Archive for July, 2008
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
 Your life during a foreclosure might seem never ending. A foreclosure does affect your credit score report, but the good news is there is life afterwards. If you have fell victim to the Sub-Prim meltdown which caused you to loose your home, I will explain to you how you can recover from this fairly quick. Obviously anytime you have a negative mark on your credit report it will stay on there for 7 years. The positive side is you can implement some good credit management steps to recover.
It will be a minimum of 3 years after foreclosure date before you can buy a house again. FHA and Conventional loans have a 3 year seasoning requirement before they will allow you to get financed. By implementing what I am about to teach you, you can still get your credit in the right direction.
Step 1: Late Payments
Make sure you don’t have anymore late payments on any of your other obligations. Late payments will destroy your credit.
Step 2: Credit
Make sure you have at least 3 lines of credit reporting on your credit report. This could be a couple of credit cards, secured credit cards, car loans, and installment loans.
Step 3: Rental
Make sure you have excellent rental history. Don’t be late on your payments to your landlord. When you get ready go buy a new home in 3 years, this is a must, and make sure the rental payment is fairly close to what you new mortgage payment would be. The reason is if you are ready to buy a home and your rental was $400 to $500 less than your new mortgage payment, the bank will consider that payment shock. So watch this closely.
Step 4: Savings
Save your money, you should have at least 6 months worth of mortgage payments in your savings. The banks like to see that you have the ability to save.
Step 5: Learn from your mistakes
After you have experienced a foreclosure, make sure you don’t have the something happen again. Fair Isaac the creator of the FICO score will forgive credit mistakes, but the new FICO 08 does not forgive repeat offenders too well. So don’t make the same mistakes twice.
Stuff comes up during our little journey here on earth, but we can make matters a lot better with good credit management. If you are not rich, there will come a time where you need to borrow money. It can be a little frustrating when you need a loan and you cannot get one because of bad credit. Once you implement what I have mentioned you will be well on your way to good credit health.
CreditScoreQuick.com
Posted in bad credit, credit, credit report, fix bad credit reports free, foreclosure | Comments Off
Friday, July 4th, 2008
Q:
Hello Mike,
I have some questions about collections. I have not pulled my free credit report yet, but I know that I have collections on there. I have had some financial problems in the past due to medical issues. I have read that you should not pay off your collections; it will drop your credit score. The collections I have are about 2 years old. Do you recommend I pay them off, or leave them be? I plan on buying a home within the next year or so.
Leslie Lerner
Denver, Colorado
A:
Hi Leslie,
This is a great question. Collections can be tricky; usually credit repair companies will tell you not to pay off collections. The reason for this is they are obviously in sales, would be my opinion. I have helped people get there credit scores up for years so I could finance them, by having them pay off the most recent collections. When you pay off collections on a credit report it could go two ways. Your credit scores could temporally drop, but most of the time your credit scores will increase. For long term credit repair I recommend always to pay off collections. It is important to ask the collection agency to give you a letter to delete from all 3 credit bureaus. This will remove the collection from your credit record as if it were never there. Some collection agencies will only give you a letter showing paid or settled. It does not hurt to ask though, because sometimes they will give you a letter to delete the history from the credit bureaus.
Mike Clover
CreditScoreQuick.com
About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of http://www.creditscorequick.com/. CreditScoreQuick.com is the one of the most unique on-line resources for free credit score report, fico score, free credit check, identity theft protection, secured credit cards, student credit cards , credit cards, mortgage loans, auto loans, insurance, debt consolidation ,and a BlOG with a wealth of personal credit information. The information within this website is written by professionals that know about credit, and what determines ones credit worthiness
Posted in collections, credit education, free credit report | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
 I don’t think I can write enough about this subject, identity theft is going on everywhere now. I wanted to give some more tips on what the experts recommend on safeguarding your private information from identity thieves. In the current day and time you cannot be too careful on protecting your personal information. Once it happens to you its too late and is very hard to get resolved in a timely manner.
Precautions:
• Don’t carry too many credit cards in your wallet, maybe only one is necessary.
• Don’t carry your social security card in your wallet.
• Don’t put your social security number and driver’s license number on your checks.
• Don’t pay your bills in the mail, use on-line services. You may also use the post office.
• Use complicated username and passwords.
• Memorize your username and password, never write them down
• Install virus protection software on your computer
• Don’t give out your personal information over the phone
• Check all 3 credit reports every 4 to 5 months.
• Don’t open any attachments or emails sent to you from unknown senders.
• Look out for suspicious mail that might ask you to apply for a credit card or other types of credit.
• Change your password every few months
• Shred all bills
• Opt-out of receiving credit card offers in the mail by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT
• Get your phone numbers and address removed from reverse directories and phone books.
• Subscribe to credit monitoring services that alert you quickly
• Buy identity theft insurance.
• Review your social security and benefits carefully every year.
• Pay for stuff with cash instead of credit cards and debit cards.
• Install firewall software on your computer
• Ask business that keep your personal information about there storage and security process.
• Have you mail sent to a P.O. Box.
