How to Raise Your Credit Score
As the world’s economic growth slows to a trickle, many people find themselves struggling to make it. Gas prices have skyrocketed and the price of food is at all time highs. If you have bad credit, obtaining a loan can seem like an impossible task. Fear not! Here are four easy ways to raise your credit score :
1. Pay Your Bills on Time – Of all of the things you can do to raise your credit score , this is probably the easiest and most effective step. Approximately 35% of your credit score is based upon your payment history. Set up an online account with your bank and pay your bills via the internet. This takes about 10 minutes to set up and can save you at least in stamps.
2. Pay Down High Balances First – Your credit score will actually decrease if you have credit balances that exceed 50% of the available balance for that card. Free up some of this available balance and you can raise your credit score .
3. Cut Up Used Cards – If you have a card that you do not use, cut it up BUT leave the account open. Your credit score is composed of numerous items including the percentage of available credit that you have versus the amount of credit that you have used. If you cancel the card, you can actually reduce your credit score. The only time you should cancel your card is if it has an annual fee.
4. Monitor, monitor, monitor – You should check your credit score at least annually. Each of the three major credit bureaus will give you one for free each year. Get your free report from Experian immediately and review it for accuracy. After four or five months get your free report from Equifax. After another five or six months, get your final free report from Transunion. This ensures that you will be able to take the necessary steps to raise your credit score .
These four steps are not difficult to accomplish. You should be able to see positive results in about six months. In addition to following the steps outlined above, visit as many personal finance blogs that you can. These sites can help you Become Debt Free .
Written by chasingthebull
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Raise, Score
What Your Credit Score Really Means
That mystery is created, in part, by the very agencies who determine the number. Formulas for figuring the scores are kept secret, and the numbers are not readily available; at least not without having to do some work to get them. People often want to know what exactly a credit score is, who is behind it, what things impact your rating and what effect a credit score can have on daily life. Add to that the tough economic times we’re now in, and your credit rating becomes more important than ever. Let’s take a deeper look at what a credit score is and how it affects you.
A credit score is nothing more than an attempt to rank your creditworthiness with an objective number. It used to be that if you wanted a loan you would go into the bank, and if you had a good standing in the community, or if the loan officer had a good feeling about you, you could get a loan. Obviously, there is a flaw in that system; anybody, no matter how well-respected, can be a bad credit risk. So, by calculating the effect of different factors on your ability to repay, the credit agencies came up with a way that seeks to treat everybody fairly.
There are several different things taken into account by the credit agencies when figuring out a score. The good news is that most of them are common sense. The one thing that makes up most of your score is your payment history. Therefore, one of the best things you can start doing (or continue doing) is pay all of your bills on time. Next, don’t owe too much. Your debt-to-income ratio should be at 25% or less. That means the amount you owe should not exceed 25% of your income. Don’t open too many accounts in a short period of time, and don’t close too many either. Only apply for a loan or credit if you really need it. As mentioned, most of these things are common sense and they will always go a long way towards improving your overall financial health.
Is a credit score really that important, after all, it’s only a number, right? Right, but it’s a pervasive number at that. The most well-known example are lenders. They will use your credit score to determine whether or not you get a loan, and if so, what terms you will get. However, your credit score is used by a lot more than just lenders. If you apply for a job, your potential employer may pull your credit report before making their hiring decision. Landlords use credit scores to see who they will rent to. Insurance companies use them as part of their risk assessment before offering you a policy.
There is no doubt that your credit score is important. Now that you have more information on what it’s all about, you can take steps to maintain or improve your score.
Written by Royyan
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, means, Really, Score
Your Credit Score Breakdown
While there is no verifiable statistic as to how many people feel this way, the fact that the credit reporting agencies don’t readily reveal their calculation methods makes easy to see why people are in the dark about it. You may not need to know the exact formula, but it’s still smart to have an understanding of how they come up with your credit score so you can whatever possible to maintain or improve your score.
