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Avoiding Loan Delinquency

Avoiding Loan Delinquency

If you have a loan and are struggling to make the payments, you could end up falling into loan delinquency. Delinquency can be a big problem, although if you take some steps to get yourself back on track, you won’t fall further behind. If you want to know more about how to avoid or get out of loan delinquency, then here are some useful tips to help you do just that.

What is delinquency?

Loan delinquency is when you fall behind with your monthly repayments. If you are late with just one payment, then you are technically classed as delinquent. Loan and credit repayments will appear on your credit report, so slipping into delinquency can seriously harm your credit rating. Also, if you are frequently delinquent with your loan repayments you could end up in default.

Delinquency to default

If you are continually delinquent with your payments, then you could end up in what is known as loan default. This means you have failed to pay back your loan due to persistent non-payment or late payment. If this happens, you could end up having to pay the whole amount back at once or have your possessions taken from you. You could even end up in court if you cannot pay the amount back. This will have serious consequences for your credit report, and it may take years for you to repair the damage.

Budget for your loan

The first way to avoid loan delinquency is to budget for your loan before you even take it out. Make sure that you will be able to afford the monthly repayments even if you are having a tough month financially. If possible, have savings in place to cope with emergencies so that you never slip into delinquency. If your budget accurately then you are much less likely to have delinquency problems.

Pay by Direct Debit

Although many loans require you to pay by Direct Debit if you have one that does not then make sure you still pay this way. Paying by Direct Debit will ensure you never forget to pay on time. Simply make sure you have enough funds in your account at the right time each month and the payment will be done for you. This will stop you from accidentally paying late and so slipping into delinquency.

Repayment holiday

If you think you are going to slip into delinquency but that it will be a temporary problem, you could ask your lender for a repayment holiday. Many loans come with this facility, which allows you to take a month or two off from payment in order to straighten out your finances. However, you need to remember that you will still pay interest in these months and your loan period will be extended.

Get help

If your delinquency is threatening to end up with you in default, then seek help from your lender or a financial advisor. The quicker you begin to sort the problem then the quicker you will get yourself out of debt.

Get Approved For A Bad Credit Home Improvement Loan

Get Approved For A Bad Credit Home Improvement Loan

Home improvement projects are wonderful, but can quickly become expensive. There are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration when planning home improvements. In some situations, contracting the services of professionals, buying tools and supplies are necessary for completion. There can be a strong inclination to withdraw from your personal savings for home improvements, especially if there is a large repair involved that is an absolute necessity. This can lead to a strain on a family’s financial security. If this is the case, you might want to try to get approved for a bad credit home improvement loan.

Making home improvements are one way to increase the appraisal value of your house. However, if you have a bad credit history, your chances for loan approval will certainly decrease. Banks and other financial lenders take your credit history into consideration when trying to get approved for any type of home improvement loan. The lower your credit score, the more difficulty you will have in obtaining a home improvement loan.

Even though this is not encouraging news, don’t give up just yet! You may still be able to qualify for some types of bad credit home improvement loans. Lenders do exist that are willing to approve home improvement loans for persons with a bad credit history, however, possessing sufficient equity in your home will likely be a major requirement.

Unfortunately, bad credit home improvement loans have higher interest rates. But there is a bright side because if scheduled loan payments are made on time, the credit rating of the borrower will increase provided there are no other negative factors affecting the credit score. After a period of 12 to 24 months of timely payments, you may be able to refinance your bad credit home improvement loan for a lower interest rate.

Here are some excellent tips on ways to get approved for a bad credit home improvement loan and get the lowest possible interest rate for your current credit score:

1. Research

Take time to research your available options. Knowing your options will be a large help when it comes to finding the lowest possible interest rates on a bad credit home improvement loan.

2. Recommendations

Talk to other people who may have gone through the bad credit home loan approval process. Recommendations from friends or co-workers could save you hours worth of your own research time. You may get information from people who have completed the process that you might not learn otherwise.

3. Multiple Lender Quote Comparison

Always get more than one lender quote. You should compare home improvement loan quotations from no less than three or four lenders before attempting to make a decision.

4. Good Rapport

Contact the lenders with which you think you have the best chance of getting approval for a bad credit home loan. Once a good relationship has been established, lenders may be more likely to give you a lower interest rate.

Improving your credit score as much as possible before you apply for a loan is the best way to get approved for a bad credit home improvement loan. Your bad credit home improvement loan should be seen as an opportunity to both increases the value of your home as well as improve your credit score in the future.

