Well-planned handling of your credit cards can help ensure that your summer vacation holds only pleasant memories. So begin planning as soon as you choose your destination.

Start by examining all your credit cards. Do some of them offer travel rewards? Should you use one card for airline tickets another for your hotel or resort reservation, and a different one for a car rental or gasoline?

Since some credit card issuers still do give rewards, you might as well take advantage of them. And, since using too much of your credit line on any one card will negatively affect your credit scores, spreading these charges between different cards is a good idea.

Once you’ve decided which cards to use where, choose which cards will go in your wallet for the trip. Be smart and pare down, so you’re carrying only 2 or 3. Then write down all the account numbers and contact information for each card. Put a copy in your carry-on luggage and leave another copy with a friend or relative you can contact quickly in case you need the information in a hurry.

If you’ve reserved a room with your credit card, find out if you’ll have to show the card in order to finalize the charge. If so, that one needs to go along as well.

Put the cards you’re leaving behind in a safe place. Your desk drawer or the corner cupboard isn’t that place! Remember, break-ins do happen when people are away from home, so don’t leave temptations like credit cards, debit cards, or large sums of money in easily accessible spots. If you have a safe, use it. Otherwise, use your safe deposit box at the bank.

Before you leave, notify your credit card issuers of your plans. Tell them where you’re going and how long you’ll be gone. Otherwise, some conscientious card issuers could put a freeze on your spending when they see charges popping up in other cities. They’ll usually try to contact you first to verify the charges are valid, but when they can’t reach you, you could find yourself unable even to buy lunch.

If you forget, and it happens, you’ll have the contact numbers with you, so you can straighten it out. But… first you might have to be embarrassed when a charge is denied.

Once at your destination, put one card in your wallet and store the others in your in-room or hotel safe, along with the contact list and other important documents such as your passport, return airline tickets, etc.

Finally, if your card is lost or stolen, report it as soon as you know it’s missing. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act you’ll only be liable for the first $50 of unauthorized charges, but you don’t need the hassle of proving which charges are not yours if you fail to report it immediately.
CreditScoreQuick.com

Q:
How long does it take a secured credit card to start working on your credit?
Would you consider giving me a hand or at least some advice based on your experience?
Any help appreciated. I really appreciate your help.
Thank you,
Janet

A:
Hi Janet,
Secured Credit Cards usually start taking affect 2 to 6 months on your credit report. This really depends on how much credit you already have. If you have no credit scores , your new secured credit card will take about 6 month to score you. I have helped many people with this and it varies depending on your circumstances. Remember you will need a couple of cards, and maybe one other type of credit once you get established with some secured credit.

Good luck
Mike Clover
CreditScoreQuick.com

If you could pluck a $5 bill out of the air each month and apply it to your credit card debt, would you do it? It doesn’t sound like much, but it does add up over time. And anyway, $5 is $5 – I’m sure you’d bend over and pick it up if you saw it laying on a deserted sidewalk.

If you’re making payments on credit card debt, you can pick up that $5, or possibly more, by making one simple change in the way you pay your bills.

Some look at a credit card bill, check the due date, and plan to pay it on that date. Some even go on line and schedule the payment for that date. The thinking is “Why should I give them my money ahead of time?”

Savings is the reason why.

If instead of waiting for the due date, you check your accounts on line and make the payment the day the statement is issued, you’ll save money.

The day your statement is issued, the interest for the previous month is added. From that point you pay daily interest on your previous balance, plus last month’s interest.

Say you have a $10,000 balance at 18% interest. When the statement comes out the new balance will be $10,150. Now you begin paying daily interest on that new balance. Your interest, per day, will be $5.075.

If instead, you make your minimum payment of $350 on the day the statement comes out, you’ll bring your balance down to $9,800. That will cost you $4.90 per day.

Over the course of a month, that 17.5 cents per day adds up to $5.25. This is extra money you’ve paid against your debt without taking anything extra from your bank account.

If you’re paying a higher interest rate, or paying on a higher balance the savings are even greater.