After all, if you don’t know what goes into your credit score, there is no real way to do anything about it. Having a better idea of what elements go into determining it and how it’s calculated allows you to have more control over your financial health. With that in mind, here is a breakdown of what the credit score is made of.
1. The most important part of your credit score is based on your history of making payments. Believe it or not, this counts for a staggering 35% of your overall credit score. Now, if you have a spotless record of making payments on time, then this is actually good news. However, if you occasionally forget to pay a bill and are routinely a few days late, then this could be bad news. I say ‘could be’ because different creditors have different policies on when they will report a late payment to the credit agencies. However, you don’t know what that threshold is, so it’s best to pay all of your bills and loans on time.
2. Your blend of credit adds up to 10% of your score. Having a mortgage, car loan, credit card and perhaps a store account that you pay on is a sign to the agencies that you are able to handle a variety of credit options. Be sure that you are able to handle all of them, though, as not paying on time on even one type can count against you.
3. 15% of your credit score is determined by how long you have had a credit history. Of course, the better you have handled that credit over the years, the better it will be for your score. But it’s still better to have a more established credit record than a shorter one.
4. Second in weight to your payment history is the total amount you owe. This factor accounts for 30% of your score. The total amount you owe is compared to your income in what’s known as the “debt to income” ratio. The lower, the better. You should aim to keep your total debt at 25% or less of your annual income to have the best effect on your rating.
5. New inquiries into your credit are a warning sign that you may be overextending yourself and account for 10% of your total score. The one exception is if you are the one looking at your credit report.
As you can see, there is no real mystery when it comes to your credit score breakdown. Knowing how much weight is given to each portion of your score can help you decide where to first focus your efforts when you start trying to improve your credit score.
Written by Royyan
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Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Breakdown, Credit, Score
American Credit Repair : Everything U Need to Know About Raising Your Credit Score Reviews
American Credit Repair : Everything U Need to Know About Raising Your Credit Score
The Definitive Guide to Raising Your Credit Score Whether you’re recovering from financial problems or need to pump up your score to qualify for a mortgage, you need reliable information and expert guidance to fix and improve your credit rating. Drawn from years of experience helping thousands of consumers, American Credit Repair empowers you with Everything U Need To Know to raise your credit score. Everything U Need to Know about Credit Repaire Obtaining and understanding consumer credit reports Correcting past mistakes and planning for the future Disputing inaccurate data on your credit file Dealing with collection agencies Avoiding foreclosure and bankruptcy BONUS CD-ROM FEATURES: Ready-to-print forms and letters to repair your credit on your own plus vital consumer protection resources you can’t do without, and much more!The Definitive Guide to Raising Your Credit Score Whether you’re recovering from financial problems or need to pump up your score to qualify for a mortgage, you need reliable information and expert guidance to fix and improve your credit rating. Drawn from years of experience helping thousands of consumers, American Credit Repair empowers you with Everything U Need To Know to raise your credit score. Everything U Need to Know about Credit Repaire Obtaining and understanding consumer credit reports Correcting past mistakes and planning for the future Disputing inaccurate data on your credit file Dealing with collection agencies Avoiding foreclosure and bankruptcy BONUS CD-ROM FEATURES: Ready-to-print forms and letters to repair your credit on your own plus vital consumer protection resources you can’t do without, and much more!
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How to Improve Your Credit Score
In the current financial climate, it is critically important to take steps to improve your credit score. Although there are credit cards for poor credit available, a better credit rating will improve affordability. Credit history repair isn’t an overnight process, but even a discharged bankrupt could qualify for a mortgage in 2 to 3 years. Minor credit problems, such as a payment outside of the grace period, can be recovered from in about 6 months. Should a credit report contain erroneous data, it may be possible to fix credit problems within just 2 to 3 months.
Ways to Quickly Improve Your Credit Score
People with minor credit transgressions will be able to achieve a higher credit score relatively quickly. This can be achieved by doing one or more of the following:
Never max-out a credit card as this will lead to your score falling by 20 to 30 points. Liz Pulliam-Weston of MSN Money recently said that: “You typically can increase your scores by limiting your charges to 30% or less of a card’s limit.” Using less than 10% could achieve far better results.
