How To Establish Credit With Credit Cards, If You're Not Paris Hilton

How To Establish Credit With Credit Cards, If You're Not Paris Hilton
Okay, so you just turned 18, and you want to buy a new car.
You go down to the new car dealership, pick out that shiny
new vehicle, fill out an application for credit, and they
tell you, "I'm sorry, but you have no credit history".
Unless you are Paris Hilton, and your father gives you
about 20 million dollars on your 18th birthday, then you're
going to have to establish your credit the hard way: on
your own. So how do you establish credit when you have no
credit? The answer: credit cards. Credit cards are the
easiest and simplest way, for anyone to establish credit if
they have none.

What you need to do first, is start applying for gas credit
cards. It is extremely easy to get approved for a gas
credit card. Gas credit cards usually have very low credit
limits, and this is why it is easier to get approved for
one of them. Once you get approved for one or two of these
gas credit cards, then use them, and pay off the balances
on time for several months. This will start the process of
establishing good credit.

Next, apply for a department store credit card, these are
the second easiest credit cards that give approval to those
individuals with little or no credit. Once again, charge
items, and then pay the balances on time for several
months. If you don't charge items on the department store
credit cards, then you're not really establishing a good
payment history. So don't be afraid to use them. Just be
sure you don't get crazy and come home with an $8,000.00
flat screen television set, on your first purchase.
Proceed slowly and with caution. Remember Rome wasn't
built in a day, and neither is establishing good credit.
One of the most common mistakes that young adults make, is
to charge up too much credit debt, too fast. Don't get
stuck into a credit card quagmire. Only charge what you
can afford..

Now that you have established a little credit, it is now
time to go for the major credit card. You can start by
applying for one major credit card. This is only
recommended if you have a steady income, and if you have
been charging and paying off your department store and gas
credit cards on time. Don't apply for multiple major
credit cards, because this makes you look desperate.
Applying for multiple credit cards at one time, is a major
red flag to the major credit card companies, which tend to
view multiple credit card inquiries on your credit report,
as a sign that you are in financial trouble. Try to go for
a low credit card limit amount. Some credit card companies
offer no-limit credit cards for an annual fee, but you're
not ready for those cards yet, as they require a
substantial income and an excellent credit history. If at
all possible, try to get a major credit card with very low
interest and no annual fee. Charge items on this credit
card and then pay the balance off, on time, for several
months. Again, remember no $8,000.00 flat screen
televisions yet.

After say a year or so, of paying the gas, credit, and
major credit cards off on time, you will probably be
flooded with pre-approved credit card applications in your
mail box. Just remember never to get over-extended. Apply
for one credit card every six months to one year. It is
crucial to keep in mind that your credit follows you
wherever you go, so if you establish good credit, then you
will be opening doors to great possibilities, however, bad
credit, will close doors to great possibilities.

Once you have established good credit, then always remember
to pay your payments on time. Hopefully, one day in the
future, you will be able to drive to the store in your
brand new car, just like Paris Hilton, and buy that
$8000.00 flat screen television set, with no help from your
rich father, and all thanks to credit cards.

----------------------------------------------------
Bryan Pringle, Ph.D., has written many articles on the
credit industry, and is the webmaster of websites offering
news and information regarding credit cards. For more
information, please visit:
http://www.apply-forcreditcards-online.com

Credit Score Mythology

Credit Score Mythology
There is so much information out there on improving your
credit score that it is hard to know what really works.
Because most people never take a class or fully understand
the credit system, a host of myths and misinformation has
developed regarding the subject. Some of these misnomers
may seem logical or possible, but really have no grounds
for proof. Sadly, much of this information is coming
directly from sources that should know what they are
talking about, such as bank representatives or mortgage
lenders. For this reason, it is important to be aware of
the basic credit score myths to keep from wasting your time
or even hurting your credit score.