Making additional payments during the month, even if they’re small, can also help you pay off that credit card debt faster. So if you happen to work an hour overtime or you find some great coupons and save on your regular grocery purchases, plunk that extra money down on your credit card debt the day it goes into your bank account. Most card issuers will accept on line payments in any amount during the month, and most will let you make a payment once per day.

Author: Mike Clover
CreditScoreQuick.com

When you apply for credit and get turned down because of errors on your report, complaining about it won’t help. And it won’t get you the credit you seek unless and until you take the necessary steps to correct the errors.

You are not the one who reports your financial life to the credit bureaus – your creditors do that. But you are the one responsible if the information is not accurate.

Until recently, that was a problem. You didn’t get to see your credit report until you paid money up front for a mortgage lender or car dealership to order it. At that point, it was too late do anything about it in time to “Make the deal” you were working on.

Now that you have easy access to your own credit report – and getting it is FREE, you can take steps to correct errors well before you need to use your credit.

The odds are strong that your credit report contains errors right now. Industry experts recently revealed that approximately 70% of all credit reports contain some kind of error. Odds are, that error will not work in your favor.

So what can you do about it?

First, it’s important to correct all credit errors quickly. This isn’t one of those tasks you should put off until next week, and even a small error could bring down your scores. It could also be the red flag signaling identity theft, so the sooner you catch it, the less hassle you’ll be in for later.

Seeing that someone has reported your address incorrectly is nothing to ignore!

Write a separate letter to each credit bureau that is reporting the error. Explain in detail and include a photocopy of the report with the incorrect information highlighted.

Errors can come in many forms. Some are typographical errors or errors in math. Some signal a more serious problem, such as an unauthorized charge on your account, a charge for merchandise you returned or that was never delivered, or an incorrect price for something you did order.

The credit bureaus will investigate based on your report, and will get back to you within about 30 days. If they find that the information is correct, but you disagree, file a statement for your report telling why. This information will be given to future creditors.

Along with keeping a close eye on your credit report, you should also watch your credit card statements for any unauthorized or unknown charges. If you don’t recognize an item on a credit card bill, call right away to learn what it was – since reporting names don’t always match merchant names you’ll recognize. If you still don’t recognize it, then take action. In this case, start with the card issuer. Call for advice, and follow their instructions.

CreditScoreQuick.com

While experts say that at least 50 different kinds of scores are compiled and kept about each of us, the one we hear about most is our “Credit score.” The most popular is the FICO score – the one used by mortgage lenders to decide if you can buy a house, and if so, at what rate of interest.

That score is made up of 5 parts, each with a different degree of importance. In order, they are:

1. 35%- Your Bill Paying History
2. 30%- The credit available to you vs. how much of it you use
3. 15%- How long you’ve had credit
4. 10%- The variety of credit you carry
5. 10%- The number of “hard inquiries” from creditors

Bill Paying History
It’s not surprising that would be creditors put a lot of emphasis on how you pay your bills. High-scoring individuals always pay on time, as agreed. Low scores in this category are the result of late payments, accounts going to collection, foreclosures, and bankruptcy.

The good news is that under the new FICO scoring model, an occasional late payment won’t carry the weight it once did. The people who analyze these figures have come to realize that even the most responsible person can have a late payment when there’s some other kind of crisis in their life – or when the mail is slow.

Credit Available vs. Credit Used
This one is a fine balance – experts say it’s good to have plenty of credit and use only about 10% of it – 30% at the most. Others point out that historically speaking, those with plenty of credit tend to use it.

What really hurts is using your available credit to the maximum – and even using it to the maximum on one credit card while others carry no balance at all.

It is important to use at least some of your credit on a consistent basis, because that demonstrates your ability to use credit well. No use equals no history, and that hurts.

Length of time that you’ve had credit –
Using credit well over a long period of time gives you high marks – especially if you’ve had credit with the same issuer over that of time. This one makes it tough on young people just starting out.

The Mix of Credit
This part of the scoring formula assumes that using a variety of credit well shows that you know how to handle money. So having a mortgage, a car loan, and credit cards is better for your score than having just one kind of experience with credit use.

