Credit Scoring Secrets Revealed

There’s a myth going around that one offense will put you in severe credit problems and completely destroy your credit scores. Although there is some truth to that, it isn’t completely correct. You see, one minor credit mishap will lower your credit score by a few points, not hundreds of points.

Now remember, I said one minor credit mishap, but most of them are minor. But this isn’t the real credit problems that most people face. The more serious problems are the ones where there are blatant patterns of credit problems that happen often and consistently. What are these problems you may ask?

Well, here are the top 3 credit problems most people face, and shortly, we will also go through how to avoid them.

1. Late or missed payments in loans or credit cards: lenders look at you pattern of payments and count continual late payments very seriously against you. The reason is simple; they see that you may not be responsible for making timely payments or that you are living above your means.

2. Too much outstanding debt: if your lenders see that you have too much debt, especially compared to your income, this will also destroy your credit score. Again, they will see that you cannot truly pay off your accounts. They consider you as being overextended and know that they probably won’t get their money any time soon. This is a huge credit problem that you will want to avoid.

3. Too much credit: this applies to those who have a huge number of credit cards in particular. It’s not that having multiple credit cards are bad. It’s more about having multiple credit cards with high balances that never seem to decrease. You see, most people in this scenario will just transfer balances back and forth between cards rather than actually pay off the balances.

Now that we’ve identified the top 3 credit problems that most people face, let’s talk briefly about how to avoid them.

As you can imagine, it all comes down to how much credit you have. So the first thing you want to do is take a look at your balances and spread them out equally between the cards that you have. This will bring the balances down so that you aren’t maxed out on just a couple of them while having the others without a balance.

The other thing that you want to focus on, which is most important, is that you always pay your bills on time. Even if it’s the minimum payment to start with, be sure to pay your monthly expenses. Once you do that, you will be able to turn things around for yourself and start building a strong foundation to get rid of your credit problems.

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About the author: Alex Navas is a business and financial coach who writes informative articles on various subjects including credit scoring and credit repair. You can download his free report “Credit Secrets Special Report” just by clicking Repair Credit Score.

*You may use or distribute this article in tact. You may post it freely to your website, blog, magazine, ezine, or article directory as is and it must include the resource box. This article is copyrighted by Alex Navas Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.*

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Let’s face it; everyone is looking to build good credit.  There are many benefits to having good credit such as saving money on interest, having a lower insurance premium, and even saving you the embarrassment of having your job application denied because of having poor credit.

The truth is, with a little bit of discipline, it’s very easy to build good credit without much effort at all.  If you are short on time and money to build good credit, then here are 5 instant tips to building good credit and a good credit score.

1. Increase Your Credit Limits – did you know that you can easily call your credit card companies and ask for a credit limit increase?  The point is to have a higher limit and instantly lower the percent of balances that you carry.  The lower the credit card balance compared to the credit limit, the better for your credit score as credit balances count for 30% of your credit score.

2. Spread Out Your Balances – if you have a credit card that is maxed out and others that are paid off simply transfer part of the balance over to the other cards.  What that means is that you wouldn’t get hit from the credit agencies for having a maxed out card since you have now spread out the high balance over a series of cards.

3. Have Several Types Of Credit – part of building good credit is having a good mix of credit.  The saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” definitely applies here.  When it comes to your credit, having different types of credit is key.  It’s best to have credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and other installments loans within your credit profile than just having one of these categories.

4. Pay On Time – this seems like the most obvious, but often is overlooked.  Many people look for the magic bullet for building good credit; however, it’s the simple things like paying your expenses on time that make the biggest impact.  There’s nothing better that you can do for your credit and credit score than paying on time each and every month.

5. Apply For New Credit With Caution – when you are seeking to get new credit, don’t go into a credit application frenzy and apply for many different cards or loans all at once.  Although they don’t do as much damage as other credit factors, inquiries can cause your credit harm.  Spread out the time that you apply for cards by a few months so that you don’t have a lot of credit inquiries in a short amount of time. 

 As you can see, there are simple things that you can do regularly to build good credit.  They don’t take any money at all other than what you are already using to pay your bills.  Aside from costing absolutely no money, each of these will only take you a few minutes and will guarantee that you build not only good credit but also a higher credit score.

