularly check your credit and take the steps to remove any inaccuracies in your credit report. Sometimes bad credit is caused by simple inaccuracies in the report. If you see something, contact your creditor immediately, and work to correct the error as soon as you can. Leaving an inaccuracy on your report counts against you.

2. Be on time with payments. Literally, it means that you have to pay all your bills on time. If you are always late with your payments, it will affect your credit report and score. Also, collections and bankruptcies have the most negative effect on your credit report. All reports including the late payments are noted and written in your credit report.

3. Learn how to manage your debt. You must maintain the balance of your credit report to 35% of your available credit limit. Make sure that you always watch your accounts and estimate if you can still handle the using more credit.

4. Avoid unnecessary inquiries. Every time you make an inquiry, it is written in your credit report. Even if you have no plan to open a credit account, your inquiry records will show how often someone has looked at your report and will cast doubt on your ability to pay. So as much as possible, do not make an inquiry into your credit report unless it is important.

5. Give yourself time. Time is considered one of the most significant aspects that can help improve your credit score. Time management is important to get yourself on the right track and show that you can handle your credit responsibly. You can also keep even the oldest account open in order to help make your credit use look longer.

Credit Score/FICO Report – 5 Steps To Improvement

Credit Score/FICO Report – 5 Steps To Improvement

Your credit score or FICO report can determine your eligibility for loans, what interest rate you pay for loans, and even whether you get a job to which you are applying. With every incentive to improve your score and nothing to lose, it should be a priority step in getting your financial life on track.

Here are 5 steps to improve your credit score.

Tip #1: Pull your FICO report for free:

The first step in fixing your credit is to get a handle on your current score. The Federal Trade Commission has an agreement with the Big Three credit reporting agencies to provide every U.S. citizen with a free credit report every 12 months. To get your free copy, go to the official Annual Credit Report Request Service website, and follow instructions for requesting your report.

Tip #2: Pay your bills on time:

A full 35% of your FICO score is determined by how timely you pay your bills. If you have missed any payments in the past few years, it will likely help your score significantly to go back and fix your past-due status with the creditors involved. By paying your overdue bill, your creditors will remove these glitches from your report from each reporting agency. Hint: go back and pull your report again later to make sure that all three of the agencies have actually removed the problem from your records as promised. Need help in finding blemishes on your credit report? Get a custom plan to help rebuild your credit.

Tip #3: Get the balance (of credit types) right:

10% of your FICO report reflects the specific diversity of types of debt you have and the credit lines you have available to you. Make sure you have the right balance of auto or home loan, department store cards, charge cards, and credit cards. This healthy mix shows potential creditors that you know how to handle different types of debt.

Tip #4: Reduce your debt:

Your debt-to-credit ratio is the ratio of the amount you owe versus the amount of credit extended to you. It determines a full 30% of your credit score. There are three ways to reduce your debt: 1. Make more money; 2. Put more of your current income toward paying off your debt; 3. Reduce the cost of your debt. One great way to reduce the cost of your debt is to transfer your current credit card balances to credit cards with lower interest rates. Doing this can save you $100s per month in debt payments if you have large credit card balances.

Tip #5: Open more lines of credit:

You can also improve your debt-to-credit ratio by actually increasing the amount of credit extended to you. The key here is to do so while avoiding actually using these new credit cards. To avoid using the cards extensively, make a purchase or two with them each month and then hide them so they are not readily accessible. Also: if you do open more lines of credit, do so over a period of a few months since having too much new credit can actually hurt your score.

There are many straightforward ways to improve your credit score. So, pull your free FICO report, assess your situation, and start taking steps toward a healthier financial life.

Credit Repair Myths Exposed

Credit Repair Myths Exposed

If you’ve done any searching on the Internet for information pertaining to “Credit Repair,” you’ve no doubt found that there’s a great deal available. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of credit repair myths scattered everywhere online.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common credit repair myths you’ll come across and examine them in detail.

MYTH #1: “Credit repair doesn’t work!”

