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Posts Tagged ‘credit repair’

FICO Revealed Worthless

February 22nd, 2010 Charles Lamm No comments

Credit scores and credit bureaus and FICO look like a three-headed monster living under your bed. Pull back the covers and see if you even care what your FICO score is this month.

I often wonder why the average American worries so much about their credit. Why do you even care? A high FICO score can only lead to the possibility of high debt.

Simple. We have been taught to buy first, and worry about how to pay later.

A high FICO/credit score can only guide you down the path to crushing debt. Living beyond your means is the American Way. Here are 5 reasons to take a different approach and to tear up your credit report:

1. FICO Does Not Cover Your Expenses.

Credit is worthless if your bills are covered by your income each month. If your income falls short, you have bigger problems than a low FICO score.

2. Out of Your Control.

Trying to raise your credit score, as the countless credit repair books will teach you, is a thankless task. At any time, the credit bureaus can alter their algorithms and change their emphasis to change your score – all beyond your control.

For instance, not all bills are created equal. Pay your standard landline phone bill – FICO good. Pay your cell phone bill (often much higher) – FICO doesn’t care. Don’t pay any bill that gets reported to the credit bureaus and you get slammed. No one said FICO was fair, no matter what the name of the company is.

3. Inaccurate and Incomplete.

Credit scores are dry mathematical formulas. No real human contact. Mistakes can live forever. Most human activities can only lower your score.

Income is not really a factor in the credit score algorithm. Get a raise at work and FICO does not know or care. Pay all your expenses in cash and become a credit ghost. Mistakes stay on your report forever. Even debt discharged in bankruptcy somehow lingers.

4. Mounting Debt.

Without a high credit score, it’s almost impossible to take on too much debt. If you cover your bills each month and live within your means, you don’t need credit anyway.

Use credit so-called wisely (pay at least the minimum on time each month) and you will raise your FICO score and be flooded by bank offers to take more credit cards.

Lose your income or suffer a personal financial crisis, and all that built up debt just increases your woes.

5. No Legacy.

You can’t take your FICO score with you. It will never be broadcast at your funeral. Life is too precious to worry about a credit score.

Wealth matters. Your credit score does not.

Eat, drink, and be merry, just not on someone else’s dime.

And live within your means.

Don’t lose sleep or thousands of dollars protecting your credit.

Look for more contrarian financial strategies at Burn Down the Freaking Mission.

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Following Grueling Financial Times You Can Reconstruct Your Credit

February 21st, 2010 Theodore Black No comments

Rebuilding credit after a period of fiscal hardships, economic failure, repossessions or other economic damage that blemishes any credit report can be fearsome and baffling. For most people these are times of dreadful stress. But times change and situations change so don’t let the liberation than comes when the income and cash get back in line be overshadowed by the tribulations left on the credit report.

Following experiencing the tough financial times, many consumers have pointless worries that the credit tribulations will follow them without end or that they may inadvertently fall back into the same bad spending and credit habits that got them in trouble in the first place. But those things do not need to occur if the consumer uses a little conscientious planning.

To start the process of rebuilding credit should be attempted as if there had never been any credit tribulations and the person is starting out with a spotless slate. Understanding how credit works is the next step to productively upgrading your financial life.

Getting started with basic credit repair.

1. Order your credit report.

2. Analyze your credit report.

3. Make a list of the negative items.

4. Mail letters disputing your credit

5. Send letters registered or certified mail.

Until you have control of your funds it will be close to impossible to restructure your credit. Whether it was a lack of awareness, some dreadful luck or just overextended spending habits that caused the problems in the first place, gaining control and being accountable is necessary at this times. You may desire to ponder establishing a financial plan that you can stick to. You can recruit the aid of a experienced credit counselor to help you with a financial plan or you can do it on your own.

When establishing a budget every specific cost must be noted. Many folks are oblivious of all of the various everyday expenditures that they incur so the best way to make sure that every cost is accounted for it to record all of the outgoing monies each day for a period of 2 weeks to a month. You may find that you are already overextended on your budget and you may need to consider cutting any pointless everyday expenditures at this point.