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About the author:  Alex Navas is a business and financial coach who writes informative articles on various subjects including credit scoring and credit repair. You can download his free report “Credit Secrets Special Report” just by clicking Repair Credit Score.

*You may use or distribute this article in tact.  You may post it freely to your website, blog, magazine, ezine, or article directory as is and it must include the resource box.  This article is copyrighted by Alex Navas Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.*

Technorati Tags: build good credit, credit score, credit scores, good credit, good credit score, high credit score

Right now, more than ever, it is crucial to rebuild your credit score if you’ve had trouble with it in the past.  The unfortunate thing about rebuilding your credit score is that you may not be aware of everything that your credit score impacts, so you are just reaping the results of having a less than optimal credit. 

To help you gain a little more understanding on why it is critical to have a good credit score, here are the top 10 reasons to rebuild your credit score;

1. Stop Wasting Money On Extra Interest – the lower your credit score, the higher your interest rates are.  This can mean paying thousands of dollars extra each and every year for the same exact things that others with better credit pay much less on.

2. Get Approved For Loans Much Easier – it’s a fact that lenders will be more lenient on individuals with a higher credit score because they have a higher chance of getting their money back on time.

3. Pay Less On Your Auto Insurance – not only do insurance companies look at your driving and accident records, they even look at your credit history.  Statistics show that people who are responsible with their money have a smaller chance of filing insurance claims.  

4. Borrow Money At 0 Percent Interest – if you are going to borrow money, why not borrow it interest free, right!  These offers are only extended to people with a proven track record of making their payments on time and having low balances on their cards. 

5. Keep More Of Your Money – when you have a lower credit score, then you are always required to put a much bigger down payment on purchases like a car or a house. The lender isn’t willing to take on the risk without a sizable amount of collateral.

6. Be Favored Over Others – if you are looking to get a lease on an apartment, having good credit can give you the advantage over other tenants with less than perfect credit scores.  Believe me when I tell you that the last thing landlords are looking to do is chase down the rental payment every single month as opposed to having it in the mailbox on the first of the month.

7. Get A Green Light On That New Job – many times, new applicants go through background checks and screenings.  Part of the background check includes your credit profile and history.  There are many cases that people get turned down for a new position due to bad credit because it is looked at as lack of discipline and responsibility. 

8. Achieve The American Dream – one of the biggest reasons that you want to rebuild your credit score is to be in the position to purchase your own home or upgrade to a bigger and better house.  Without a good credit score, your options for homeownership become very limited, and in many cases, non-existent.

9. Good Credit Attracts Better Opportunities – think about it, without good credit, there aren’t very many opportunities that come along for you to make money.  Most people with bad credit don’t have much money put away either.  Opportunities always find the right person who can take advantage of them.  With good credit, people will look for you to offer you opportunities to invest or buy at discounts because you are in the position to take advantage of them

10. Because You Owe It To Yourself – you owe it to yourself to pay the absolute lowest on everything you borrow.  You owe it to yourself to save and invest the money that you would be spending on higher interest or fees due to a lower credit score.  You owe it to yourself to have the absolute best lifestyle available to those who have control of their credit and finances.

So there you have it, the top 10 reasons to rebuild your credit.  There is much more that a good credit score can do for you, but hopefully these examples were enough for you to realize it that it is critical to your life and your finances to rebuild your credit score.

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About the author:  Alex Navas is a business and financial coach who writes informative articles on various subjects including credit scoring and credit repair. You can download his free report “Credit Secrets Special Report” just by clicking Repair Credit Score.

*You may use or distribute this article in tact.  You may post it freely to your website, blog, magazine, ezine, or article directory as is and it must include the resource box.  This article is copyrighted by Alex Navas Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.*

Technorati Tags: build good credit, credit score, credit scores, good credit, good credit score, high credit score, rebuild credit score

One of the tactics that many unscrupulous lenders use to get you into a less than desirable loan is the fear of the dreaded multiple credit inquiry.  I know that I’ve experienced it myself, so I have no doubt that you have as well.  But how do you counter this threat?  It’s very easy once you know about your credit inquiry window.

How can you take advantage of your credit inquiry window without first knowing what it is?

Your credit inquiry window is the length of time that you have available for certain types of credit where the credit reporting agencies allow for several credit inquiries without any damage to your credit.  In other words, if you are shopping for a car loan or a mortgage loan, the credit reporting agencies are already aware that most people shop around for these types of loans. 