Avoid cancelling old credit cards as it affects credit utilization. This means that credit reference agencies will believe that someone is more financially stretched as they are using a higher percentage of their total credit allocation. Rather than cancelling the card, fix credit problems by using the card occasionally. Always remember to settle the balance in full and on-time at the end of the month.
Use personal savings to reduce debt.
Request a free credit report from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion and fix credit report errors. For example, a debt that was included when filing chapter 7 bankruptcy that continues to show as active or credit agreements that were never taken out by that person.
Improve Your Credit Score By paying punctually
Personal credit ratings aren’t set in stone as this would provide no incentive to perform credit history repair. If there was no incentive to pay off debt on-time, the system would break down. Although raising FICO scores can be achieved by complying with the terms and conditions of credit agreements, this doesn’t happen quickly. However, each timely repayment will result in a small credit score improvement. Provided that all debts are repaid punctually in the future, that person will be rewarded with a better credit rating.
Rebuild Bad Credit with a Credit Card for Poor Credit
Not everyone has active credit agreements, especially when they’ve filed for bankruptcy. In order to fix credit problems, it is necessary to make repayments on a source of both revolving and instalment debt. The majority of filers will reaffirm instalment debts, such as car and home mortgages. However, most people will write-off credit card debt with a debt free solution. Signing-up to the best secured or guaranteed unsecured credit card is an essential way to improve your credit score more quickly. The sooner the credit repair process begins, the quicker credit approval will take place.
Sources
Pulliam-Weston, Liz. (March 18, 2010). “7 fast fixes for your credit.” MSN Money.
Written by aghaf9999
Professional business and financial writer
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Improve, Score
Credit Building Credit Cards – How To Build Credit Score
Do you like to know more about credit building or anything about credit cards? Are you a credit card owner? Do you know how to build your credit score? In this video, you will be educated about credit building.
This will provide you essential things you have to remember about credit building and of course credit cards. You will have information about building your credit score. Also, you will be guided on how to handle things along the process of building your credit. In addition, the video will talk about credit score.
The video will emphasize on the tips in building a credit score and eventually provide you with a better credit score. Different topics in relation to credit like credit score, credit history and credit cards will be discussed for you to understand and help you in your future credit experience.
Enjoy and learn more about credit building and credit cards in this no non-sense video.
Free Credit Report With Credit Score
If you’ve ever been declined for a new credit card, car loan, etc you’ve most likely been offered a free credit report via snail mail to review and see why your credit was declined. Unfortunately, the numeric score that determines the approval process is nowhere to be found on these free credit reports, leaving consumers just as confused as to why they were declined in the first place. SO how does a free credit report via snail mail 10-14 days later with no numeric score actually help educate a consumer on why exactly they were declined? It doesn’t. You now have your 20-30 page credit report a week after the fact filled with verbiage that reads about as easy as mumbo jumbo.
These free credit reports contain the status and payment history of outstanding lines of credit and other financial obligations including credit cards, charge accounts, home mortgages, car notes, and delinquent medical and utility bills that have been sold or outsourced to collection agencies. This data is used by the credit bureaus to generate your credit worthiness on their 300 to 850 numeric credit score scale. Lenders primarily use the credit score itself to approve a loan process, so it’s important to know and understand what they’re seeing that coincides with the data on the credit report.
In an effort to help expand financial literacy in America and further educate the masses on credit, an amendment proposed by the Senate Monday could stand to change free credit reports and provide consumers with their numeric score to better understand where they’re at with their credit rating and where they need to be in order to get approved based on a lenders point of view. The credit score would be required to be provided in instances of credit denial, if required a higher interest rate on a loan, or if credit prevented one from establishing new employment.
The Senate verbally voted and approved a proposal by Mark Udall of Colorado to require credit reports to include the numeric credit score that gauges a consumer’s credibility (pun intended) on a scale from 300 to 850, 850 being the big winner of low interest rates on future lines of credit and loans. So what once could cost a consumer up to with their free credit report data, now may be available free of charge when obtaining a free credit report under the aforementioned circumstances.
