Tag: credit score
How to Remove Credit Inquiries – 4 Easy Steps
December 9, 2016
How to Remove Credit Inquiries – 4 Easy Steps
When you apply for loans, lenders will ask you for an up-to-date copy of your credit report given by a credit bureau. If you have applied for various credit cards, then a number of inquiries could appear on your credit report. A new credit is always associated with the higher risk, but the score is mostly not affected by the inquiries from short-term mortgage, auto, or student loan. Generally, these are considered a single inquiry and have a little impact on your scores.
Types of Credit Inquiries:
- Hard pull inquiries: It generally happens when the financial institutions, like credit card issuers or lenders, check your credit report before lending you any amount. It commonly takes place when you apply for the home, auto loans, or credit cards. The hard inquiries could possibly affect your credit score by a few points. The damage caused to your credit score basically decreases or disappears with the passing time.
- Soft pull inquiries: It occurs due to the existing creditor who pulls your credit report to verify your credit situation. It might happen without your permission, but these have no adverse effect on your credit scores.
How to remove the inquiries?
All the credit inquiries might disappear from your credit report after two or more years. But, if you do not want to wait for so long, then you might follow these steps:
- Step 1: The first thing you need to do is to find out the credit inquiries that are creating troublesome situations for you by ordering all of the three credit reports. When you get those reports, just look to the end of your credit report in order to find out the inquiries. Some of them are only promotional and never shown to the lenders. So, you don’t need to worry about it at all. Only identify the ones that supposed to be shown to the lenders. You could recognize some of them, but the others might be a mystery for you.
- Step 2: Do find the address of each credit inquirer. The Experian report would list the addresses for each. Match the reports of the Experian with the reports given by the TransUnion and Equifax by using the same address list of the Experian. If you find some of the inquirers that doesn’t appear on the Experian, but appears on either Equifax, or Trans Union, then you should call the credit bureau for their address. Once you are done with this, you could move to the next step.
- Step 3: Send letters to each creditor inquirer asking them to remove their inquiry. As according to the law, only the authorized inquiries could appear on your credit report and you could challenge them, if they don’t have the proper authority to pull your credit file.
- Step 4: Some of them might show you the documents signed by you that give them the authorization for your credit inquiry. So, read the authorization form carefully, if you find any complications, you could write back and put an argument regarding its removal. You could also threaten them to take the help of the State Banking Commission for such a deceitful and vague authorization form.
Summary: How to Remove Credit Inquiries
So, before you apply for any loan, take time to check and, if necessary, build up your credit score. A good score improves your chances for loan approvals at the best terms and rates.
Judgment on your Credit Report? Top 4 Ways to Resolve Them
November 10, 2016
Judgment on your Credit Report? Top 5 Ways to Resolve Them
Owing money that you cannot pay back is scary thing. This can cast a shadow over many parts of life, from finding a job to applying for a car loan. But, what may be even worse is finding out that you have already been sued for debt and didn’t even know about it. If a creditor or collection agency has sued you then that results in a money judgment. This means that a court has ruled against you and your debt is a matter of public record.
A Judgment on your Credit History with loan defaults and repossessions is one of the biggest negative hits to your credit score. FICO score considers these judgments as negative, whether it is paid or unpaid. And, once the judgment is satisfied the status will be updated on your report to show that it has been satisfied or settled, but it will not be deleted immediately. So, you could easily judge why removal of judgment from credit history is pretty big deal.
Here are five ways to deal with a judgment:
- Fight back the decision: Most debt judgment are not available to consumers. Often these one-sided default judgment can be erased, giving the debtor another chance to fight the charges. The creditors case may even crumble in court, if it lacks document. However, trying to handle it yourself is bit tricky. Get in touch with experts, if you believe that you are victim of improper service.
- Pay it off or settle it: One of the main things people will do to get a judgment taken off from their credit report is pay it. Either full or partial, pay your debt to owe a part of negotiated settlement. A settlement in ready funds is a bird in the hand. Make sure the creditor agrees with “Satisfaction of Judgment” when you pay or settle down the agreed amount.