When expenses have been recorded and a financial plan has been worked out the next step is to make a responsible spending plan and stick to it. Spending plans should also include saving money or using any additional funds in order to reduce existing debt. People who do not carry credit cards or checkbooks are less prone to become impulse shoppers. Waiting for sales and shopping only from a written list are exceptional tools to be utilized in order to stick to the financial plan and recreate credit.

If there are any inaccuracies on your credit report, they may also be causing you grief. The FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act was established so that a consumer could dispute mistaken credit reportings. After a dispute the credit reporting party must validate the accuracy of the information within a certain time period or it must be deleted from the credit. If there are inaccuracies you need to take the steps to get them removed to steer clear of future problems if you are trying to restore.

Few of us escape times of financial adversity completely. Whether it was just terrible luck or a time of poor judgment that caused the difficulty when the times change you can take the steps to restore and renew your monetary life.

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Walmart Prepaid Money Card Basics

February 20th, 2010 Eileen Loveman No comments

One of the more popular prepaid money cards currently on the market is the Walmart Prepaid Money Card. Issued with a VISA logo under lender GE Money Bank, it is valid any where VISA is accepted.Online transactions are honored as well as the ability to withdraw your cash from any ATM.

Cash can also be withdrawn from any ATM, and any online transactions are honored as well. Initially begun as a response to consumer demand for a product available to those with less than perfect credit, it is a useful tool for those who do not want to undergo a credit check due to low scores or have no credit at all.

Keep in mind this is a debit card, not a credit card. There is no line of credit offered and funds are available by deposit them into an account with any participating Walmart store.

Funds can also be added by purchasing a Green Dot Money Pak, which is available in increments of $20 to $1,100. You are also able to transfer all or part of your weekly paycheck by direct deposit for immediate withdrawal.

The benefits of using a Walmart Prepaid Money Card consist of a prepaid spending allowance. You can only spend what you have, which is helpful in maintaining a budget and helping those with difficulty to manage their finances.

Using a prepaid card does not rebuild your credit score, and there are fees associated with using the card. Always read the terms and conditions on any contract before proceeding.

Using a card in this manner will help you learn to shop responsibly, develop smarter budgeting skills and teach you how to monitor your finances, thus allowing you to build your credit score to an acceptable level.

More information about this easy and economical way to shop is available at your local Walmart store, or visit their website online at www.walmart.com.

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Online Credit Repair

January 23rd, 2010 Mark Newman No comments

Online companies offering credit repair services are becoming increasingly popular. These online companies assist people in repairing their credit so they become eligible for better credit products, such as credit cards and home loans.

It is obvious that, if you improve your credit score, you will become less of a financial risk to lenders. Being viewed as a better financial risk will go a long way in helping you attain credit products which have lower annual percentage rates (APRs) and better benefits. It is because of this that many people are turning to credit repair companies for help.

You will need to complete an online application first. This application will request personal data as well as financial data from you. It will likely request information related to any bankruptcies, foreclosures, court judgments or late payments which you may have.

It will normally take two to three days to receive a response after completing the application. The response should detail the sections of your credit report which need help, what steps should be taken, and how much it will cost to take these steps in order to improve your credit score.

It is important to know that any entries on your credit report which are accurately reported will remain on your credit report for up to seven years. There is no legal way to remove accurate information from your credit report. Also, be aware that it is illegal in the United States for a credit repair service to request payment for services which have not yet been rendered.

In case you are unaware, you can do on your own anything which a credit repair service can do. You are capable and have the legal right to take the same actions. If you take this endeavor on yourself, you will need to write dispute letters to the credit reporting bureaus requesting revisions or deletions of inaccurate or false information which has been reported on your credit report. You will need to include copies of any substantiating documentation. Copies of all correspondence to and from the credit reporting agency should be kept in your file.

