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Advantages of Using Credit Cards Instead of Cash
There are many evils associated with credit cards, but there are benefits that are hard to ignore. One benefit is having the credit card company act in your behalf to recover funds from a disputed transaction. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act the...
Consolidate A Credit Card To Reduce Your Debt
Strange though it may sound a credit card can be a useful tool
in controlling debt. The properly chosen credit card can, in
fact, be used to consolidate debt. There are several features to
look for though if you plan to use a credit card in this...
Selecting the Right Credit Card
Not all credit cards are created equal. There are many various
types of credit cards, and if you are looking to apply for a
credit card, it may be difficult to decide which type of card is
best for you.
In this article, we will look at...
The Ins And Outs Of Bad Credit Home Loans
Owning a home is part of the American dream. It's also the biggest purchase that most of us will ever make, and because of that, almost everyone will be borrowing money to do it. Unfortunately, for many people that means a bad credit home loan, and...
Understanding Your Credit Report
Your credit report is all that companies and lenders have to know about you. They do not get to see who you are or know what is happening in your life. All they know is what your credit report has to say about you. If you haven't taken the time to...
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Improve your credit score
What does "Credit Score" mean? A measure of credit risk
calculated from a credit report using a standardized formula.
Factors that can damage a credit score include late payments,
absence of credit references, and unfavorable credit card use.
Lenders may use a credit score to determine whether to provide a
loan and what rate to charge.
Do you know what your credit score is? You won't know what you
need to do to improve your credit score unless you first know
what your credit score is. To find out, order a copy of your
credit report. An amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting
Act requires each of the major nationwide consumer reporting
companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit
reports, at your request, once every 12 months.
To order your free annual report from one or all the national
consumer reporting companies, visit
http://www.annualcreditreport.com , call toll-free 877-322-8228,
or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it
to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281,
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. You can print the form from
ftc.gov/credit. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer
reporting companies individually; they provide free annual
credit reports only through http://www.annualcreditreport.com ,
877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box
105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
Under federal law, you're also entitled to a free report if a
company takes adverse action against you, such as denying your
application for credit, insurance or employment, and you request
your report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action.
The notice will give you the name, address, and phone number of
the consumer reporting company that supplied the information
about you. You're also entitled to one free report a year if
you're unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days;
you're on welfare; or your report is inaccurate because of
fraud. Otherwise, a consumer reporting company may charge you up
to $9.50 for any other copies of your report.
To buy a copy of your report, contact:
Equifax: 800-685-1111; www.equifax.com
Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742); www.experian.com
TransUnion: 800-916-8800; www.transunion.com
For more information about credit card debt, identity theft,
raising your credit score, obtaining credit cards, and more you
can also go to http://creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com
Under state law, consumers in Colorado, Georgia, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont already have
free access to their credit reports.
If you ask, only the last four digits of your Social Security
number will appear on your credit reports.
What can I do to improve my Credit Score?
Pay your bills on time. This is the big number one! It's always
good to pay your bills on time and that keeps your credit score
healthy. It is especially important that all of your recent
bills have been paid on time if you intend to apply for new
credit or a new loan. Recent late payments weigh against your
credit score tremendously.
Don't close or open credit card accounts near loan time. A good
rule of
thumb is do not open any credit accounts near a time
when you will be applying for a loan. It can lower your credit
score, especially if you do not have a proven track record.
What's more, a new account will lower the average age of your
accounts, another factor in your FICO score. (FICO is an acronym
for Fair Isaac Credit Organization) If you have several credit
card accounts but are only using a few of them, you'll raise
your balance-to-limit ratio if you close the unused ones.
Pay off debt rather than moving debt to other places. The ratio
of your credit card balance versus your credit limit is the key,
so, closing out an account and transferring the balance
someplace else simply means you increase that ratio, which is
more than likely to lower your score.
Example: You owe a total of $1000 on four credit cards, each of
which has a $1,000 limit. Your total credit limit is $4,000, of
which your total balance ($1,000) accounts for 25 percent. If
you transfer all your balances to two cards and cancel the other
two, your total credit limit is reduced to $2,000, and your
$1,000 balance now accounts for 50 percent of that limit.
Reduce your credit card balances. A heavily weighed factor in
your FICO score is how much money you owe on your credit cards
relative to your total credit limit. Generally, it's good to
keep your balances at or below 25 percent of your credit card
limit, said Jeanne Kelly, founder of The Kelly Group in
Brookfield, Conn., which helps clients improve their credit
scores.
Examine your billing statements for errors. This is a commonly
overlooked place to reduce debt. Companies do make mistakes.
This includes examining all of your bills, not just your credit
card bills. Jennifer Tarzian wrote more about this at
http://www.youngparentsmagazine.com You'd be surprised at how
much money you recover due to correcting common billing mistakes.
