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Archive for the ‘Credit Tips’ Category

Credit card statements frequently contain billing errors. As a consumer, it’s up to you to verify your expenses each month and notify your lender of any mistakes. When doing so, it’s important to follow the rules to be taken seriously and achieve speedy resolution.

Here are some common mistakes to watch for:

Items you returned and did not get credit for
Charges for items or services you never received
Charges incurred by an unauthorized party
A charge not clearly identified or lacking information
Simple mathematical errors
Lack of regular account statements.

You have the right to dispute any incorrect or unauthorized charges on your credit card bill. However, you must follow a formal process to lodge your complaint and seek resolution.

To formally report an error, you must first send a letter to your creditor, outlining your issue. Don’t just write an explanation on your statement and mail it back. A formal letter with your name, account number, brief explanation, and dollar amounts involved is required. If you have any supporting documentation, such as receipts, send copies of those as well.

Be sure to send your letter to the address specified for complaints, if there is one. Keep a copy of all materials you send out. You have 60 days from the date of an erroneous bill to dispute the charges.

When making your next payment, you can withhold the portion in dispute, including finance charges. But you must continue to make payments on the portion of your bill not in dispute.  Read more...

Credit card consolidation may save you a considerable amount of money, especially if you’re transferring the balances from high APR (annual percentage rate) credit cards to low APR credit cards, or better yet, one of the many credit cards that offer zero percentage APR for balance transfers.

There are five distinct reasons why credit card consolidation may very well be an excellent choice for you.

The first, as we just mentioned, is because your current credit card or cards are costing you far too much in annual fee or APR. It may be that the card you use for credit card consolidation may not offer a permanently low APR but rather a short term zero or low APR percentage for any transfer. Go for it! You can always do credit card consolidation, or just one bulk transfer to yet another card when the low introductory rate runs out on this newest one you’ve chosen.

Annual fees can be a strong incentive for credit card consolidation as well. These can add up, especially if you have several credit cards. While many cards have annual fees around $20 or $25 dollars, some can carry an annual fee as high as $250. Keep in mind, however, that doing credit card consolidation by transferring to a card that has no annual fee is only advantageous if you’re going to use that card for the year. If, however, you’re looking at a card whose introductory rate is six months, after which the APR skyrockets, that low or nonexistent annual rate is not going to be much help to you.  Read more...

Build a Solid Foundation

If you want to repair your credit you need to make sure your foundation is solid. There is little point in investing time or money in credit repair services if there is a likelihood of backsliding. One step forward and two steps back will never get you to your goal. One of the most powerful aides to credit repair is an intelligent, clever, and even entertaining budget. Did I say entertaining?

Financial Enlightenment

Solidify your foundation first and then start your credit repair. There are many amazing benefits to setting up a budget and none of them need to resemble an austerity program. The initial process of developing a budget can be entirely enlightening. It is a process of gathering, sorting, sifting, categorizing, and understanding the money you spend.

No More Fuzzy Understanding

Unless you are a credit repair veteran and have already gone through this routine it is not likely that you truly know about your financial life. True, it is your money, but it is likely that you do not see the whole picture. In fact, if you are like most people you live your life, spend the money you earn, or more, and have at best a fuzzy picture of where it all went.

Leave No Leaf Unturned  Read more...

Credit card has become part of life for most people. It’s common in today’s society that people like to buy things on credit. Buy things with installment scheme using credit card has nothing wrong unless it gets out of control and turn into a debt issue. In order to make sure you are at healthy credit level where your financial is capable to handle it, you must learn some tips for managing debt. Here are 5 things that you must do to manage your debt effectively:

1. Don’t Just Pay The Minimum Due

Are you paying the minimum payment of your credit card balances each month? The fact is many people are paying just the minimum amount required by the credit card agreement. If you also do that, you are at risk of turning your debt into an issue if you keep adding new debt in term of new purchases and the interest from the credit card balances. The best way to avoid from getting into debt issue is you must pay in full amount every time you receive your credit card statements. If can’t pay in full, don’t just pay the minimum, pay more.

2. Review Credit Card Statement In Details

 Read more...

Here’s how you can get great credit scores:

1. Know how to reach the three Credit Bureaus

There’s three credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. The three major credit bureaus are important especially if you are going to be fixing your credit score. The major three credit bureaus can assist you by sending you your credit scoring report and guiding you how to correct errors. You can contact these agencies by email, telephone, or through the web.

2. Smoking kills your credit score

Smoking kills and sometimes it can kill your credit sore. Lets say you get health insurance. Your insurance company may ask you questions about your health. One of the questions will be about whether you are a smoker. If you are a smoker, your premiums will be higher than people who don’t smoke. Paying higher premiums on health insurance means less money towards your other expenses.

3. Collection agencies, deal with it

Most collection agencies are good at what they do. Some are great. Deal with it. People in debt feel so ashamed of their low credit rating that they feel they deserve the abuse and harassment that they get from collection agencies. A low credit rating does not entitle collection agencies from harassment or abuse. If this occurs, report collection agencies immediately.

4. Three scores

There are three collection agencies so you have 3 scores. However, the top and bottom score are generally omitted from loan applications so the middle one represents your credit score.  Read more...