Faith Between Us

Posts Tagged ‘Tips’

Your credit score is important to you. If you wish to purchase a home, you will most likely need to take out a mortgage. Interested in buying a new car? You probably will need a loan to help you pay for it and drive it off the lot today. Or, maybe you want to get a credit card, with so many businesses accepting them today; it is hard to deny the convenience and flexibility they provide. Even getting utilities or a phone put into your name requires having a good credit score. Otherwise, businesses look at you as too much of a risk. So, if you have bad credit, or even average credit and you want to improve it, follow these three tips for improving your credit score in just one day.

Tip #1: Review Your Credit Reports

The first step you need to take to improve your credit score is to get your credit reports from all three of the major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. You want all three because the information provided is not necessarily the same on all three. In fact, you might find something reported to just one that is not reported on the other two. Compare the three reports and look for any errors. There just might be a mistake on there that is dragging your credit score down. If this is the case, write to the credit reporting agency immediately to discuss the error. The easiest way to do this is to visit the agency’s website and report the error through their online form.  Read more...

If you have been asking yourself the question “how can I repair my credit history,” then you are in need of a few credit repair tips. There are actually quite a few tips out there that could help you with that goal. To get you started, here are five simple credit repair tips that will help you build a foundation for improving your credit, even if you are trying to repair credit after bankruptcy.

First, understand that improving your credit means making some changes in the way you live. That means taking a long hard look at your monthly expenses. Have you been living beyond your means? Do you rely on credit cards to take up some slack each month? Is your total indebtedness increasing each month and you have nothing to show for it? Then it is time to make changes in the way you spend money. Begin by spending a week paying your expenses out of your checking account and with pocket money – no credit card purchases. When you don’t have the money, you do without. If this means eating at home rather than going out, or watching television rather than going to the movies, then so be it.  Read more...

Debt management plan (DMP) is a special program introduced by most credit counseling agencies to help the serious debtors work their way out of debt. But not all debts can be included in a debt management plan. Although you have chosen to enroll into a debt management plan, you must do your own debt management for other debts that are not included in the DMP. Here are 6 debt management tips for you to work toward debt relief:

Tip #1: Keep record of your other bills.

A debt management plan typical will include only unsecured debts such as credit card and personal loans. If you have taken secured loan such as mortgage or car loan, be aware that those loans normally will not be handled by a debt management plan. Make you understand which debts are being paid by your monthly payment to the DMP. For those debts which are not covered in DMP, make sure you keep a record on the bills.

Tip #2: Make sure your payment reach your creditors on time

Although you make a single payment to DMP, it is your responsible to ensure the money is reached to your creditors on time, else if your payments late, you may incur additional late charges. Find out when your DMP will disburse payment to creditors and make sure the disbursement is matched with your billing cycle; if not, you must do an adjustment either with the DMP agency or notified your creditors and get their approval to reset the billing cycle to inline with DMP.  Read more...

Today having good credit reflected in your credit report is important in every financial situation you find yourself in as you probably know and knowing a few tips about credit repair can solve a lot of your credit problems. In our world credit determines just how much interest you’ll end up paying on your house, car, truck, etc.

Your credit scores, called FICO, are used by your landlords, your employers and the insurance companies to determine whether you can get an apartment and/or job and even what your insurance rates will be. Yes your insurance agent will make use of your credit information. Your credit report and score will indicate whether you have good credit or bad credit and whether you have to pay a deposit for a cell phone.

Assuming you already have a copy of your credit report, here are a few of the best credit repair tips if you’re having credit problems. If you don’t have a copy you can easily get a free credit report online. You won’t be able to get the score along with the free report though. There are other ways to get your FICO score that you would have to pay for but there are ways to get your score for free.

1. Get a copy of the ‘Fair Credit Reporting Act’ from the federal government. It may sound boring but you don’t have to read the entire legal portion, just understand the basics of the Act. You’ll be well-armed if you plan to fix your credit report. But it’s very important that you get it and read it. It won’t take long.  Read more...

Debt is the result of poor money management skills or inappropriate spending. Add to that mix a job layoff or other unforeseen external factors and you have a recipe for disaster. You can use the following tips on getting out of debt to get back on track.

Create and stay within a realistic monthly budget. Make a list of all your monthly bills and necessities. You will only be able to spend the money that is left over after all the bills have been paid on nonessential items. Cutting down on your discretionary expenses such as dining out, exceeding your allotted minutes on your cell phone are additional tips on getting out of debt.

Pay off your credit card debt. You’ll want to pay off the credit card that has the highest interest rate, unless one of your cards exceeds 50 percent of your credit limit. You want to pay the credit card balances to below 50 percent of the card limit because having a balance above the 50 percent level will lower your credit score. After you have paid off the balance on the credit card with the highest debt, then pay off the credit card balance with the next highest interest rate and continue until you reach the credit card with the lowest interest rate. One of the best tips on getting out of debt is to no more than four open accounts to establish a positive credit history.  Read more...