Perhaps the most common piece of bad information that
people receive concerns their current accounts. If a broker
or other individual claims that closing accounts will
improve a credit score, they are completely flawed in their
logic. Yes, having too many open accounts will reflect
negatively on a credit score, but closing existing accounts
is another matter. Once the accounts have been opened, the
damage is done, and it is best to keep them open. Shutting
accounts can actually hurt your credit score. The amount of
credit available to an individual is one factor affecting
credit scores. When accounts are closed, the amount of
available credit shrinks, making account balances seem
larger by comparison. Paying down debt is an excellent
idea, but in the process, leave opened accounts open.

Many people believe that checking your FICO score can
actually hurt your credit. This is another common confusion
due to the fact that certain inquiries can hurt your credit
while others do not. Applying for new credit will often
hurt your score, but ordering a copy of your credit report
will not. Mass pre-approval inquiries also go unpunished.
When a credit score reduction is caused by an inquiry of
some kind, it will only change the score by 5 points or
less, so even in this event, this is not a huge factor in
your score.

Your ability to qualify for certain loans may be impacted
by the use of credit counseling, however, many people think
that credit counseling will scar your credit score in the
same way as bankruptcy. This is simply not the case. The
most current FICO formula actually ignores credit
counseling all together. This was a change that occurred
due to a research study conducted three years ago that
supports the fact that people using credit counseling did
not default on their debts any more than other people.
However, take note that using credit counseling might
impact your ability to qualify for certain loans.
Sometimes, counseling agencies make late payments to your
creditors or settle for lesser amounts, and these things
will show up on your score, but the use of credit
counseling in general will not negatively change your
credit score.

These myths are some of the most widely accepted misnomers
about the credit industry. Understanding their falsehood
will help you to manage your credit more knowledgably or
seek the right kind of help to repair your credit. If a
broker, counselor, lender, or agent tries to feed you one
of these myths, you might seriously consider how
knowledgeable they really are about everything else
involving your credit.

----------------------------------------------------
In todays society, it is important to know your credit
scores, and what is being reported on your credit report.
Go the nations leading website for free credit reports and
credit scores.http://www.my720fico.com

Real Estate Investors You Need To Know Your Neighborhoods

Real Estate Investors You Need To Know Your Neighborhoods
It Is True What They Say: Location, Location, Location! It
is such a trite old statement; But there is a reason why
sayings get old and trite. They are true!

As a new real estate investor beginning your investment
career you will have dozens of decisions to make and we
will be there to help you make the right ones and, while it
might cost money, it might cost time; you can correct most
of your missteps.

There is nothing in real estate as permanent as location.

So one of your first steps in your new career as a Real
Estate Investor is to learn everything you can about the
area or areas where you hope to invest.

If your initial goal is to "buy an investment property in
Cleveland" you have already bitten off more than you can
chew. Right now there are 16,853 homes for sale in
Cleveland with prices ranging from $1,500 to over $3
million.

Every Real Estate Investor must narrow his/her focus.

How much do you really know about Cleveland? Whatever it
is, it isn't enough. You might have lived on the shores of
Lake Erie your entire life, but how familiar are you with
the 99.9 percent of the city where you don't live?

You need a plan. Here's a small sample of what this might
entail.

1. Narrow your search to a few
2. Keep your eyes and ears open for any and all news about
your target location(s)
3. Take a Grand Tour
4. Record Your Findings

Narrow Your Search to a Few Pick three areas that strike
you as possibilities even if you don't have a real reason.
Perhaps one is a neighborhood that you find attractive;
another where a friend lives happily. Maybe the name sounds
romantic or stately or it is convenient to your own home or
office. This is not a final decision; a neighborhood you
used to love in childhood may have deteriorated badly in
the last few years or become so posh you can't possibly
afford it. Now you either have two neighborhoods left to
research or room to add another to your list.

Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open
This can be fun. Talk to everyone you know about your
neighborhood choices. Strike up conversations at work, at
PTA meetings, Home Depot, cocktail parties. Everyone loves
to give advice so ask for some: "I'm thinking about buying
a house in Cherrydale Village. Do you know anything about
that area?"

Take a Grand Tour
Even before you narrow your focus to a few neighborhoods
get in your car and meander through every area in your town
that seems even vaguely interesting. Once your two or three
target neighborhoods are identified, make it a point to
drive through each at different times of the day and night.

Record Your Findings
This needn't be anything fancy; it can be a few notes on a
yellow legal pad or an Excel spreadsheet, but unless you
memorialize what you have learned it will soon turn to mush
in your head. A data base will help to inform your property
decisions not only for your first house but for the 51st if
you keep it current.

This is your reference so put into it whatever information
will be most helpful to you. However, here is a condensed
outline to get you started.

• Neighborhood name
• Approximate boundaries or list of street names;
• Age of most buildings
• Number of houses for sale and the price range
• School info
• Amenities
• Access to shopping, schools, churches, parks.
• Public transportation,
• Noise levels
• Traffic levels
• Negative info (i.e. pending negative development,
crime.)
• Positive info (neighborhood ambience, increasing
investor interest.)

To keep it simple, rank those items that can not be
explained with a yes or a no on a five or a ten point scale.

----------------------------------------------------
Chris Parks is a Real Estate Investor who has been involved
in Real Estate in one capacity or another since the mid
1980s. As a member of a small group of Real Estate
Investors & Entrepreneurs, and always having the knack for
explaining Real Estate Basics in an easy to understand
manner, Chris created REI for Newbies in order to teach &
assist new Real Estate Investors in a step-by-step,
easy-to-understand manner. http://www.REIforNewbies.com

Things You Should Know About Home Mortgage Loan

Things You Should Know About Home Mortgage Loan
The term mortgage alone means the mortgage loan. Therefore,
home mortgage is the loan secured by the real property by
the use of the mortgage that is a legal instrument. The
necessity for mortgage arrives when the owner, seeks loan
against collateral that is security on investment.

How the Home Mortgage Loan works?

The mortgage loans are generally long-term loans and are
reimbursed in periodic payments, say for tenure of 30 to 40
years. The money is calculated according to the time value
of the money formulae. Over this period, the original loan
will be paid down through amortization. However, mortgage
loan involves some kind of risk. In case, the loan is not
repaid, then the lender has the power to foreclose or
recoup a part or all of the original cash and also the
financial and interest rate risk, under all circumstances.

Amortized loans are of two basic types - the fixed rate
mortgage (FRM) and the adjustable rate mortgage (ARM).

(1) Fixed Rate Mortgage - The periodic payment for the PRM
remains the same for the life of the loan. This means that
during the tenure of the fixed rate mortgage loan, the
principal and the interest rate should not change at all.
However, the ancillary cost, such as the insurance and the
property taxes can change with the course of time.

(2) Adjustable Rate Mortgage - In case of such type of
mortgage, the interest rate will remain fixed for a period
of time, but after that fixed period of time the rate will
automatically adjust up or down according to the market
index. The change of rate can take place monthly or
annually.

The Steps that Enable You To Find the Best Home Mortgage
Loan

First Step:

The home mortgage loans are of two types - the fixed rate
mortgage (FRM) or the adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). As
already hinted, the FRM interest and principal will remain
the same but, for ARM this can change. Hence, consider the
pros and cons of the both and then you can decide which
loan will be the best option for you.

Second Step:

Once you decide the home loan option, find the best lender.
For the same, browse the Internet and find the apt lender.
Remember, that lenders are many and therefore you have to
choose the one, who charges an affordable fee along with
the best interest rate.

Third Step:

After you have garnered information about a bunch of
lenders, it is important for you to compare the prices of
those lenders and make list of them according to your
priorities. Lastly, try to get approved by the lender.