What does that mean to you?

The next time you are looking to obtain a car or home loan, you legally have up to 15 days from the first credit inquiry on that car or home loan to inquire with other lenders. 

You can literally have your credit pulled by 5 or 10 different lenders within that fifteen day window without having any of those credit inquiries affect your credit.  These credit inquiries are exempt from counting against you since you are accessing your credit report in order to get the best deal on your new mortgage or car loan.

Knowing this will empower you the next time you’re at the car dealer looking to get a great deal on the car that you want. Just imagine being told by the salesman that you need to buy the car that day because if you don’t, the next lender that pulls your credit will see a lower credit score.

There is absolutely no truth to that and now you know why.  Knowing that you have the 15 day window for credit inquiries can give you the peace of mind knowing that you can take a few days to be absolutely sure that the car you are buying is exactly what you’re looking for and the terms of the loan are the best as well.

That is the most important part; the terms of the loan.  Be sure to use your rights to the credit inquiry window because most lenders will never tell you about it.

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About the author:  Alex Navas is a business and financial coach who writes informative articles on various subjects including credit scoring and credit repair. You can download his free report “Credit Secrets Special Report” just by clicking Repair Credit Score.

*You may use or distribute this article in tact.  You may post it freely to your website, blog, magazine, ezine, or article directory as is and it must include the resource box.  This article is copyrighted by Alex Navas Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.*

Technorati Tags: credit inquiries, credit inquiry, credit report, credit score

In this tough economy, when every dollar counts, it is crucial to learn how to do credit repair yourself.  Each and every day, thousands of desperate people are needlessly running to credit repair agencies spending hundreds, even thousands of dollars trying to get their credit up to par.

But it really isn’t that difficult at all to repair credit yourself if you know the basic things that most credit repair services would otherwise do for you for a fee.

If you aren’t aware of those simple actions, here are 5 quick and easy steps to do credit repair yourself.

1. Access a copy of your credit report – you are entitled to a copy of your credit report for free once a year.  You can access it in the mail, by phone, or even online.  Although you get this free credit report, be sure to also get your credit scores along with your report, as this is the foundation for doing credit repair for yourself.

2. Check your credit report for errors – this is one of the biggest factors that credit repair agencies bank on – the mistakes that can you easy remove yourself while you’re in the process of credit repair.  Look for wrong addresses, wrong social security numbers, accounts with balances that you’ve already paid off, and even accounts with late payments that were actually made on time.

3. Negotiate account payoffs – here’s another area that you are typically charged for by credit repair agencies which you can avoid by doing the credit repair yourself.  All you have to do is call your creditors on collection or past due accounts and ask them to settle with you.  Just let them know that you will pay off the balance, but that you are only able to pay a certain amount.  If the creditor agrees, you have just saved a few hundred dollars and you now have a zero balance on that account.

4. Raise your credit limits – you may be asking yourself, “How can raising your credit limits help when you are doing credit repair yourself?” The magic about this is that 30 percent of your credit score is directly impacted by the balance on your account compared to the limit on that account.  So there is only two ways to change this aspect of your credit score.  Either you pay down the balance or you raise up the credit limit.  Either can give you an equal result when doing credit repair yourself.

5. Continue monitoring your credit score – here’s where most people miss it big time.  They take the initial actions to repair their credit themselves, but then they never follow up to be certain that those actions really helped their credit scores.  That’s the pitfall of doing credit repair yourself; you may not have a good system for following through until you get the results in your credit that you are looking for.  The best tool to use here is a calendar and simply putting reminders every one to two months to check your credit report and credit scores again.

As you can see, these are all simple steps that will guide you along the way to do the credit repair yourself.  If you can do these 5 simple steps, then you have just saved yourself hundreds of dollars by not having others do it for you.

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About the author:  Alex Navas is a business and financial coach who writes informative articles on various subjects including credit scoring and credit repair. You can download his free report “Credit Secrets Special Report” just by clicking do Credit Repair Yourself.

*You may use or distribute this article in tact.  You may post it freely to your website, blog, magazine, ezine, or article directory as is and it must include the resource box.  This article is copyrighted by Alex Navas Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.*

Technorati Tags: credit repair, credit repair agencies, credit repair yourself, repair credit, repair credit report, repair credit scores