How to Rocket Launch Your Credit Score

A good credit score is your ticket to new credit cards and loans at low interest rates. Low interest rates save you money each month, and that means you have more money in your pocket to spend or save as you please.

So how do you take your credit score to the next level? Here are 15 tried and true ways that will have you in great shape in no time.

1. Use your 3 free credit report checks Order your reports online and check them for any errors that could be spoiling your score. Look for late payments, delinquencies and misspellings that may mean someone else’s report is mixed up with yours.
2. Dispute every report error. Protest to the credit bureau that is reporting the error. Send the bureau copies of your evidence that the information is wrong.
3. Don’t open any new credit accounts to keep your credit inquiries at zero.
4. Do not close any accounts even if you no longer use them (your combined credit limits can help minimize your credit utilization ratio).
5. Pay every bill on time, every time. This is the biggest thing you can do to instantly begin transforming your credit score. You’ll see a lift within 6 months.
6. Add a consumer statement to your credit report to offset any big negatives like bankruptcies or liens. The statement gives your side of the story. Contact customer service at the credit bureau for assistance. A lender may read it and decide to take a chance on you, which offsets a lower score.
7. Improve credit utilization ratio. This measures how much of your available credit you are using. Pay down your debt to get it below 30% of your total credit limits (all cards combined). Don’t ever go over that threshold of debt or your score will plummet.
8. Ask for rapid rescoring from your lender. This new process allows a new credit score to be generated within a few days after you complete some credit-improving task such as reducing your debt.
9. Only use your lowest interest rate credit card. Put the others away while you pay them off. Every bit of interest reduced helps when you’re trying to turn your credit around.
10. Do not get arrested, or sued. Both can show up on your report.
11. Watch your mail. Pursue a bill you’re expecting if it doesn’t arrive as scheduled. If you don’t, you’ll be penalized by a late payment notation even if the bill never arrives.
12. Have negative items removed as soon as possible. Request that bankruptcies, tax liens, foreclosures etc., be removed ahead of schedule. 7 years is the maximum time they may be reported. There is no MINIMUM time they must remain, so ask, and keep asking.
13. Request negative information be removed by a creditor. Once you are in good standing with a creditor, request that an old item (for example, a late payment) be removed and no longer reported. Ask for this as a goodwill measure.
14. Know exactly what you make each month. Cut costs and use the difference to pay toward debt. The lower the debt, the higher the score.
15. Don’t foolishly endanger your identity by carrying every credit card you own. Carry only your primary card. Leave your social security card and other non-essential documents at home. Identity theft can take months to sort through and your score could be devastated.

What is bad credit mortgage?

If you are an individual with bad credit and think a mortgage is just out of your reach – it’s not true and actually bad credit is not the end of the world. Nowadays a lot of mortgage seekers fell into bad credit and that’s why the bad credit mortgage was created. You will be pleasantly surprised as you may find many lenders that specialize solely in writing bad credit mortgages. However bear in mind that as you have a poor credit rating you represent a much higher risk for lending. And that’s why for such risk you have to pay more for almost every aspect of your mortgage.

How your credit history can become poor? Credit history is based on information got from sources, including court judgments, bankruptcies and Information provided by financial institutions with which the individuals deal. You will get bad credit rating if you fail to pay off the outstanding debts or other credit payments mortgage arrears, county court judgments (CCJs) or bankruptcy.

Bad credit mortgages can solve two main problems:

1. They provide financial support for you and fulfill personal and business needs;
2. You can improve your credit score with bad credit mortgage (if you repay loan on time).

So, if you take bad credit personal mortgage you can overcome all financial hurdles being faced due to bad credit history.

Before you start application for a bad credit mortgage, you need to know certain information. For getting the best bad credit mortgage it is important to shop around and try to minimize these additional expenses. First, you have to be sure your credit score and report is correct and accurate. If you remove old or closed accounts or remove something that is incorrect from your credit report you can improve your score, it is worth the effort even if it’s a little bit. Then, you’ll need t organize information on your income together with deposit slips, pay stubs and the like. Bad credit mortgage loans are given basing on your proof of steady income. At the end of process, you will get strict repayment guidelines. The most important is to make the payments in time and in full. Don’t make even worse your bad credit situation and don’t get in over your head. However, even if you can’t pay in time, still you have a way out – people with such problems can apply for remortgages and take out a different mortgage on the same property.

Before you apply for bad credit mortgage, be sure that you know all these tips:

1. Don’t borrow in the first place and too big amounts
2. Be prepared that interest rates may go up
3. Also be ready that your income may go down
4. Make priorities
5. Fixed rate agreements at some point come to end
6. Get rid of obstacles and millstone
7. Do not even try to sublet without permission
8. Speak to independent brokers, lenders and financial specialists.