The main advantages to using an online credit repair service are that it will save you the time and stress of dealing with this process. If these are good reasons for you to employ an online credit repair service, then the fees you will pay may be justified. If you would prefer not to pay the fees, then you might try do-it-yourself credit repair.

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Six Ways Credit Repair Attornies Can Help Clean Up Your Credit Report

January 23rd, 2010 Karen K Lynch No comments

Your credit may need to be fixed for many diverse considerations. The derogatory items on your credit report can be rightful or may be due to errors, aggressive (and sometimes unlawful) debt collectors, or may result from fraudulent activities such as identity theft. If you find that your credit reports are erroneous, you should utilize the services of a respectable credit repair law firm to identify the errors and to eradicate them from your credit report.

A legally educated professional is in the best situation to know what legal plans will apply in your credit repair situation. When the credit report is in error, care should be taken to guarantee that entries are deleted or corrected legally. You should not fall into the trap of disputing everything in hopes that it will all go away. When this happens, the creditor may simply reenter the bad information on your report. When there is an error, you want it to go away completely and legally.

If your home loan or credit approval process is being stonewalled due to credit repair errors, it is in your best interest to get corrections made as promptly as possible. Because the lawyer is being paid to complete a particular goal, the job is likely to be finished quickly and effectively.

When you use a business other than a legal professional to complete the repairs to your credit report, you run the risk that you may not be treated in an ethical manner. Lawyer representation will not only be lawful in any actions taken, but will be ethical activities as well. The lawyer can also hold debt collectors, creditors and others associated with your poor report items responsible for preserving an ethical series of activities.

When you hire an attorney to lead out in any discussions or negotiations with lenders, you are getting the services of an agent who is practiced in the art and science of negotiation. The perceived power of the legal profession helps to lend emphasis to the discussions about errors or offers. The lawyer who contacts creditors usually carry more weight than if you deal with your lenders personally.

If you have become overly anxious while trying to settle with creditors, dispute inaccurate entries on your credit report or avoid repeated calls from hostile debt collectors, you are more likely to deal from an emotional rather than a rational base. The attorney working for you is just the opposite. Emotion is not the driving force. The process of repairing your credit is usually just a step-by-step approach to identify the problem and deal with it properly.

Sometimes, taking a fresh look at a problem is a giant step forward in solving it. While there may not be an infinite number of solutions for an mistaken entry on your credit report, putting an knowledgeable credit repair attorney to work on your issues may present a new approach that will work better.

Pick a credit repair lawyer to rectify difficulties with your credit report. It is liable to be a better end result for you. In spite of of why you have been besieged by credit report discrepancies, the lawyer working for you will not be focused on the considerations why the item happened, but upon the deletion part.

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Learn about Your Debt to Income Ratio – First Steps of Debt Reduction

January 9th, 2010 Lisa Max No comments

One of the main reasons why many Americans look to bankruptcy and other measures of debt reduction to clear their name from this debt is because statistically as a country we have a very high debt to income ratio; sometimes way over 50% per household. This ratio can prevent people from obtaining financing, establishing credit, and can also get you in a major bind with many of your own creditors. You can calculate this by taking the percentage of the debt you have versus how much income you bring home.

So how can we as whole get better with debt reduction? Having a high DTI can be a deterrent for many creditors and finance companies to want to give us any kind of chance of having credit or financing. Taking a look at your DTI involves you taking the percentage of debt versus your income.

First take your monthly income; this should include all wages, child support, alimony, annuities, or any other monies that come in to the household monthly. If you happen to have income that varies, you will need to add up the most recent 6 months of wages and get an average of your standard income.

You want to first calculate what your monthly income is; this could be a variety of things ranging from your monthly wages to alimony and child support.

Your monthly income is the first thing that needs to be determined to start this equation. Your monthly income can include child support, alimony, benefits, annuities, and your monthly wages; this will include all income that comes into the household on a monthly basis. If your income is different on a monthly basis then the lender will calculate the last six months of standard and averaged income.