Unfortunately, a person’s credit worthiness has become a huge factor in daily life as it now used with employers and apartment complexes to determine consumer credibility. Negative credit history = negative consumer these days. This unfair assessment of character has become norm in today’s society and it doesn’t seem like the unbalanced scale of justice will be tipping in favor of average Joe anytime soon. Reviewing your credit report once a year is encouraged to ensure you are not a victim of identity theft and are aware of what’s being reported on your behalf.
You don’t have to be denied credit for a free credit report. You can also obtain a free credit report from annual credit report .com from all three credit bureaus once a year instantly online. Instantly seeing what a lender could see before applying for credit could give consumers a better assessment as to what they would or would not be approved for based on their current data before applying for new lines of credit.
A certified credit counselor with a nonprofit consolidation agency can review your credit report for free and help explain the details of the report and how lenders use the data to determine credit eligibility. Commonly, credit counselors can find ways within your report to improve credit and possibly offer free counseling services to eliminate your unsecured debts faster than normal. Speak to a certified credit counselor today to review your credit report for free and learn how you can improve credit and be debt free with nonprofit counseling services. Call 800.905.1563 or visit our website freedomdm.org and LIVE CHAT with a counselor or complete our contact request form. You can be debt free, Freedom Debt Management, Inc. can help.
Written by BrazierM
Categories: Credit Score Articles Tags: Credit, Free, Report, Score
What is a good credit score and how to improve it?
Question by cornerblitz13: What is a good credit score and how to improve it?
Sorry, multiple part question: What is the highest credit score possible and what is the lowest possible? What can you do to improve it? And the myth that using your ATM Debit card as credit can actually improve your credit score, is it true?
Best answer:
Answer by mburleigh8
Best score i think is 850
good things to improve credit
Pay your bills as soon as you get them, quickly paying makes them happy.
ATM/Debit, is a myth This doesn’t really go towards your credit score because you are not truly borrowing $ . Its $ you already have.
What do you think? Answer below!
Categories: Credit Score Questions Tags: Credit, Good, Improve, Score
Is my credit score weak because I only have 6 months of credit experience?
Question by natashaiera: Is my credit score weak because I only have 6 months of credit experience?
I got a letter back and my credit score is only 665. I only have 6 months of credit history, but all of my credit cards do have a pretty high balance, although I pay them all on time and I just opened an account with AT&T last month. Is my credit going to stay this bad as long as I keep a high balance on my credit cards? Or is it just high because I do not have a lot of credit experience?
Best answer:
Answer by jlf
Both. High balances and a short credit history both lower your credit scores. Get the balances down (they are also costing you lots of interest). The short credit history self-corrects with time.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Categories: Credit Score Questions Tags: because, Credit, experience, months, only, Score, weak
Q&A: What’s the importance of knowing your credit score when the creditors run your credit anyway?
Question by AMEFIKA: What’s the importance of knowing your credit score when the creditors run your credit anyway?
When I apply for loans and tell the creditors what my credit score is they still run my credit. All the reports I read talk about the imporatnce of knowing your credit score and that’s fine. But what’s the importance of knowing my score when the creditors run it anyway? Also, how do we know that the rates that we qualify for are true based on ourcredit score? Is there a chart tat we can put our credit score up against and it tells us what rates we qualify for?
Best answer:
Answer by Soxfan
Not everything is based on score but in large it is.
Knowing your score allows to to shop for the best interest rates. In other words, it enables you to be an educated consumer.
If your credit score is high and you have good credit then anyone will give you financing so you are better off researching to see if you can get a better rate etc somewhere else.
In short, being educated before shopping gives you the best chance at the best product.
Also, keeping track of your score and what is on your credit files keeps you assured that no one has stolen your identity and to make sure that nothing gets erroneously reported by a creditor – a quick fix will save you tons of heartache later on.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Categories: Credit Score Questions Tags: anyway, Credit, creditors, importance, knowing, Score, What's