Also when considering your options for bad credit mortgages, look out for the following three pitfalls that can sneak up on you:

1. Fees and Penalties –they can also include higher late fees and payment penalties of which you should be aware.
2. Prepayment – Some bad credit mortgage companies have prepayment penalties for mortgage as they need you to stick with their program to ensure they make their allotted, they require a fine for paying off the mortgage too quickly. So, if you refinance too soon you will have a huge loss, that’s why watch out for length and amount of prepayment penalties.
3. Rewards – in opposite, some mortgage companies and banks will even reward you for improved money management. For example, your interest rate may be reduced, if you make a number of payments on time. Such incentive rewards are great for people determined to turn over a new and better credit leaf.

Nowadays, you can own dream home even with bad credit record and besides this bad credit mortgage will allow you to recover credit history. And moreover, it will also give you the option of making monthly payments.

Credit Score – Your financial passport

Are you looking for personal loan, mortgage or home refinance? Your creditors would definitely run credit check to see your credit score and history. The 3 digit number holds great importance along with those remarks listed on your credit report.

If you are not sure whether your credit is in good shape or not, check credit report and credit score as early as possible. Financial hardship is unavoidable; however, a responsible customer would take suitable steps to remove negative items from credit report. Once the derogatory marks are erased, your credit score would definitely go up.

Even when you apply for credit cards, your credit card company would consider your credit score to determine credit limit, rates of interest and other terms. However, it has been noticed that a lot of negative reports appear in credit card accounts.

Credit card is a financial tool and people should use it properly. New credit card users should read some articles on credit cards to know how to use it. A good credit history would definitely boost your credit score. So handle your credit card intelligently and improve your credit score gradually.

Once your score is good, it will fetch you more credit automatically.

Debt consolidation program is a great help for people in huge debts

Most of the people face tremendous financial problems when they are overwhelmed by their existing debts. They don’t have the money to pay the full principal amount and interests to their creditors. To overcome such situation, debt management plan can be considered where all your existing debts will be combined under one payment plan through a debt consolidation company and pay your creditors.

A debt management plan is a mutual agreement between you and the debt management company. You come under a contract in the debt consolidation program and agree to repay your unsecured debts in full over the time, without falling into additional debts. The debt management company will negotiate with your creditors to bring down the interest rates and waive off the late fees and other financial charges.

Most of the people get a wrong understanding of the debt consolidation program in the beginning. They confuse it with a debt consolidation loan where they think that the debt management company will first pay off their loans in full to their creditors and they will pay back the debt management company in monthly installments. While their may be other programs like, getting a debt consolidation loan from the debt management company, you still pay the full principal amount with interests after taking the new loan. Whereas, when you sign up for a debt management program, the debt management company will negotiate with your credit card companies to reduce the interest rates and waive off the financial charges and late fees. You will have the facility to combine all bills under one payment plan your creditors will keep getting paid in the debt consolidation program. This way, you don’t have to go through the hassle of writing multiple checks and remembering different payment dates.

If you are facing problems with your monthly payments and are hardly making any payments towards the principal amount, it is time you should consider for some professional advice from a debt management company. They will look into your present financial situation and analyze your monthly income and expenses. You will get some budgeting tips on how to save money in the debt consolidation program, so that you are able to contribute more money towards the debt consolidation program. It is not necessary that you should stick to one monthly payment only in the debt management program. If you are able to save some money each month, you can always make more than one payment to the debt management company. They will pay the extra amount to your creditors in the plan and this will help to bring down the principal amount. You will get monthly statements from the debt management company as well as from your creditors in the program. This will help you to figure out how much progress you are making in repaying your debts to the creditors. You will have your financial situation in control after you are in the debt consolidation program and after been overwhelmed by your existing debts.

You can still get Auto Loans when your credit is not good

Credit is the yardstick to judge an individual’s ability to repay a loan. All lenders, while extending money, would check your credit report to make sure that the money lent today would come back in future.

Your credit determines the amount of loan you can get and the rate of interest applicable for you. Greater credit means lower risk.

Now what if you need to buy a car and your credit is not in a good stand? Would you wait for your credit to become good or is there any other way to get bad credit auto loans?

Yes there are. Subprime Lenders and Hard Money Lenders would always offer you refinance auto loans; however, the rate of interest may be higher than what is charged by conventional lenders.

Some tags that make your credit report ugly are:

• Bankruptcy
• Account under Collection
• Foreclosure
• Late Payments

These bad credit marks won’t deter you get cheap auto loans any more. With a decent job you can get your car financed any time. However, you may need to pay a higher rate for this.

And always do some research about the lender before purchasing the loan. Deal with a reputed auto loan company and read the terms and conditions carefully before signing the contract. Ask as many questions as you can and make sure you understand the policy very well.