Correct blatant mistakes in your credit report. Your credit
score is only as good as what shows up in your credit report.
Review your reports from all three credit bureaus for accuracy
once a year as well as several months before applying for a
loan. Changing a mistake on your report - such as a payment that
is wrongly labeled as late -- can take 30 days to three months,
sometimes longer. The way to obtain your credit score and report
is listed above in this article.
Healthy credit is important in today's day and age. More
information sharing between companies has been made easier due
to new technology, so any blemishes on your credit will be known
by all credit reporting agencies almost immediately. Keeping up
with your credit score and taking steps to improve you credit
score is essential, so take the time.
About the author:
For more information about how to obtain credit cards, get
credit reports, reduce credit card debt, or prevent Identity
Theft, go to http://creditcards.youngparentsmagazine.com
Jennifer Tarzian also has a lot of information at
http://www.youngparentsmagazine.com for young parents. Chris
McElroy has been an advocate for consumer rights on the Internet
since 1995 and also runs a missing children's organization at
http://www.kidsearchnetwork.org
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| Credit Reports - Credit Cards - Car Loans - Home Loans - Credit.com |
| Credit.com offers a variety of credit related products and services including credit reports and credit scores, credit cards, car loans, home loan and ... |
| www.credit.com |
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| Equifax Personal Solutions: Credit Reports, Credit Scores ... |
| National consumer credit reporting company that offers credit reports, FICO(R) credit scores and identity theft protection products to consumers and small ... |
| www.equifax.com |
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| The FTC's web site on Credit |
| Credit is much more than a piece of plastic, and the resources on this site can help you become a more savvy consumer. You’ll also find compliance ... |
| www.ftc.gov |
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| Federal Trade Commission - Consumer Credit Center |
| Features an assortment of helpful articles related to credit issues. |
| www.ftc.gov |
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| AnnualCreditReport |
| Site set up by the big three credit reporting agencies in the United States, to furnish free annual credit reports, as required by federal law. |
| www.annualcreditreport.com |
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| Springboard - Non-Profit Consumer Credit Management |
| Our mission is simple: To offer education on the wise use of credit. ... SPRINGBOARD has been approved to provide credit counseling services and issue ... |
| www.credit.org |
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| myFICO - FICO Credit Scores, Online Credit Reports and Identity ... |
| myFICO.com: Get your Free credit report and Free credit score with a 30-day trial of Score Watch. All three FICO Scores and Credit Reports Available now ... |
| www.myfico.com |
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| Credit Suisse Global |
| Credit Suisse Group is an international financial services group. - Shares part of SMI. |
| www.credit-suisse.com |
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| Experian: Free Credit Report and Credit Score, Credit Check ... |
| Credit referencing and consumer targeting for the USA and other countries. |
| www.experian.com |
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| National Credit Union Administration - Home Page |
| An independent federal agency that supervises and insures 7152 federal credit unions and insures 4240 state-chartered credit unions. |
| www.ncua.gov |
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| Credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Debits and Credits, a type of bookkeeping entry; Credit (creative arts), acknowledging the ideas or ... Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit" ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Credit (finance) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Any movement of financial capital is normally quite dependent on credit, ... Sometimes if a person has financial instability or difficulty, credit is not ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| The National Foundation for Credit Counseling |
| DebtAdvice.org is a service provided by the Members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), most of them known as Consumer Credit ... |
| www.nfcc.org |
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| FreeCreditReport.com | Free Credit Report and Credit Score Online ... |
| FreeCreditReport.com: Free credit reports and credit scores from Experian. Get your free credit report and credit score now. It's free, fast, and easy! |
| www.freecreditreport.com |
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| Compare credit cards | apply for a credit card | 0% balance ... |
| Compare over 300 credit cards, including 0% offers and balance transfers, and make a credit card application online... |
| www.moneysupermarket.com |
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| Ford Credit - Auto financing for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars ... |
| Ford Credit provides auto financing to finance a lease or purchase a car or truck through Ford, Lincoln or Mercury dealerships. |
| www.fordcredit.com |
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| The Credit Card Prank |
| In my lifetime, I have made nearly 15000 credit card transactions. ... Credit card signatures are a useless mechanism designed to make you feel safe, ... |
| www.zug.com |
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| Credit magazine, corporate bonds, derivatives, structured credit ... |
| Credit magazine provides information on the international credit markets for credit investors, issuers and market professionals. |
| www.creditmag.com |
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| CUNA: The Credit Union National Association |
| News and resource directory about credit unions. |
| www.cuna.org |
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| Credit/Debt Management - Tools and Advice for Managing Credit and Debt |
| Drowning in debt? Trying to improve your credit score? This is the place for you. Get real world information and tips, as well as the legal low down, ... |
| credit.about.com |
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