Fourth Step:

Prior to sealing your signature on any loan paper, it is
important for you to check whether the company has a good
reputation in the home mortgage loan community. In
addition, check if the company from whom you are
contemplating to borrow money is authentic and for the same
you can log on to the Internet and make your search easier.

How to get good Loan, despite having a bad credit history

In case, you have a bad credit history and finding it
difficult to close a deal with the lender, then make sure
that your credit report excludes any information, which may
go against you. Hence, it is more advisable to create a
good credit history, so that you can have good home
mortgage loan from the best lender.

----------------------------------------------------
Debbie Groves is the webmaster of The Home Mortgage People
Inc. which is a premier resource for home mortgage
information. For more information, please visit:
http://www.thehomemortgagepeople.com

How To Obtain A Credit Card With Bad Credit

How To Obtain A Credit Card With Bad Credit
So you have bad credit. Maybe you’ve defaulted on
loans, defaulted on credit cards, or you might have
judgements against you or your property. Let’s say
you’ve defaulted on every debt that you have? Can
you still get an unsecured credit card? Yes, you can! Let
me tell you how.

There used to be a time, that once you’ve filed for
bankruptcy, or defaulted on a credit card, that you were
blacklisted from ever owning an unsecured credit card
again. Nowadays however, there is a plethora of credit
card companies that offer unsecured credit cards to
individuals with bad credit, or individuals who have filed
for bankruptcy.

Many credit card companies that offer unsecured credit
cards to individuals with bad credit, usually start out by
initially offering applicants higher annual fees and lower
credit card limits. Just about every major credit card
company offers an unsecured credit card for individuals
with bad credit. If you pay the credit card payments on
time for several months or years, then the credit card
limits are usually raised periodically. As long as you
keep paying the payments on time, the credit card limits
are raised.

Some credit card companies buy up unpaid, or defaulted on,
credit card debt. This debt is also known as a
“non-performing” loan in the banking industry.
These credit card companies will then go back to the
original credit card holder, who defaulted, and offer them
an opportunity to repay the old credit card debt. Usually,
these credit card companies will offer the debtor an
incentive for repaying the debt. This incentive is in the
form of issuing the debtor a new unsecured credit card.
This new credit card will have a balance with the limit of
the old debt.

The debtor will have an opportunity to repay the old debt,
for little or no interest, and will accumulate a new active
credit limit for every periodic amount that is paid on the
old debt. For example: for every $100.00, that is paid on
the old debt, the debtor will receive a $25.00 credit limit
increase on the new unsecured credit card. The terms of
repayment are usually very strict, however, it is an
excellent way to redeem one’s credit. In this way,
an individual will erase an old debt in which they
defaulted on, and establish a new line of credit.

Another way to obtain a credit card when you have bad
credit, is to apply for a secured credit card. A secured
credit card is a credit card that you actually pay the
amount that you wish to charge in advance. The credit card
limit is dependent on how much money the card holder
actually pays into the account. These cards usually have
an annual or monthly maintenance fee. Although this
doesn’t sound very beneficial at first, the payments,
if made on time periodically, actually do establish a
history of responsibility, and believe it or not, establish
good credit, over long periods of time, if the credit card
company reports to the credit bureau.

Applying for unsecured credit cards is an excellent way for
individuals with bad credit to purchase items through the
normal credit card billing systems found at retail stores
and on the internet. These credit cards can also be used
at ATM’s and at cash advance terminals. The best
attribute about unsecured credit cards, is that it is
almost impossible to be turned down, because your bad
credit history is irrelevant.

The truth is, that if you have bad credit, it doesn’t
mean that you can’t obtain a major credit card.

----------------------------------------------------
Bryan Pringle, Ph.D., has written many articles on the
credit industry, and is the webmaster of websites offering
news and information regarding credit cards. For more
information, please visit:
http://www.apply-forcreditcards-online.com

Lesson In The “Stagnant” Scenario vs. The “Down”

Lesson In The “Stagnant” Scenario vs. The “Down”
The “stagnant” scenario

When we apply the covered call strategy to the stagnant
stock scenario, we take a negative return scenario and turn
it into a positive scenario. Remember, when we sell an
option, we receive a premium for doing so.

