Is it possible to build a house in one day? Can your obtain a college degree overnight? Definitely not! It is the same with bad credit – it just cannot be rectified within 24 hours. It takes some time to repair credit that has an unflattering history, despite what those advertisements would have you believe. This article will provide you with some common sense tips on how to increase your credit score as quickly as practicable (but not overnight!).
The two items of information that potential lenders will definitely check prior to offering you a car loan or mortgage are your credit report and your FICO score. The credit report is a compilation of your credit history with any number of financial institutions. Did you miss a payment on the car loan some years ago? That will be included as will late payments on an electricity bill. From this sort of information, the three major credit bureaus will generate a score, sometimes known as a FICO score. A score below 700 will see you having to pay higher interest rates and if it is too low, you may find it difficult to even obtain approval for a loan from the traditional, “safe” lenders.
Repairing a bad credit rating therefore takes time. You can begin by requesting a free copy of your credit report: if you visit annualcreditreport.com you will be able to obtain it online, once a year, free of charge. You can even arrange online for inaccurate information to be removed by completing a form on the same site.
You should make an effort to lower your debt to credit ratio. This is what you owe in comparison to your credit limit. You can do this by paying down the balances on credit cards. It may also be beneficial to open up a new line of credit; just don’t use it too much. If it is not feasible for you to obtain a “traditional” source of credit, consider a sub-prime merchandise card; one that reports to the credit bureaus.
If you are truly in a lot of debt with your credit card, you may be able to negotiate with the credit providers to lower your liability. It is surprising what a phone call can do.
So, you have been incredibly good and you have worked very hard for some weeks in an effort to repair your credit. Will there be any change on your credit report? Unfortunately, not at this stage. The information that the credit bureaus receive from the credit providers also takes time to filter through and the credit bureaus usually will weight the reports from the last 12 to 18 months in order to generate your credit rating Be patient – you will have to wait to be rid of the bad credit rating.
It should be obvious now that it simply is not possible to fix all of this in 24 hours. The expert opinion is that it can take from between 3 to 12 months to achieve. We all know that good things are worth the wait.
By: Caden Flynn
Posts Tagged ‘Major Credit Bureaus’
Who Is The Credit Bureau
December 4th, 2009
Many people who don’t know anything about credit have the feeling that the credit bureau is a government agency that works for Uncle Sam to ruin our lives but the real truth is that government agencies are just private companies that that have monopolized the credit industry. The industry is therefore run by three firms: Transunion, Esperian and Equifax. These three giants run the industry but there are more than 2000 smaller credit bureaus. Truth is that these companies are all private companies and are in the business of making money. Hell they are even listed in the New York Stock Exchange and for the price of a share you can own the company. Nice thought considering these companies literally own most of the individuals in the U.S who happen to have bad credit.
How do credit bureaus get their information? Various companies subscribe to the credit bureaus services and therefore send credit history of individuals to the credit bureau. Updates are also sent to the credit bureau by the creditor periodically. Creditors usually report at different times to different credit bureaus so therefore none matching dates and amounts can be shown on each credit report. There are so many instances were these reports are terribly incorrect. The companies the send reports to credit bureaus are namely banks, department stores, mortgage companies, credit card companies etc.
Credit bureaus also get their information from public record from courthouses including bankruptcies, default payments, tax liens etc. Many times the credit bureau adds these records to its files but fail to correct the information if the courthouse updates or clears the records. Here are the 3 major credit bureaus and how to contact them. Visit http://www.1800aaacredit.com for more information.
TransUnion
P.O. Box 390
Springfield, PA 19064
(800) 851-2674
TRW/ Esperian
P.O. Box 949
Allen, TX 75013-0949
(800) 392-1122
Equifax
P.O. Box 105873
Atlanta, GA 30348
(800) 685-1111
By: Ije Valent
Three Credit Rating Warning Signs
December 24th, 2009You can see the signs everywhere you look. The person next door has had to file for bankruptcy protection and the lovely family down the road has the bank threatening foreclosure and they will lose their home. Your brother-in-law isn’t able to obtain a decent interest rate on a loan for a new car. But this doesn’t affect you because you don’t have any credit problems – or do you? This article identifies three signs that indicate you are in need of credit repair and suggests some workable solutions.
The First Sign – Your credit score. You are aware of the importance of these and that they are based on everything from the interest that you have to pay to your insurance premiums. Your credit rating is OK – it is 600 and that is a good number, isn’t it?
No, it isn’t – it is an obvious sign that you seriously need to look at credit repair. Scores under 720 require improvement. These scores are between 300 to a perfect 850. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, which are the three major credit bureaus, are responsible for the collection of information about you. They get this information from companies from whom you have been previously obtained credit and then write a report. This is where your credit score originates.A higher score indicates less risk to a potential creditor and subsequently increases your chances of a better interest rate.
The Second Sign – Your credit report contains negative comments. It’s been more than twelve months since your credit card payments were late and so you feel that your report must have improved. To check this, you obtain a copy of your credit report and those late payments are still included. Why is that?
Negative comments will remain on the report for up to 18 months, so you must make every effort to avoid late payments if you want to see an improvement. Remember that each negative comment reduces your score.
The Third Sign – You are finding it difficult obtaining a decent rate on your car loan. Picture this scenario: You have been successful in getting a new job on a higher salary than ever before, but it means a longer traveling time. Your old car just wouldn’t be capable, so you need a new car. You go to a car dealership and choose a new car and when you are about to sign for the car loan, you see that the repayments are higher than you have reckoned.This is because of your credit report. You are in a difficult position, because you need that new car for the new job. You have to sign the papers and deal with the higher repayments.
These are all strong indicators that your credit needs repairing. If you take the time and make the effort to improve your credit report it will benefit you in the long run.
Most credit repairs can be done by the individual, depending upon how good they are at handling money, their credit card use and how bad the situation is. If it has gone beyond that point, however,there are companies that specialize in credit restoration who will work for a fee.
You should at all times be aware of the possible signs of credit problems and if they occur, act immediately so that you are able to maintain a higher credit rating and reap the benefits.
By: Caden Flynn
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