Saturday, May 3, 2008

Improve your credit score before it's too late

Improve your credit score before it's too late
Your credit score is everything these days. Maybe you are
just one of those individuals that would rather not know
what is on your credit report. Let's assume you just got
laid off, and now you have to find a job. Guess what
employers are doing now, they are pulling your credit
report to determine your risk. Typically people with good
credit are not going to steal; they seem to have their life
in order, etc......according to corporate companies. So if
you have had some bumps and bruises on your credit report
this is the time to get a recent copy of your free credit
score report and start working on your credit. Here are
some pointers on what is needed to increase your FICO score.

Secured Credit Cards
If you don't have any credit and your current credit report
is littered with collections and charge offs, you will need
to establish new credit. Yes I know credit cards are evil,
but they are a necessary evil these days. I would recommend
getting some secured credit cards with Orchard Bank. They
are a credit card bank with low fees, and typically require
a $200.00 deposit into there account to secure the card.
This process will get some good revolving credit reporting
to all 3 credit bureaus on your behalf. Typically you need
a couple of credit cards reporting. So go a head and get a
few different secured credit cards. Since authorized user
accounts don't help anymore, secured credit cards are the
quickest and most reliable way to get your credit
established or re-established.

Collections Accounts
There is a common misconception that collection accounts
can be removed even though you owe them money. A collection
account will not go away until the account is set to
expire, which is 7 years from the collection date. That is
a long time to wait for something to disappear on your
credit report. The fastest way to get your scores up with
collections is to pay off the newest collections first. I
guarantee you once the account is updated from a balanced
being owed to "paid in full" or settled, your scores will
go up. Once you pay off the collections make sure you get
letters from the collection companies stating what was
done, either paid in full or settled on. After about 60
days re-pull a copy of your credit report with scores and
make sure they updated with the credit bureaus.

Quick Credit Fixes
Folks there are no quick fixes to credit repair, Fair Isaac
shows that in their FICO® score model that time is also
part of the credit scoring recipe. Yes there are some
tricks I know that will get your credit sores up, but time
is also a factor as well. The main key is to make sure you
don't have late payments while you are doing this entire
process, make sure nothing goes to collection. The banking
industry will never be same again because of the amount of
mortgage foreclosures. I guarantee you the lending industry
is tightening so much currently that families with good
credit could have problems getting loans. So make sure it's
not too late, if you are getting ready to make a big
purchase like a new home for the family, make sure your
credit is in line with today's times. One thing I know for
sure, and that is the lending institutions are going to get
even tougher. So instead of getting told NO, get told YES.


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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, Internet identity theft
software, secure credit cards, 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.

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