A Personal finance blog for saving money and earning more and thus having a better life
There are many reasons that people fall into debt. It could be a job loss, a sudden illness or the mishandling of money. Unfortunately, once you get overwhelmed with your debt it can become difficult to make your monthly payments on time.
What usually follows are a few late payments and then a few missed payments. This can present quite a challenge to restore your good name. The potential cost of having bad credit can be huge unless you follow these steps to recover from bad credit.
Trying to gain better control over your finances can be a great goal to have. While all the different factors that affect how you save, borrow, and make money can seem complex when you’re starting out, you can easily become well educated about your finances by breaking up the knowledge you need into smaller chunks.
Understanding your credit score can be a great place to start. Having better credit can come with a huge set of advantages that can potentially help improve all of your finances. Here are the basics of what your credit score means and how you can improve it if needed.
This weekend I was doing some de-cluttering exercise at home. Many unwanted papers I got rid off. While doing so, I came across a handwritten note at the back of my old bank statement, probably it was the first bank statement I received after opening an account with Bank Of America. The title said “A Complete Guide to credit score”.
I came to America in August 2005, I belonged to a country where there is no system for maintaining credit scores. There, Lenders, and probably government too, believe in the fact that money can be reclaimed by force.
Anyways, that’s another story, which I will touch upon a bit in various upcoming blog posts. Today’s topic is about that handwritten note.
Surprise surprise! my FICO score reached an all time high this month. I am now at 813. It’s so satisfying that our personal finance habits, habit of handling credit responsibly has paid off. I have posted a number of articles on improving credit score. Today I’ll write about my credit score, how it reached 813, the factors that went in my favor, also the ones that’ll have to be improved further. Let’s first start with what’s on FICO.
Congratulations – You have an exceptional FICO® Score. The below factor(s) are informative but not significant as they represent very marginal areas where your score was adversely affected. Keep up your good financial habits!Key Factor(s) affecting your FICO® Score:
The thing about life is that it can be unpredictable. With the drop of a hat your car or house could need a major repair and at the time you might just not have the money for the repair costs. Of course, you always have the option of getting a loan, but what if you have bad credit?
Bad credit follows you around like a bad smell and you know all too well that it makes getting a loan extremely tough. Every lender considers you a high risk, just because you made a few mistakes in the past. Even, if you are able to get a loan you will end up digging yourself deeper in debt, trying to pay it back due to the high-interest rates.
This is a guest post from one of the readers, who wants to be anonymous.
Having a good credit score wasn’t always on the top of my priority list when I was in my early 20s. I never had an immaculate score, but it also wasn’t too shabby. I could have access to almost any type of financing: credit cards, car loans, and even a mortgage. I always paid my bills on time but I typically carried over some of the balance to the next month.
When you first anticipate the reality of wanting to become a homeowner, it will also be the time when you get serious about where your credit card stands.
Consumers that tend to pre-plan for all things financial should recognize the importance of getting the financial house in order, including attention to their credit scores. However, that is not always the case with perspective homeowners and as a result they end up losing thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of a loan.
Importance of Advanced Planning For those who are not advanced planners, getting approved for a mortgage may prove more difficult than initially thought. Mortgage lenders in today’s economy expect a lot more from borrowers than they have in the past decade. Lending requirements are much stricter and borrowers will need to be prepared to meet these expectations.
Your credit score is of utmost importance when you plan to apply for a business loan. Knowing how to improve will help you succeed in your application.
In the business world, the term credit score is just a common word to hear. What is a credit score then?
This is actually an expression, a numeric expression to be particular that evaluates the credit history and performance of a particular person or business. It is typically found and accessed in different credit bureau. It is in fact considered as a confidential file.
My view has always been to avoid credit repair agencies and start on your own. It is just the last option for you, to me. You can consolidate your debt and arrange for payoff assistance from your lender. you don’t really need help of experts. you just need to learn some tricks and you must be aware of some law. All information is available over the internet.
I am going to list the top 5 credit repair agencies you can reach out to when you think you do need experts’ help. Be careful and read the reviews about the company you elect to go with. be sure to ask all relevant questions and instruct them to keep you informed on every steps that they’ll take on your behalf with your creditors.
Knowing your credit score is very important as it greatly affects your financial ability, but for some reason no regulation exists that gives you the right to know it for free. Your credit score affects the interest rate you get when applying for a loan or even affect your eligibility for one. It also affects your fees why applying for financial services such as credit cards. Even your housing association, where you rent or your employer might want to verify your credit report and credit score. For Americans, having a good credit score makes things less costlier and more attainable.
Your credit report, which contains a lot of information about you and your financial whereabouts and it even required to calculate your credit score, is available for free according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act which allows you to order a credit report once per year from all 3 of the nation’s credit reporting companies (TransUnion Experian and Equifax). Each company uses a different method of calculating your credit score and each compiles its own credit report.