How to Repair Your Credit and Buy a Home

How to Repair Your Credit and Buy a Home

There are three major consumer reporting agencies (CRAs), or credit bureaus, that mortgage companies use to assess a buyer’s credit rating: Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. Credit scores typically range from 300 to 850. When you buy a home, a score of 650 or higher indicates a good credit history and will make it easy for you to secure a mortgage. If your score falls between 620 and 650, your borrowing capacity will be examined more closely. And if you rate below 620, you may have a credit crisis.

When you’re in the market to buy a home and discover that you have bad credit and your score is low, don’t despair. Although it may delay the purchase of your home, there are ways to repair your bad credit rating so that you can still qualify for a home mortgage with a decent interest rate.

To evaluate your credit rating you’ll need to obtain copies of your credit reports from the various agencies. Examine them carefully to see what transactions are lowering your score.

Special note about bankruptcies

Bankruptcy can lower your credit score by 200 points or more. Repairing bad credit following a bankruptcy is beyond the scope of this article.

Charge-Offs

Charge-offs appear on your credit report if a creditor has given up trying to collect from you and ends up writing off the amount you owe as a bad debt. Charge-offs are one of the main reasons why loan applicants are denied credit.

How to Repair It

If you have any charge-offs, contact those creditors immediately and make arrangements to pay off the old debt. After a few months of regular payments, or if you repay a charge-off debt in full, submit a written request to that creditor to change the status on your credit reports.

Late Payments

Late payments are handled slightly differently depending on whether they are isolated incidents or recurring problems.

How to Repair It

If you have a single late payment here or there listed on your credit report, the best thing to do is contact your creditors by phone to discuss the situation. Follow the conversation with a written request to have the isolated late payments removed from your reports. If you’re consistently late with payments, however, repairing the problem is a little more involved. You’ll need to begin by setting a pattern of paying on time over several months. Once this positive pattern is established, call your creditors (and follow-up in writing) and let them know that you’re back on track. With persistence and patience, you may be able to delete these score-lowering marks.

Reporting Mistakes

Sometimes, creditors just make mistakes when reporting to the bureaus. Other mistakes might include charge disputes that resulted in an initial late payment that was eventually reversed. Unfortunately, it’s the individual’s responsibility to spot – and repair – reporting mistakes that lead to bad credit.

How to Repair It

Once again, contact your creditor by phone and follow up with a written request that the mistake is corrected. Because the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that credit agencies and their information providers investigate reports of inaccuracies, you’ll also want to contact the CRA directly to report the discrepancy.

As you work on repairing your credit rating, there are other things you can do to improve your score:

• Make sure that you pay all of your monthly bills on time

• Avoid opening new credit card accounts, including department store cards

• Work toward paying down your unsecured debt, but keep accounts open even if you pay them off

• Pay cash for the things you need instead of charging them

If, after all your work, you still score below the 620 marks, it doesn’t mean that you won’t qualify for a home loan. It may mean, however, that your mortgage will take longer to process and the terms and interest rate may not be as good as you were hoping for. Talk to your real estate agent about referrals to high-risk lenders.

Repairing bad credit can take many months to a year or more. But when you’re ready to buy a home, you’ll be glad you took the time to improve your score – and your mortgage payment will be lower because of your efforts.

See how our home buying assistance can help you acquire that dream home!

How to Repair your Credit: Consolidating Credit Card Loans

How to Repair your Credit: Consolidating Credit Card Loans

If the bills seem to be getting bigger every month, budgeting can help you begin to save money, but it can’t help you make your previous debt disappear. However, you can save yourself from financial ruin, even if you’re trying to pay off 20 different credit cards—consolidate your credit card loans. This step is easier than you may think and can truly help you repair your credit.

First, make a list of all of the credit cards you own, along with the debt on each and the APR for each. If you must have a credit card, choose the own with the lowest interest rate and set it aside. This will be the credit card that you still use, and it should only be used for emergencies and when you absolutely have no other way to pay a bill. Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay the minimum on this card every month and that you’ll want to try to pay the complete balance when possible.

Next, contact a debt consolidation company. Talk to a representative about your financial needs and about the debt you’ve already incurred. This company will work with you by paying off all of your credit card debt. You will then make one larger payment per month for this company. When this happens, cut your cards and close your accounts! This will save you from incurring more debt and repeating the situation!

You can also consolidate your credit card loans in other ways. If you have a credit card with an extremely low-interest rate, consider transferring all of your debt to this one card, keeping in mind that there may be transfer fees. You can also take out a second mortgage to pay off your cards if you have a low-interest rate in this part of your financial portfolio. The key is to work hard at paying as much as possible every month to avoid interest. Doing this will help you to repair your credit and stay out of debt in the future!

