The Credit Challenge

As I took some time to read this morning, I came across a great resource that I thought I’d share with you.  It’s an all in one resource to raise your credit scores.

Although the creator of this resource sometimes has a difference of opinion than I do, I still find some of her tools and products valuable.

But here’s the thing.  I found a way for you to save some extra money now while helping yourself save tons of money later as well.

All you have to do is enter this special code and you will instantly get a 20% discount -   SUZEFKP

=> www.alexnavas.com/recommends/FicoKit

Just to give you an idea of some of the tools you’ll have access to, here are a few modules:

1. Debt Eliminator
2. Day-To-Pay Bill Reminders
3. InfoVault
4. Online Home and Car Coaching
5. FICO Simulator
6. Error Detection and Correction

So, you can see, it covers all the basis of solid credit repair and debt management.

Check it out by clicking on Raise My Fico Score!

In the last post, I mentioned how crucial it was to learn how to do credit repair yourself. I shared the first 3 of 5 quick and easy steps to do credit repair yourself.

Without further ado, here are the last two tips.

1. 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.

2.  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.

So now you have it, the 5 quick and easy steps to do credit repair yourself.  Like I told you before, it’s quite easy if you know how to do it.  These 5 steps will definitely get you started on the right foot.

Don’t forget to leave your comments and let me know if this was helpful.

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 the first 3 of 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.

The best thing to do is to start today with these first 3 steps to doing credit repair yourself. Once you complete these, which shouldn’t take long at all, then you’ll

Here’s a report that I wrote that you can get instant access to by going to www.CreditScoringSecretsRevealed.com. Remember, it’s absolutely free!

I’ve talked to many people over time who have been told about sending letters to their creditors to clear off items from their credit. This is definitely a great approach to take when working to improve your credit score.

Although sending out letters is a very effective method of boosting your credit score, there is one major thing that most people forget.

What is that you may ask?

Simple, it is to continue following up after the initial credit letter is sent out. You see, just because you send one letter doesn’t automatically mean that it will all work out.

A more powerful approach is actually to have a credit reporting service that will give you access to your credit score each month. That way, you can monitor if the letters worked or not.

If your letter worked, you would see those negative items removed from your credit. If not, you would know that sending another letter the following month would be your next step.

The point is, the magic is in the follow up. Be sure to check to see if you’ve gotten results. Only then will you truly know what else is left.

This approach is what major credit repair agencies take to clear your credit. They just use a system to continually monitor the results of the letters they send on your behalf, and then send them over and over again until they can clear those items off of your credit report.

So knowing this, you can take the same approach that credit repair agencies take, but save yourself the money that they would normally charge.

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.

Just wanted to let you know that I created a video that further discusses the top 10 reasons to rebuild your credit score.  I hope you enjoy!

I’d love to hear your comments on this video. This is the first of many video tips that I will be giving you on this blog. Make sure to leave a comment and let me know what other credit related topics you would like me to create a video on.

So, yesterday I gave you the first 5 reasons why you should begin the process of rebuilding your credit score.  It doesn’t matter what difficulties you’ve had in the past with your credit score, the main thing is that you start now.

So, here are reasons 6-10 (or 1-5 as they are listed here) of why you need to rebuild your credit score now:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 home ownership become very limited, and in many cases, non-existent.
4. 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.
5. 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.

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 (you will get the first 5 right now, but watch out for the other 5 tomorrow);

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.

So, with these first 5, you can instantly see why you should start rebuilding your credit score.  Who really cares if you’ve had trouble with your credit scores in the past, now its time to jump onboard again.

Make sure you come back tomorrow to read the remaining 5 to really get you serious about building your credit!

Did you know that the older the credit account is, the better it is for your credit score?  It’s true. Fifteen percent of your credit score  is determined by the length of your credit history.

Knowing this fact is contrary to what many people have heard; Closing your old accounts improves your credit score.  This is completely untrue, and you should stay away from it.

Imagine that you had a credit card since 2001 and you’ve never been late on it.  Then you decide that you rather close it out since you don’t use it very much any more.  The minute you close that account, you’ve just lost 7 years of good credit history. I’ve seen many people’s credit score drop 20-30 points simply by closing out one old account.

Make sure you keep your oldest accounts in good standings (just like your newer ones too!) because they will help keep your score up.  Fifteen percent can make a dramatic difference in your credit score over time.