Inquiries on your Credit Report
Multiple inquiries on your credit report are particularly harmful if you’ve recently had credit problems such as late payments, or a bill sent to collections.

Credit issuers assume that if you’re making application for new credit, you may be looking for a “life preserver” with which to pay other debts.

Credit card issuers looking for new customers routinely order “soft inquiries” on citizens who have not requested credit. Unlike “hard inquiries,” these inquiries in to your credit report have no effect on your credit scores.

They’re simply out there “fishing” for people with good credit so they can send offers to apply for their credit card. These offers will include low introductory rates, rewards, and even gifts for making application.

Companies with which you already have credit will go looking to see if your credit is still superior before they send you cash advance checks with letters suggesting that you really do need a vacation or a new wardrobe.

They also fish for people with poor credit and credit problems, so they can offer a different kind of credit card.

They know that most of us need a credit card at one time or another – when shopping on line, for instance. So they’ll send an offer for a card with a low credit limit, a huge annual fee and a staggering interest rate.

Some of these are the “fee harvester” cards whose gouging techniques have now been reined in by the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights of 2009. At the present time, the initial fees charged to gain a $250 credit limit can reach upwards of $175!

When the new law goes into effect, they’ll be limited to charging 25% of the card’s credit limit in fees during the first year.

You trigger some of this snooping…

Often, those who aren’t sure about their credit scores will allow a car dealer or a furniture store to check their credit report – just to see if they can extend credit to them. This is a poor idea, as it triggers a “hard inquiry.”

“Hard inquiries” do have an effect on your credit score, so you should not use this method to learn your scores, and instead should take care not to give out your personal information until you’re sure you want to ask for credit from a particular merchant.

Your credit report will show the inquiry – it won’t show if you were turned down for credit or simply decided to keep shopping because that merchant didn’t have exactly what you were looking for, or because you couldn’t agree on the price of a car.

There’s no longer a reason not to know your own credit scores before you go shopping. You can get your credit report with scores, right here, for FREE. Do it today.

Q:

Two years ago the answer would have been yes. Consumers were advised to contact their credit card issuers as often as twice yearly to request cuts in their interest rates.

Now it might not be such a good idea.

Unless you absolutely can’t meet the minimum payment with your current interest rate, it might be best to lay low.

Because of the changes that credit card companies have been imposing on even their most creditworthy customers, your credit scores may have come down. Unless you check your credit report regularly, you might not even know that your once “excellent” rating now only looks “good.”

Because any time you ask for a change in terms the card issuer will pull your credit report, asking could backfire. They’ll also ask for additional information such as your employment history, monthly income, etc. If your income has come down due to the economic crisis, or if you’ve changed jobs, it could combine with a lower credit score to work against you.

Your request for a reduction could result in an increase instead – along with a reduction in your credit limit. Then the inquiry on your credit could bring your scores down another notch, which could trigger adverse actions from other credit card issuers.

This is a snowball that is gaining both speed and size, so it’s time for consumers to be very careful.

If you’re having trouble but feel confident that you will manage to stay afloat with your current minimum payments, you shouldn’t draw any attention to your account. Don’t let on to the credit card issuers if your income has dropped – and don’t ask for a change that will cause them to examine your current financial status.

If you truly can’t meet the minimum payments, that’s different. In that case you should ask for assistance.

Credit card issuers don’t want another charge-off. They want to keep you in a position to keep paying, so they are in many cases willing to work with you toward a solution. In fact, in 2008, they gave some kind of debt relief to approximately 2.7 million cardholders. That relief came in the form of a settlement, temporary forbearance, debt consolidation, a payment plan, or an interest rate reduction.

Interestingly, had the credit card issuers not taken such an aggressive stance in trying to boost their profits, many credit card holders might not have had a problem. In a study by Synergistics last January, two-thirds of consumers who received a change in terms reported that they had trouble making minimum payments as a result.

Author: Mike Clover
CreditScoreQuick.com your resource for free credit reports, credit cards, loans, and ground breaking credit news