When the stock does not move during the option’s
life, the extrinsic value of the option goes to zero. The
amount of money paid for the option goes to the seller.
We’ll take a look at how this sets up.

Let’s go back to our previous example with the stock
trading at exactly $9.50. We sell the front month,
at-the-money call, which would be the 10 strike call. We
sell the front month 10 strike calls at $.50. As time goes
by, there is less chance for the option to become
“in-the-money”. As this happens, the extrinsic
value lessens and finally, after Friday expiration, the
option is worthless.

The stock finishes at $10.00 and you have received no
capital appreciation but you have received the full $.50 of
extrinsic value from the option sale. If the studies are
correct and selling the premium works 80% of the time, then
you will collect approximately $4.00 per contract sold over
the course of the year.

As the examples demonstrate, writing covered calls against
a stagnant stock can provide you with an acceptable return
instead of frustration, wasted time and capital. The
“down” scenario

In the final scenario, where your stock purchase is headed
down into negative territory, the covered call strategy can
help minimize your losses. Although picking losers and
incurring losses is inescapable, it can be minimized and
controlled. Let’s take a look at how the buy-write
can help us do that.

For example, let’s say you bought a stock for $9.50
and at the end of the month the stock had traded down to
$8.50, you would have a $1.00 loss on our investment.

However, if you had sold the 10 strike calls for $.50, you
would only have a $.50 loss. You would have a $1.00 capital
loss in the stock, but a $.50 option gain from selling the
option, which would expire worthless.

If you were going to buy the stock anyway and incur a
possible loss, it is better to take a $.50 loss than a
$1.00 loss. In this down scenario, the option premium
received helped to offset the capital loss.

If the stock is down more than the amount you received for
selling the call, then the option premium serves as an
offset to the loss of the stock.

However, you can still make money in the “down
scenario” using the covered strategy if the stock is
only down a small amount. There is a scenario in the
buy-write strategy where you can profit from owning a stock
that is lower than where you bought it.

Going back to the previous example, you bought a stock for
$9.50 and you sold the front month 10 strike calls for
$.50. At expiration, the stock finishes down $.20 at $9.30
You would have incurred a $.20 loss on your stock.

However, with the stock at $9.30, the 10 strike call that
you sold for $.50 is now worthless. So, you have a $.20
loss on the stock and a $.50 gain from the option premium
sold. This leaves you with a gain of $.30 on a stock that
is down $.20 since the time you purchased it.

To recap: in our third scenario, the “down
scenario,” your loss will be offset by the option
premium you received so your loss will not be as severe.
You still may incur a loss, but it will be minimized, and
minimizing losses is a key to successful investing.

----------------------------------------------------
Brett Fogle is the president of Options University. Brett
and his veteran traders teach safe and effective options
trading strategies. Free strategies can be found at
http://www.optionsuniversity.com/blog

Real Estate Investing For Newbies - Intro To Note Brokering

Real Estate Investing For Newbies - Intro To Note Brokering
The concept of note brokering, or converting a stream of
payments, secured by a mortgage, to up-front cash can be
done with discounted notes.

The main reason why an owner of a property will sell with
owner financing is to earn more money on their money. The
most common reason is when a buyer can not qualify for
traditional financing. The benefit to the seller is that
they can often get a higher rate of return on his/her money.

Another option is that a seller can have a buyer qualify
for a traditional first mortgage on part of the sales
amount, and then offer to take back a second mortgage to
cover the balance. This often lets the seller get a higher
price for his property, while letting the buyer still
qualify for a mortgage.