While it’s true that credit repair is more “art” than “science” that’s not to say it doesn’t work. If you undertake to repair your bad credit score, there’s never any guarantee you can restore it to “perfect” status. But sometimes you can, and in almost every case you can at least affect some improvement in your credit score, and often major improvement at that!

First of all, credit reports for the most part are filled with errors. While there seems to be no general agreement, it’s estimated that anywhere from 1/3 (Attorney General of NY) to as many as 90% (Charles Givens Organization) of credit reports contain errors.

Removal of erroneous negative information alone will go a great way toward improving your credit score. But there’s more to the story, which brings us to myth #2.

MYTH #2: “Negative information that can be verified cannot be removed”

This is one of those statements that are “almost” true but taken literally is misleading. As is often the case, the inclusion (or exclusion) of one seemingly small word makes the difference in a truthful statement and one that’s not (or not necessarily) accurate.

Let’s take an analogy. Suppose it’s the middle of summer, and your grass has grown unusually high. Let’s also suppose that you own a lawnmower, it’s in good working condition, and has plenty of gasoline in the tank.

Now let’s say that you’re sitting on your couch and say to yourself “My grass will get cut today because I ‘CAN’ go outdoors anytime and cut it.”

So will your grass get cut? Not necessarily! Just because you “can” go outdoors and cut your grass doesn’t mean it’s going to get done. You can repeat this statement to yourself all day long, but your grass isn’t going to get cut until you actually go outside and DO it!

Likewise, because a negative item on your credit report “can” be verified doesn’t mean it will be. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a credit bureau must investigate and verify “within a reasonable period of time” any item in your credit report that you dispute. If the “information is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified, the consumer reporting agency shall promptly delete such information.”

Now in this context “can be verified” clearly means verified by the credit bureau’s investigation of the item, and the “reasonable period of time” has been established (by subsequent rulings) to be 30 days. So if the credit bureau doesn’t complete its investigation of the disputed information within 30 days, or if for some reason the creditor fails to respond and verify the information, by law the disputed data must be deleted from your credit file.

Credit Repair Advice: How To Improve Your Credit Score

Credit Repair Advice: How To Improve Your Credit Score

Our credit scores determine much about how we live our lives. We buy practically everything on credit and therefore, we need a reliable credit repair advice to keep our finances in order. When applying for a loan, our good credit scores help us receive reasonable interest rates. In fact, from landlords to insurance companies, to utilities, everyone looks at our credit scores, as they are a reflection of our financial health. A healthy credit score may determine what various agencies will charge for their services. Today, even employers check personal credit scores before offering a job.

Knowing more about our credit scores and the factors affecting them may help us build a positive credit history. But first, let’s look at how they are maintained by the various credit reporting agencies.

Three major credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – calculate credit scores. Though they use the same methods and formula to calculate scores, they sometimes come up with a different rating for various reasons. One agency may have more updated information about an individual. A creditor may have shared information with one agency only, but not with the others. Creditors, while checking on our scores, take the average of the three scores from these three agencies.

Credit scores range between 300 and 850. A score of 680 and above is excellent for obtaining mortgage financing at low-interest rates. A credit score of 621 to 679 is an average score and you would have to pay a slightly higher rate of interest. A credit score of below 600 makes us potentially unreliable and harder to obtain credit. When a credit score falls below 600, credit repair steps should be taken immediately.

The following are factors affecting credit scores and basic steps to take to maintain an accurate credit score rating with the credit bureaus:

1. Routinely check payment history and the current credit debt held.

2. Credit history length is a determining score factor. Naturally, the longer ‘good’ credit history, the better.

3. Do not close old or paid off accounts. These show the credit history length and contribute to higher credit scores.

4. Pay off debts to improve credit scores.

5. On-time payments. Delayed payments appear on credit reports and adversely affect it.

6. An individual’s race, sex, age, level of education, or marital status has no bearing on a credit score, nor does the fact that an application for credit was previously turned down.

Taking care to maintain a high credit rating enables us to receive credit and loans at good rates. Our credit score is a reflection of how we manage our finances and a determining factor for many aspects of our lives. Get practical credit repair advice to help you have a healthy credit history. Doing so is the best way to avoid bad credit and limited loan options in the future.