Posts Tagged ‘Repair’

Six Quick Credit Repair Strategies Anyone Can Use

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Sep 22 2010

Lower Your Credit Card Balances

Does this seem boring or just plain unrealistic? As tough as it seems this is a big credit repair factor. But it need not be hard. The lower your credit card balances are the higher your scores will be. The great news is that high balances do no long term credit repair damage. Chip away when you can and watch your scores pop up.

Open Two New Credit Cards

If you have had credit issues, this credit repair tip may sound like an impossible dream. If you thought you would have to wait years before rebuilding your credit here is some great news. You can do it today with secured credit cards and your scores will start climbing before you know it. Get two small secured cards for the biggest benefit. It is easy and you will not get denied regardless of your past history.

Professional Card Management Techniques

Once you have your two new cards you will want to get the most out of them by employing these easy FICO score friendly credit repair strategies. Use your cards when you get them, but use less than 20 percent of the available limit. And when you get the bill do not pay if off entirely. Leave a little on the card to insure that it continues to report as active. It is that easy! Soon your scores will be climbing.

Become an Authorized User

Here is a little credit repair magic trick that can be worth a big pile of credit score points. Read more…

Tags: Financial Tips, Repair
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Improving Your Credit Scores Fast with Credit Repair

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Sep 01 2010

Awesome Short Term Credit Repair

Credit repair offers a variety of techniques that have the ability to improve your credit scores in a relatively short amount of time. There is a finite limit to the benefit that you can get with these short term techniques, as time itself does play an inexorable role in certain parts of the FICO scoring formula, but these short term results can still be awesome.

The Amazing Power of Balances

The biggest, fail-safe credit repair technique for fast score improvement is to reduce your credit card balances. This may seem a boring and well-worn idea, but it cannot be ignored as a little balance tune-up can add over 100 points. The FICO model puts so much weight on this factor that you cannot afford to ignore it. Here are some more angles on the matter.

The Increments That Count

For credit repair purposes you should only care about 20 percent increments of credit card utilization. You will get the biggest benefit by getting your balances under 20 percent of the available credit line. For example, if you have a 1,000 limit, get your balance below 200 dollars. Here are some important tips on balance timing.

Be Careful With Your Timing

Many people are taken off guard by bad timing. Nothing is more disappointing than accidentally sabotaging your credit repair progress in spite of all of your hard work. The most common timing failure occurs when someone uses a significant percentage of their card each month and pays the whole balance off when they get the bill. Read more…

Tags: Credit Scores, Financial Tips, Repair
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Debt Management and Credit Repair Connections

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Aug 27 2010

Your Debt and Your Credit

There are a number of junctures at which debt management and credit repair intersect. Your debt will have a serious impact on your scores via the FICO scoring model which considers your balance to debt ratio. The higher your balances the lower your score will be and vice versa. Your debt load can cross over into your credit life in other important ways as well

Your Balances and Your Scores

The application of credit repair principles to debt management for the purpose of optimizing credit scores must take the FICO treatment of debt into consideration. FICO acknowledges credit card utilization levels in 20 percent increments; the lower you go the better, but it is handy to know the details. Think of 60 percent card usage as neutral, 40 percent and below as positive and 80 percent and above as deadly. Manage your balances with care.

Charge Off and Collection Accounts

Many people involved in credit repair have another form of debt worth considering. When a default occurs the creditor will typically write off, or charge off, the debt after 180 days. At this point the debt will be sold or assigned to a collector, who will attempt to collect. Prior to reporting the account to the credit bureaus the collector must send collection notice. This creates an important opportunity.

FDCPA and Debt Validation

Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCAP) you have the right to validate a debt within 30 days of getting dunned. Read more…

Tags: Debt Management, Financial Tips, Repair
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Meeting the Challenge of Credit Repair

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Aug 22 2010

Getting Your Credit Reports

Your credit repair job will start with your reports. Most people are aware of their right to get free reports, one from each bureau, one time per year. Unfortunately, these individual reports are not ideal if you are planning a comprehensive credit report clean up. They are in three different, mostly obscure, formats. For credit repair you are better off buying a user oriented tri-merged report. It will save a headache.

Reviewing Your Reports the Right Way

There is little use in limiting your credit repair effort to a cursory examination. A superficial review of your reports will yield little except a waste of your time. It matters, so do it right. Get a highlighter, take your time and find everything that looks even slightly odd. Even innocuous looking errors can ding your scores, and they all add up. Leave nothing on the table.

Managing the Dispute Progression

Once you have made your list it is time to send dispute letters to the bureaus. There are three major credit bureaus and they must be treated individually. They each use unique identifying account information and will process your credit repair dispute letters in their own way. Do not use the same letter for each bureau. Keep copies of your letter and be prepared to send your disputes until you are satisfied.

Building New Credit for Results

A nice clean credit report is a wonderful thing, but in the final analysis, it is your FICO score that will open doors for you. Read more…

Tags: Financial Tips, Repair
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Sweet Budget Tips for Credit Repair

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Aug 13 2010

Build a Solid Foundation

If you want to repair your credit you need to make sure your foundation is solid. There is little point in investing time or money in credit repair services if there is a likelihood of backsliding. One step forward and two steps back will never get you to your goal. One of the most powerful aides to credit repair is an intelligent, clever, and even entertaining budget. Did I say entertaining?

Financial Enlightenment

Solidify your foundation first and then start your credit repair. There are many amazing benefits to setting up a budget and none of them need to resemble an austerity program. The initial process of developing a budget can be entirely enlightening. It is a process of gathering, sorting, sifting, categorizing, and understanding the money you spend.

No More Fuzzy Understanding

Unless you are a credit repair veteran and have already gone through this routine it is not likely that you truly know about your financial life. True, it is your money, but it is likely that you do not see the whole picture. In fact, if you are like most people you live your life, spend the money you earn, or more, and have at best a fuzzy picture of where it all went.

Leave No Leaf Unturned

Clear your mind and your kitchen table. The big credit repair payoff is coming, but first comes the work. Get a full size pad of paper and a pen. Grab the last few months of credit card and checking account statements. Read more…

Tags: Financial Tips, Repair
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Subtle Credit Repair Secrets

Financial Guide | Posted by Kiara Withers
Jul 05 2010

It Takes Finesse

Credit repair takes finesse. There is much more to the job than just writing letters to the credit bureaus. In fact, as shocking as it seems, you can make a near perfect effort, but if you miss just a few subtle angles, your effort will produce no results at all! Here are the most important and most overlooked credit repair secrets you need to insure your success.

Doubt is Healthy

When you start your credit repair program you will need to examine your credit reports. Do not attribute any special level of competence to the credit bureaus. It is safer to assume that if anything looks even vaguely askew, there is a reporting error. Do not be afraid to dispute. Write your letter and put the onus on the credit bureaus.

Simplicity Pays

The person that will read your dispute letter will read approximately 150 other dispute letters in the working day, at an allotted pace of 3 minutes per dispute. They do not want to hear your life saga. Nor do they want to hear your interpretation of the reporting blunder. If you were not late, just say that you were not late. The golden rule of credit repair works; respect them and they will respect you.

Stay on the Case

On the other hand, even the most succinct credit repair letters are often rejected. Do not take it personally. It is a numbers game. Some may even tell you that a predetermined percentage of letters are turned away offhand without any research at all.

Read more…

Tags: Financial Tips, Repair
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