If an owner sells a property with owner financing the owner
is basically considered the mortgage company. But what
happens if the seller who is holding a note and collecting
monthly payments from his buyer decides that he/she wants
to now use the money for something else, some other
investment or financial need, or simply decides that
collecting payments is not all that fun? Often times they
want to sell the note.

Some note-owners have no idea that they can get cash for
their note (discounted of course) or they do not know where
to start. As a note broker your job is to introduce note
buyers and note sellers and collect a fee for your service.

Popular ways to find those holding mortgages is to

1) Run a classified ad (in the Real Estate Services section
of your newspaper) looking for note holders or

2) Direct mail or

3) The World Wide Web.

Use the public records of recorded mortgages to find those
who are carrying a note. Since all mortgages and trust
deeds are filed in the county clerk's office this
information is available to the public. Next, where do you
find buyers for these notes? The same way actually; use
ads, direct mail, and the web.

Lastly, the internet has made research in general and this
whole process even easier now than ever before. You can
simply type note holder or note buyer or note broker into
your favorite search engine. Look through the results, read
and find out how each of their programs work. You can find
buyers, find sellers and of course make sure you know how
you (as the note broker) will get paid when you broker a
successful deal.

----------------------------------------------------
Chris Parks is a Real Estate Investor who has been involved
in Real Estate in one capacity or another since the mid
1980s. As a member of a small group of Real Estate
Investors & Entrepreneurs, and always having the knack for
explaining Real Estate Basics in an easy to understand
manner, Chris created REI for Newbies in order to teach &
assist new Real Estate Investors in a step-by-step,
easy-to-understand manner. http://www.REIforNewbies.com

Fixing Credit Report Errors.

Fixing Credit Report Errors.
After taking the first step of obtaining a free credit
score report, the next most common step to improving your
credit score is to correct any errors that might be
present. Strangely enough, errors do occur, and it is well
worth taking the time to dispel such inconsistencies. You
must carefully scrutinize the report in order to correct
things like account numbers, names, wrong information, as
well as items that are out of date. The last error type is
the most common mistake and when corrected can have an
important impact on your score.

There are guidelines that regulate how long certain kind of
information can be recorded in your credit score. For
example, most undesirable information that is over seven
years old may be removed. This includes lawsuits,
judgments, paid tax liens, accounts dispatched for
collection, records of criminal activity (other than
convictions), late payments, and even child support and
many other pieces of possibly adverse information. This is
great news for those that have blemishes on their credit
report from years ago. These things will not show up
forever. Even insolvencies that are older than ten years
can be dismissed from your score. Getting rid of this
outdated undesirable information can have an immediate
impact on your score, especially depending on the severity
of the problem.

It may seem silly, but it is just as important to check
things like your Social Security number, name, address,
phone number, and information concerning your occupation.
These mistakes might be outdated or simply entered
incorrectly. These errors actually do occur. In the same
way, errors also occur concerning your involvement with
certain accounts. It is possible that suits or credit
accounts that do not belong to you show up on your credit
report. This is also true of accounts that have been paid
in full. Sometimes these accounts may not have been updated
and still show an outstanding balance.

By filling out a request for reinvestigation form or
writing a letter, you can correct these errors that are
detrimental to your overall credit score. You should, as
carefully as possible, reference every inaccurate or
outdated piece of data that appears on your report as well
as describe why that information is incorrect. The
reporting agency will then investigate those items and
contact you within 30 days to notify you of any changes.
This process may also be expedited if you are trying to
qualify for a mortgage or car loan. This is known as a
rapid rescore.

Once you have rid your free credit score report of any
incorrect information, you can then begin to add positive
information. This might be through a new loan, a secured
credit card or simply making responsible payments on the
accounts you already have. By double-checking your credit
report for errors you might save yourself a great deal of
time in the task of recreating your credit merit.

----------------------------------------------------
It is very important to know what is on your Credit Report,
because there could be errors on it. In order to know, you
must pull a current copy of your Credit Report. Go to
http://www.my720fico.com to obtain a current copy.