The next thing to be calculated is the debt you have incurred. Debt does not include any utility bills, but it will include credit card balances, mortgage, child support, business loans, personal loans, the car payment, etc. Do not include it if it will be paid off within three months.

Finally, go ahead and divide your monthly expenses by the your monthly income. This will give you the debt to income ratio.

For example:

Monthly Income = $3500

Fixed Monthly Expenses = $1700

DTI = 62%

This debt to income ratio is very poor and shows that expenses are so high that it would be very difficult to gain any additional credit or financing.

The first step of debt reduction is always taking a look at where you currently stand, and that is through obtaining your debt to income ratio.

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Preparing For A Working Economy

January 7th, 2010 Mike Jones No comments

Are you ready to participate in a fully recovered economy? You are probably saying YES out loud, but are you really ready? With the economy on the edge of recovery, it is more important than ever tomake sure you can take advantage of a good working economy.

Many people don’t realize that their credit score will directly determine if they can participate in saving money in a good economy or not. With rates at all time lows and opportunities starting to rear their head, will you be able to take advantage of these deals and save money? This is a serious question to think about as it will directly effect you.

Now is the time to start preparing yourself to take advantage and help move this economy forward. The only way to do this is to have your buying power. Right now credit card rates are at all time highs and if you have a bad credit score, your rates will be even worse. The last thing you want to have happen is have everyone around you recover but you yourself not becaue of your credit.

What can you start doing to make sure this deosn’t happen? The first thing to do is to actually pull a credit report, read it, and remember what your score is. You would be shocked by how many people don’t even know what their score is. It’s impossible to start helping yourself if you don’t even know what type, or how much help you even need.

Once you have taken a look at your credit its now time to make some goals. Stop being late on that credit card payment, or make a pact to always pay that car payment on time, every time for the next year. These types of course corrections will help you tremendously to improve and fix your credit score.

Mike writes about chapter 11 and about questions about bankruptcy

Practical and Free Methods To Increase Credit Score-Clean Credit History Efficiently And Easily

December 29th, 2009 Dan O Spark No comments

For many people the need to increase credit score-clean credit history is growing. The problem is that there are a lot of steps to cleaning up credit that often are hard to find. Many businesses offer to help clean up credit or even offer to do it for you for a fee. However, the costs for this service can often be more than what the average person can afford. There may be even monthly fees and costs that do not have any termination date.

Many companies that offer assistance with cleaning up a credit history make it seem that there is some secret formula that only they are aware of. For a price they will do something that will suddenly increase your credit score. But, there is no secret formula. The steps to cleaning up a credit score are pretty standard and are available to anyone who wants to take the time to find them.

One of the popular steps that many agencies take is to send a form letter to creditors and major credit reporting agencies that contest the charges shown on a credit history. Unfortunately, this method of removing debts from a credit report has been abused so badly that neither creditors or the major credit reporting agencies accept these form letters any longer.

When a person wants to increase their credit score, there are some very simple steps that can be taken without paying a fee to have anything done for you. Many people don’t realize that over 35% of a credit score is based on the paying current debts. These debts include your basic utilities, credit cards, etc. Making minimum payments on time each month can significantly increase your credit score.

The one constant in raising a credit score and cleaning up a credit history is that it takes time. Whether you use a website or business that offers to increase your score immediately and wipe your credit clean, or do it yourself, the process is not going to be done immediately and will take time to accomplish. Getting copies of your current credit history from the three credit reporting agencies will be one of the first steps in effectively cleaning up your credit history. You are going to need to check each report carefully for irregularities and, when you find them, follow a simple set of steps to get the problems resolved.

There are some great software packages available that contain the steps and forms that you need to create a budget, clean up your credit history and increase your credit score that are effective and affordable. When you are comparing the website and software that is available you will want to read the methods that they use to clean up credit and make sure that it is going to be effective.

Cleaning up your credit will not require a long term relationship with a website. You should be able to use the software and forms provided and begin cleaning up your credit history and raising your credit score within a few weeks of beginning the steps that are provided. When a long term fee or membership is required, you will want to check carefully to see what exactly you will be receiving for your membership.