Five Credit Building Tactics

Five Credit Building Tactics

If you are looking to apply for a credit card then you’ll need to ensure that you have sufficient creditworthiness. In reality, this is no easy task – so if you are having problems with this, the following 5 credit building tactics should help.

1. Open a current account

All credit card companies like to see that their potential borrowers are responsible when given the opportunity to borrow money. However, if you only have a deposit account then there is no real chance that you could ever do overdrawn. A way to correct this is to open a current account with a high street bank and use it responsibly, i.e. don’t go overdrawn! In any event, in any application, you make to a credit card issuer they are going to ask you for details of your current account so you may as well take the opportunity of using the past history of your current account to help in establishing your credit rating.

2. Have all your utility bills in your name

A second way you can start to build up credit brownie points is to put all your utility bills, e.g. your water, gas, and telephone bills, in your name and make sure that you pay them all on time! Again, it is very likely that the credit card issuer will ask you to provide them with at least one utility bill when you apply for the card, so you may as well make use of this now as a tactic to start building up your credit history.

3. Apply for a charge card or store card

As most charge cards require you to pay off the balance in full each month, using this as a tactic to enhance your credit history is sound. Not only are you not really afforded the chance to default on a payment, but as the details are provided to several different rating agencies you can use this to building up your credit history.

4. Get a car loan

Applying for, and repaying in a timely manner, any type of loan is one of the fastest credit building tactics you can use. If you drive and know you can afford to repay a car loan, you should give serious thought to taking out a car loan – even if it is just to refinance repairs on your existing car!

5. Do a credit rating check

Once you have completed the 4 credit-building tactics above, apply for a credit report to perform a credit check. Provided you have been sensible with repaying all of your debts and bills in a timely manner, you should now have sufficient creditworthiness to apply for a credit card. In the event that you find an error on your credit report, make sure you take steps to fix this as soon as you can. Furthermore, it is good practice to get into the habit of ordering credit check on an annual basis even after your credit card has been approved to that you can keep a track of your credit rating history as this will have the biggest effect on your credit building tactics!

Avoid Payday Loans to Repair your Credit

Avoid Payday Loans to Repair your Credit

If you are trying to make ends meet and are having past due bills pile up, the last resort you would want is to take out payday loans to pay your dues. There are many sources available today that offer payday advances.

To get a quick payday advance loan, you can connect online with many payday advance loan companies. Most payday loan companies do not check credit so even if you have bad credit or no credit, you can still apply for a payday loan. The loans are issued after you show proof of banking account, Social Security, Driver License, and Pay stub proofs. This information is used against you, often the lenders will deduct money from your accounts including interest, and principals that apply to each loan you take out.

If you are applying for a payday loan online…Beware…Some of the sources are not even institutes that specialize in payday loans. When you are trying to repair your credit, the last thing you need to do is spend money that is not necessary. When you borrow money from payday loaners, your personal information may not be private. Since many of the lenders are outside of the United States and are out of government regulations, your information just might fall into anyone’s hands. This puts your credit at great risk. You would be wise to perform some extensive research to ensure the payday loan institute is valid and trustworthy.

Payday loans offer you a loan against your paycheck, but the downside is you will be paying higher fees to get the loan. You could be wasting money and taking a chance on your identity. Some payday loan companies offer a “free” loan to their new customers i.e. no fees as long as the loan amount is paid in full on its due date. If you are searching for help to repair your credit, it might be wise to search the market for legitimate resources that will help you restore your credit at little or no cost to you. There are Debt Counselors and Debt Management Companies available that assist people with credit repair but the best source is you. You might be wise to check out government options that are available to people with bad credit.

Many services are available to help you repair your life. The best solution is keeping up to date on your bills if possible or minimizing your monthly installments by opting for credit cards that have no fees attached and low-interest rates. If you have a credit card, or else applying for a credit card avoid charging items to your cards unless it is absolutely necessary. You might want to apply for a different credit card if your card has high-interest rates and discontinue your old card once you receive your new card. In some cases, depending on your credit card history, you could call your credit card company and ask them to reduce your interest rate. If you have had a good history with the company, they will most likely oblige.

If you suspect that someone has access to your card be sure to contact your provider immediately to report the card lost or stolen. Always keep this information in close vicinity to ensure a quick response. Be sure to only provide your personal information to those you trust i.e. Social Security Number and Bank Account Number. Never give information pertaining to you freely especially over the phone. If you are considering a loan to pay off your debts, check the market first before applying. The more applications you complete, the more it applies to your credit report. You might want to cut back on your utilities, i.e. reduce your heat or air conditioning, to save funds that can be applied to your bills.