==== ==== Thrifty Living Info You Need to See Visit: Thrifty Living ==== ==== By Jackie Anderson What is your credit score saying about you? Is is reflective of the character that you really are? Or does it paint a negative picture of your past behaviors or patterns. Does your credit show an image of the person that you don't want shown to the public? If so, then fix it! A lot of people, myself included have had something from their past that on paper doesn't represent you in the best light. That is what creditors are looking at when they make a determination as to whether or not to grant you that mortgage or that loan that you are seeking. Your credit report is really an snap shot in time (in black & white) of your personal character. Some character flaws maybe obvious omissions that appear on your report, such as incorrect street address, or in my case the year of your birth. Boy, did they have that one wrong. My credit report read that I started working in the year 1924, ha! I wasn't even thought about yet, let alone born! But, there it was for the world to see in my credit report. Fixing mistakes such as these will you will see a significant improvement in your credit report. Another snap shot would be a 90 day past due payment for a company that you've paid off months ago. In addition to that you've made timely payments with the company for the nine months that you had the account open. Be sure you challenge any erroneous information that you find on your credit report. Pre Paid Credit Cards A great way to help you re-establish your credit history is with pre-paid credit cards. Adding a pre-paid credit cards has several advantages. It will allow you to limit the amount that you can spend, because of your credit limitation. Secondly, having a pre-paid credit card that reports to the credit bureaus will enhance your ability to show creditors that you are capable of managing your finances. Once the creditor see a history or on-time payments, they will increase the credit granted to you incrementally. I would recommend that you keep no more than 25% of the limit on your credit cards. For example, if your limit is $200.00 the the maximum that you keep charge on that card would be $50.00. You may feel this is such a small amount, but remember what we're attempting to achieve. We are looking to clear up that faulty image that your credit report is telling the world that you are a dead beat. You can use credit to your advantage by sticking with the 25% rule and pay it off each month. Before you know it that image of your character will begin to get clearer and clearer. Are You a Poor Credit Risk Creditors make a determination as to whether you are a poor credit risk by assessing your debt to income ratios. Another factor taken into consideration is whether you have balances on your accounts and if so what are the ranges. Are they in the range of 20, 40, 60, and even 100 percent of your total available credit? When it shows that you are between 40 to even 100 percent of your total available credit you are
considered a poor credit risk. Don't even think about applying for a loan. If you're job hunting this can cause an employer to eliminate you as a candidate. Just be careful and do all you can to reduce your debt load. Remember when I mentioned earlier about the 25% rule, now you can see how it comes into play. A great way to play in the credit game is to establish a plan to pay down your debts. No matter how small you think it is, just having a systematic way to reduce you debts will ignite the law of reciprocity and improve your credit score. Clear Your Credit Card Debts Using the tip I gave you earlier about the 25% rule is one tip to clear your credit card debts. Another would be to negotiate with your creditors about a realistic repayment plan if you've gotten in over your head. A word of advice is necessary here. Be sure never to over commit yourself to any repayment plan with your creditor. It reflects poorly on you. Stick to a budget that you can handle and things will go a lot smoother. Make small monthly payments if necessary. If you are stretched for cash don't rob Peter to Paul. What you really want to do is pay each creditor at least the minimum amounts due each month. And even though you are making the minimums at least all your creditors are being paid which will reflect in your credit history. When you have gotten a little breathing room increase your payment amounts with your creditors. Ideally your goal should be to make double monthly payments. One way to do so is to target the smallest bill that you have. Once that bill is paid in full you take that same monthly payment and apply that amount to the next smallest bill in addition to it's normal monthly payment. Now you have one regular payment, plus that additional payment from the first small bill that you've payed off. You continue this process until the second bill is paid in full. Continue doing this process until you have paid off at least 3 of your credit card debts. Ultimately your creditors will begin assessing credit worthiness (or your personal character). Article Source: http://www.streetarticles.com/credit/how-credit-worthy-are-you
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