With 50,000 people a year getting there information stolen you can rest assure its on epidemic proportions. This crime is growing so fast that you cannot afford to just assume it will not happen to you. Protect you and your families get all of the information mentioned above in place. Its worth spending a little extra money to save yourself thousands and countless hours fixing identity theft.
CreditScoreQuick.com
Posted in credit monitoring, free credit score reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
During the course of the day you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a concert, mail your tax returns, rent a car, and apply for a new credit card. Your probably don’t think twice when you are doing these type of activities. An identity thief is always watching.
Identity theft is a serious crime, and is currently the biggest crime waive ever. People who have their identity stolen can end up taking months, years and thousands of dollars trying to recover their identity. Identity theft can steal your good name and credit record. If identity theft happens to you, it could cause you to not get a new job because of your current credit report, it could get you denied credit for housing, cars and installment loans.
How identity thieves get your information
• Stealing information and records while on the job
• Conning fellow co-workers for information
• Hacking records
• Bribing employees whom have access to confidential information
• Steal your mail, by taking bills, credit card statements, tax return information, new credit card offers and new checks as well.
• Dig through your trash, business trash cans, and public trash facilities. This is also known as dumpster diving.
• Get a copy of your credit report by abusing their employers authorized access to it, or by posing as someone like a landlord or employer who may have access to your credit reports.
• They may capture your credit card numbers or pin numbers by storing this information in a data storage device when you swipe your card. This is also know as skimming.
• They may steal your purse or wallet.
• They may complete a change of address to divert your mail somewhere else.
• They may steal your information that find in your own home.
• They may steal your information posing as your bank or some institution you do business with.
How identity thieves use your personal information
• They can give your name during a arrest and if you don’t show up for the court date it goes on your record.
• They could file fraudulent tax returns in your name
• They could get a job in your name.
• They could get a auto loan in your name
• They could get a home loan in your name
• They may open new credit cards in your name and allow them to go delinquent which will affect your credit report.
• They may establish utility bills in your name
• They may file bankruptcy in your name on charges they have accrued in you name.
There are some great preventative measures for avoiding identity theft. Here are a few good ones.
• Get your credit report at least every 3 months. Its worth paying for to avoid this mess.
• Sign up for credit monitoring to get alerts when someone applies for credit in your name.
• Shred all mail.
• Get PO Box, and don’t put anything in an un-secure mailbox.
• Safeguard credit cards, social security cards, and any other personal items you don’t use in a safe.
CreditScoreQuick.com
Posted in free credit score reports | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
There is a lot of debate out there on when you should check your credit report. I am sure you have read that you can get your credit report for FREE at www.annualcreditreport.com. Yes you can, but you get it once a year for free with no credit scores. It is worth paying around $29.95 to get your credit scores along with your credit report. The reason is when lenders make there decision process your scores are part of that process. In the current credit report market you can get your free credit reports with scores on a trial period. So if you are getting ready to make a purchase or have been turned down for some reason, you should pull a recent copy of your credit report with credit scores from each credit bureau. Here is a list of triggers to pull a recent copy of your free credit reports with scores.
• Been recently denied for a credit
• Suspect someone is using your identity
• Suspect a creditor may have reported some late payments incorrectly
• Need to fix your credit report
• About to make a big purchase
• Want to know your credit scores
Even if you don’t have any of the triggers mentioned above you should pull your credit report every 3 to 4 months for good credit management. You never know if someone is messing up your good name. With the new digital age and access to personal information your social security number is floating around everywhere. Typically someone that gets your social security number is an insider at a company that has personal information on file. With the amount of foreign nationals coming to this country your social security number is a hot item on the black market. It is also a hot item with Illegal Aliens. Identity Theft recently has became officially the biggest crime waive in American History. With all of this being said staying on top of your free credit score report is a must. Once something negative has happened to your credit it could irreversible for 7 years. The only thing you can do to fix the problem is get it removed if it’s not your fault. My point being once your scores drop it takes time to regain what the mistake caused.
If you are confused on what type of credit report to get, you might consider a site that offers multiple credit report offers. When you pull your credit report you definitely want a credit report with scores from each credit bureau. Some websites offers only give you a 3-1 credit report with one score. You really need all 3 scores. Some sites offer a credit report with no scores. So my point is you need the right credit report if you are going to pay for it.
CreditScoreQuick.com
Posted in fico score, free credit score reports | Comments Off
Disclaimer: This information has been compiled and provided by CreditScoreQuick.com as an informational service to the public. While our goal is to provide information that will help consumers to manage their credit and debt, this information should not be considered legal advice. Such advice must be specific to the various circumstances of each person's situation, and the general information provided on these pages should not be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.
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Your life during a foreclosure might seem never ending. A foreclosure does affect your credit score report, but the good news is there is life afterwards. If you have fell victim to the Sub-Prim meltdown which caused you to loose your home, I will explain to you how you can recover from this fairly quick. Obviously anytime you have a negative mark on your credit report it will stay on there for 7 years. The positive side is you can implement some good credit management steps to recover.