- Remove the judgment from credit score: Remove a judgment from credit report and watch a significant increment in credit score. File a motion to have judgment vacated based on technicality errors in the complaint or the judgment moved to another state, or the collection agency did not validate the debt. You could also file motion judgment vacated on the basis of discrepancies in the notice.
- Stay judgment proof: All legal protections exempt collection charges on people with fewer assets and least income. However, it does not mean ignorance of judgment. It’s your job to check that property, your belongings and wages completely protected from seizure by a complex web of state and federal exemptions. You need to take culinary steps to head off wrongful collection attempts, before it takes away everything.
Summary: Top 5 Ways to Resolve a Judgment on your Credit Report
Deal with the judgment in an effective manner. As judgment could almost have negative effect on your FICO score. Reach out a company that works on judgment settlement and see if there is an alternative that might work.
Garnishments on Your Credit Report – 4 Ways to Resolve Them
October 24, 2016
Garnishments on Your Credit Report – 4 Ways to Resolve Them
Ignoring your contractual debt obligations can have a very serious impact on your financial status. Garnishment, a creditor’s last-chance attempt at debt collection, hits debt holders where it hurts; their ability to fill the gas tank, pay the bills, and feed their families. It is something that you should try to avoid at all costs.
When facing debt that can’t really be paid, the best plan of action is to act early and speak to your creditors to see if you can negotiate a payment plan or achieve some sort of payment arrangement. If debt goes unpaid and overlooked, the court may interfere by issuing a judgment requiring your employer to “garnish” or withhold a bit of your wages or financial balances to pay back the debt.
The road to wage garnishment can be long and winding. Here are four things you can do to deal with wage garnishment on your credit report:
- Stay in touch with your creditor: Wage garnishment is typically a final effort by creditors to squeeze some cash out of you when they cannot seem to get you to pay your debt with a certain time frame. If you ignore them or refuse to talk to them, you put yourself in a weaker position. Try your level best to stay in contact with the creditor and work on building up a reasonable payment plan. Showing the creditor you have every motive of paying back your debt may urge them to back off for now. A creditor is much more willing to work directly with a consumer to avoid court and attorney’s costs associated with obtaining a judgement and ultimately a wage garnishment.
- File an appeal: If the wage garnishment gets approved by the court, you have all the rights to file a “claim of exemption” which shows that you cannot avail this type of pay cut as your paycheck covers all your basic living costs, including insurance, grocery bill and housing. You will need to show to the court that you would basically get behind on your consistent bills if your wages were garnished. If the court gets convinced that the garnishment will worsen your financial condition even more, they may prevent the creditor from garnishing your wages or ask the creditor to reduce the amount that is to be garnished.
- Pay the judgment amount: If you do have some funds available to pay off the full debt within ten days of the judgment, the court can put a stop on the garnishment process altogether. Before that, make sure you are aware of the judgment amount and pay it off in full as soon as you can.
Summary: Resolving Garnishments on Your Credit Report
Being aggressive when creditors are coming after you can help prevent this drastic step altogether. Try your best to work out a repayment deal with your creditors so that they stay confident that you will pay the debt within a particular time frame. This is the best way to keep creditors off your back and stop garnishments on your credit report.
Length of Credit History – Does it matter?
August 7, 2016
Length of Credit History – Does it matter?
A credit history is an assimilation of number of accounts in your credit reports, payment history, your amount of debts, and the score that is obtained after analyzing all these details. This information is used by lenders while giving loans or selling expensive products. Lenders will be basically interested in the “length of credit history” when they evaluate the paying capacity of borrowers. By length of the credit history, it means how long you have had taken credits and where does your credit score stands currently.
What is Length of Credit History
It simply means how long you have had credit; the age of the information in your credit history. Your credit report also has an age like every other tangible asset you possess. And, that age of the credit report has a 15% impact on your overall credit score. Hence, a positive or a negative credit history may influence your credit score likewise. In the world of FICO score, the Length of Credit History has a significant impact on your total credit score. This is one area where you have very little control and it is highly imperative that you develop a thorough understanding of this concept.