When you use a program or system to increase credit score-clean credit history, there will be some effort and time involved in achieving the success that you desire. There are many aspects to increasing a credit score that are easy steps that do not require a lot of effort. Planning a strategy that includes addressing past debt and avoiding future debt will help you to achieve your goals more quickly.

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How to Fill Out a Cash Advance Form

December 28th, 2009 Frank Williams No comments

You can usually fill out the cash advance form when you are online, if the cash advance firm permits it, because of the fact that most cash advance companies have an online presence. There will normally be an online application form that can be filled out with regard to your cash advance request too.

The firm will often contact you about the cash advance, and will probably be able to give you an answer within 24 hours of receiving your request.

Completing a cash advance form is really very simple. It doesn’t ask any hard questions, only simple questions including name, address, and the like. Hopefully, they won’t even need that data either, because you will make the repayments on time. That way they won’t send anyone to knock on your door asking for the money back you haven’t paid yet.

An online cash advance application form is meant to be easy to complete because the loan companies understand that you want some cash quickly and that any bit of help that can make it easier for people to get that cash will be highly regarded among customers.

Due to a speedy and easy system such as this, loan companies can promise an answer within 24 hours of you filling in the cash advance application form. They realize what type of situation you are in and will assist you with the whole application process.

All they ask is that you meet certain requirements, like being over 18 years of age and earning at least $1,200 a month. Making sure that their customers meet these requirements is a safety net for many firms, so that they know that you can make the repayments with the money that you earn.

Quickness and simplicity is what people require when filling in a loan application form requesting speedy financial assistance and with a cash advance form they can get that help with quickness and simplicity.

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What Are Second Chance Credit Cards?

December 24th, 2009 Mark Newman No comments

Have you made some mistakes with regard to your credit cards? Don’t feel alone, many people have! Issuers of “second chance credit cards” are willing to give consumers a second chance to prove their creditworthiness.

Another name for these second chance credit cards is “bad credit” credit cards. By providing the consumer a second opportunity to practice good spending habits, the card issuer hopes the cardholder will be able to improve his credit. As far as benefits go, second chance credit cards and “standard” credit cards are very much alike.

There are several types of second chance credit cards. Which one you will qualify for depends on how good, or bad, your credit is. Some people will qualify for an unsecured credit card, while others may qualify for a secured credit card or possibly even a prepaid credit card.

Prior to applying for any second chance credit card, it is best to contact the credit card provider. The credit card provider will be able to help you with regard to what type of card would be best to apply for, depending upon your credit history. The reason it is important to contact the credit card provider first is because applying for a credit card and being denied will be reported on your credit report and will further damage your credit score.

An unsecured second chance credit card is very much like a typical MasterCard or Visa. The main difference being that these cards normally carry with them a much higher annual percentage rate (APR). This means that the cardholder will pay a higher rate of interest with this card if the cardholder does not pay the bill in full each month. The reason these unsecured second chance credit cards carry such a high APR is that the cardholder presents a higher risk to the credit card company because of the cardholder’s past spending and payment behavior.

Secured credit cards are different from unsecured credit cards in that card providers require a deposit for the secured credit card. In other words, you must deposit money against purchases made with a secured credit card in order to guarantee the payment of any purchases you may make. The deposited amount then becomes the cardholders credit limit. If a payment is missed, it will be paid from the deposited amount. When the account is closed and provided the account is in good standing, the cardholder will receive the amount deposited with the card provider.

Both secured and unsecured credit cards can help a consumer to rebuild their credit score by the card provider’s reporting to the three major credit reporting agencies. This, of course, will require the cardholder to maintain good spending practices. After a while, the consumer will be able to qualify for credit cards with better APRs and lower credit card fees and charges.

If you wish to use a prepaid credit card, you will be required to “load” funds on the credit card by going to a location which offers this service or by using direct deposit. Because prepaid credit card providers are not offering a line of credit, these cards do not help to repair credit.

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