Credit card deals with reward programs

It’s an awesome feeling to have a plastic card offering credit and additional reward programs that will benefit you while using it. You need to have a very good credit history to get the Exclusive Credit Card Deals and Perks. Different credit card companies will do promotional programs so that their customers can make the maximum use of the cards. If you have credit card perks, then you will like to use them too.

Always maintain your good credit rating. You will be the best candidate to get exclusive credit card deals and perks. Compare with different companies and see which one is the best option for you. Read the associated costs on the credit card to make sure that you are working with the right company.

Be aware of the credit card scams on the internet. Always do your thorough research before applying for new credit. There are so many companies offering exclusive credit card deals and perks. They will give you shiny cash back plastic with a zero percent APR on balance transfers and some gorgeous percentage of cash back. If you know how to use your credit properly, you will make the best use of this card.

Make sure that you check the terms and conditions of the credit card company. Review their late fee charges and the interest rates. Most companies offer a grace period in case you have missed paying within the due date. Check the grace period for sure. If this credit card company doesn’t offer you any grace period, then you should be looking for another company. It can be well assumed that they want make money in fees and it can be pretty high. Don’t fall into any trap. Understand each and every line of the fine print and if you have any questions, clarify it with the credit card company’s customer care. They will explain you all the conditions.

When the credit card company makes an introductory offer, it should have a specific time frame for which it will last. You will get the exclusive credit card deals and perks in that timeframe. The moment the period is over, the interest rates will go high. If you spend too much on your card and don’t pay back within the offer period, then your credit profile will get messed up. Stay upfront with your credit grantor, you will figure out the best deals in your favor.

Debt Settlement’s effect on your credit rating

If you’re looking for debt settlement due to the fact that your huge credit card bill payments are out of hold you may be asking yourself how your credit score will be affected as a result of debt settlement. Rather than being interested with your credit card, still, you may need to take the gravity of your current financial situation and re-prioritize. You find, if you’re losing sleep and can’t seem to shake the nervous feeling in the pit of your tummy expected to the fact that you’re just making it through each month, your concerns may be best marked toward getting an answer than attempting to hold on to an acceptable credit score.

Realistically speaking, if you’ve sacrificed, struggled and robbed Peter to pay Paul each month just to keep a decent credit score, has it been worth it? Probably not. If you should happen to enter a debt settlement program and the result is a temporary less-than-perfect credit scores I seriously doubt that you’ll lie awake at night giving this a great deal of thought. Those sleepless nights will likely be a thing of the past once your credit card debt is once again manageable.

As a matter of fact, your credit score may not even be affected as a result of debt settlement, depending on the current status of your various credit card accounts. If you’ve made a few late payments already, and if your credit card balances are quite high or “maxed out,” your credit rating may already be somewhat reduced. In any case, negotiating reduced settlement agreements with your creditors will result in your accounts reflecting zero balances, which will assuredly increase your credit score in time, and save you thousands of dollars – providing you with a debt-free lifestyle within two years – and very possibly much sooner.

Making the decision to attempt debt settlement is difficult, but can bring much relief. Once you’ve made the decision to do so, it’s extremely important to hire a debt settlement company you trust. Use your common sense, and if something just doesn’t seem “right” when you’re speaking with a debt settlement professional, do not allow yourself to be forced into hiring that particular firm. It may be easier said than done, but you’ll want to be sure to hire a firm whose Better Business Bureau record is spotless, and whose fees are not outrageous and taken up front. Customer service should also be a number one priority; your money is very relevant and you’ll want assurance that your questions and concerns will be answered promptly and professionally.

What’s most important when making the decision to settle your debt is making the decision based on what’s most important to you? If you’re willing to forego a good credit rating temporarily in exchange for a debt-free lifestyle and sleep-filled nights, debt settlement is definitely an option you may want to consider.

Credit Repair 4 U – link love

Kim Patrick maintains the blog Credit Repair 4 U. She is a financial advisor and has been working as a Loan Officer in the mortgage industry since 1994. She is here to help people to fight against their credit problems.

She mainly covers debt collection and reduction, Credit Repair Tips, mortgage and other aspects of personal finance in her blog.

It shows all the potentials to grow into a great blog very soon though this blog is still very fresh (October 2007). There are some good posts in this blog like, Know Your Rights with Collection Agencies or How to Avoid Foreclosure and these posts reflect his experience.

Some suggestions:
Use a single font for every post. This would help your visitors to get accustomed to your blog “environment” very soon. Verdana is always a reader friendly font. You should also consider overall content formatting (including image positioning). But don’t worry; you will learn these techniques soon. You have the information with real life experience that can help thousands of people. Looking forward to see a great blog very soon.

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