How is it calculated?
By knowing how Length of Credit History is calculated, you might be able to control it at some point. Credit specialists have suggested various ways and points from time to time to calculate this in the most appropriate manner. Of all the information obtained, here is the summary of factors that play a role in the calculation of the age of credit history:
1. There of customer’s oldest credit account
2. The average age of all the credit accounts opened to date
3. The age of customer’s newest credit account
4. Length of different types of credit accounts that has been established
5. Length of different types of credit accounts that has been consistently used
Out of all these, the age of the oldest account and the average age of all the accounts used to date play a crucial role.
How you can use your length of credit history to improve your FICO score?
It all comes down to your current FICO score. In general, active and current accounts have a larger influence on your current FICO score than the older accounts. The most recent activity has a greater impact on the overall credit score. However, if you have an older account that is debt-less and still active, it will fetch you a very good score than a recently opened credit account. Having old account can be, therefore, highly beneficial when it comes to improving your credit score.
Summary: Length of Credit History
Hold on to your older accounts and think twice before closing them. With older accounts active, you can easily score high in this category.
Life after Bankruptcy – 10 Strategies to Rebuild Your Credit Score
July 27, 2016
Life after Bankruptcy – 10 Strategies to Rebuild your Credit Score
Bankruptcy inflicts financial misery on more than a million Americans every year. This is most damaging thing that can happen related to credit reports. A bankruptcy may be listed on your credit report for up to 10 years and there is a good chance your credit score will be rather low until you take the necessary steps to rebuild your credit. Rebuilding your credit score after bankruptcies is the real way to get back on a better financial path.
Take necessary steps to rebuild your credit score. But before that, it is important to understand why it is effective for creating a great financial future. While applying for car loans, credit card, the financial agency or say banks first looks at FICO score and credit history to determine the liability of applicant. If the FICO scores are amidst 700 or more, means you have good score, but if lies below, it needs rebuilding. Here are some suggestions for rebuilding FICO score after bankruptcy. Adopt these strategies to rebuild the score that all work, to some effect.
- Rebuild your credit score with a secured credit card: You may need to apply for secured credit card once come out from bankruptcy so you have the convenience of not carrying cash. With secured credit card, you make a deposit into its account and you can make charges out of it like a regular debit card.
- Keep paying non-bankruptcy accounts on time: All loans are never included in bankruptcy. Keep paying on non-bankruptcy accounts on time, as positive payments will improve your credit score. Also, keep up payments on accounts that aren’t on credit report because this could be reported later and cause downfall in credit score.
- Review the credit report: If there’s bankruptcy on your credit report, it does not mean you ignore reviewing it. Review the credit report annually and obtain a copy for any erroneous information or inconsistencies.
- Pay bills on time: Prioritize on time payment of bills and due to prevent non- essential spending. Set up reminder on calender to pay bills every month on due date.
- Do not close accounts: Closing account and swearing off all credit card is not the right action to build credit score. Rather, it reduces the amount of credit available. Therefore, it is better to keep the credit lines open.
- Avoid utilizing a large amount on your credit available: Utilization of high credit during bankruptcy signals to financial trouble. Keep your debt balance to 20% or less than the credit limit all the time, even pay of the balance in full each month.
- Make a budget and limit your expenses: Figure out what you can afford to pay every month on your debts. Your budget will help manage cash flow and prevent from racking up unnecessary debt. Know the limits on your credit card to keep your balances below them.
- Add a loan down the road: Credit loans are like secured cards, which are often small amounts and are reported as positive account as long as payment are made. Buy a vehicle that is affordable and you can pay off successfully. Your credit scores will climb without any fail.
- Paying of debt: Paying of debt on time is No.1 method for improving credit score. If you have debts then bankruptcy could not wipe out. The credit score may fall and you would not get a new credit. You could erase a bad credit history and stay under a healthy credit limit.
- Go out of guilt and shame: Many Americans battling the lingering effect of great recession. Let of the shame to go and don’t dwell on negative thoughts. Adopt the right attitude, become more disciplined and educated, not to repeat the mistake again.
Summary: Rebuild your Credit Score
These 10 suggestions will surely work to build credit after a bankruptcy. However, the most important lesson is to be patient and follow the guidelines, uninterruptedly.
What is a credit bureau? Experian, TransUnion, Equifax
February 10, 2016
What is a credit bureau? There are 3: Experian, TransUnion, & Equifax
When you opt to buy something on credit or take a loan, the lenders don’t just decide to give you the facility right away. They try to collect information on your credit behavior, both past and present, track record, and various other data to ensure that you have the potential to fulfill the liabilities you obligate yourself with. This is where the Credit Bureau comes into the picture.
Ok, so what is a credit Bureau?
A credit bureau is a company that collects and maintains credit information of individuals and supplies it to the interested organizations and bodies such as lenders, creditors, etc. As a consumer, you can also have your own credit report from the bureau. The credit information is basically a summary of your credit behavior and includes the following details:
- How much of credit you have
- How much of the credit is left
- How much credit are you using
- How often do you make your payments
Credit information also contains rental repayment reports if you own a property. Other details mentionable in a credit report are liens, judgments, and other details that expresses your current financial position.
There are 3 major national credit bureaus in the United States:
- Experian – This global information service group operates in almost 40 countries and employs a total of 17k people. The agency was founded in 1996, the headquarter of which is in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
- Equifax – Another consumer credit reporting agency and one among the three largest credit bureaus, Equifax records and maintains information of over 400 million credit holders in the world. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the company employees 7000 plus employees and operates in 14 countries. Equifiax is also one of the oldest credit report gathering agency that has its operations ongoing since 1899.
- TransUnion – The third largest credit bureau in the United States, TransUnion is an American credit information management agency. The company has information of approximately 500 million customers worldwide and over 45,000 business houses. It works closely with Callcredit, a UK based credit reference agency.
Based on the information on your credit report provided by any of the three aforementioned credit bureaus, the lender assesses whether they can offer you the credit or not. Whether your credit scores pose a risk and put you in a bad standing or has a high score that easily help you in obtaining the loan. This will also help them in deciding what interest rates they can offer you.
Summary: What is a credit bureau?
There are agencies that can help you in getting out of a bad credit report. They will help in reestablishing your reputation as a credit holder and will solve all your credit issues. Search on the Internet to find such providers and take their help to get back on your feet.
What is a Good Credit Score?
April 13, 2015
What is a Good Credit Score?
You may not fully understand your credit score. When trying to get a loan, you may think, “What is a Good Credit Score?” You want to know what type of score you need to qualify for loans. You want to make sure that you are on the right track or that you know when there is a problem. If you do not know what a good credit score is, though, you cannot do this. Thankfully, it is not that hard to understand. While there are several sources for a credit score, it is all easy to understand and is quite similar.
There are several sources for a credit score, as mentioned above. One source is not the same as another source. A lender will look at these scores to determine where you stand. An important part of these scores is that their range differs, too, so the lenders are not looking for a single specific number. They all start from the low hundreds and go up to the high hundreds, but the exact starting point and ending point changes. Since it changes, what makes a good score or the line drawn for a good score is not the same for all of them.
What makes a good score is not the same for all lenders, either. Looking at a single score, the line drawn will change from lender to lender. Some have higher standards or expectations while others are more lenient when looking at credit scores. A 700 may be the minimum score required for one lender, but 600 or 650 may be the minimum for others. Since there are so many differences between lenders, you should not aim for a single number. You should attempt to make your score as good as possible so that you can gain from a high credit score. By aiming for as high of a credit score as possible, you can try to qualify for all lenders.
When thinking, “What is a Good Credit Score?” there is not a lot to consider. A good credit score is a high score. As long as the number is as high up there as possible, you will have a good score. The line drawn and the minimum and maximum scores change, but there is one constant: You should aim high. If you already have a good score, try to improve it and keep up the good work. If not, work on improving it so that your score can actually benefit you.