The Six Worst Things For Your Credit Report

I found this article to provide information on credit repair, and I'd like to share it with you all.

By LaToya Irby,

It's easy to make mistakes when it comes to your credit. Some mistakes are so detrimental; you'd never want to appear on your credit report. Since future creditors and lenders use your credit report to make decisions about you, there are some things you'd never want to show up on your report.

1. Charge-offs
Missing your payments for 6 months or more could cause your creditors to deem your account as uncollectible. When this happens, the creditor writes off the account and updates your credit report as "charged-off" or "written off and uncollectible." Charged-off accounts remain on your credit report for seven years.

2. Debt collections
Not only will creditors charge-off your account after a period of non-payment, they may also hire a third-party debt collector to attempt to collect payment from you. Your credit report may or may not be updated to reflect a collection status. Sometimes the debt collector places an entry on your credit report or the original creditor places a note on your report indicating the account is in collection status.

3. Bankruptcy
Filing bankruptcy allows you to legally remove liability for some or all of your debts, depending on the type of bankruptcy you file. Your credit report will reflect each of the accounts you included in your bankruptcy. Even though the bankruptcy information will remain on your credit report for seven to 10 years, you can sometimes begin rebuilding your credit soon after your debts have been discharged.

4. Foreclosure
If you default on your mortgage loan, your lender will repossess your home and auction it off to recover the amount of the mortgage. This process is known as foreclosure. When your home is foreclosed it can severely damage your credit, limiting your ability to obtain new credit in the future. A foreclosure will remain on your credit report for seven years.

5. Tax liens
When you don't pay property taxes on your home or another piece of property, the government can seize the property and auction it off for the unpaid taxes. Even if your home is foreclosed because of a tax lien, you are still responsible for the mortgage loan. Non-payment of the mortgage will also hurt your credit. Unpaid tax liens remain on your credit report for 15 years, while paid tax liens remain for 10.

6. Lawsuits or judgments
Some creditors may take you to court and sue you for a debt, if other collections fail. If the lawsuit is accurate and a judgment is entered against you, it will remain on your credit report for 7 years from the date of filing, even after you satisfy the judgment.

10 Credit Repair Mistakes

Things You Shouldn't Do To Repair Your Credit
By LaToya Irby, About.com Guide

If you’re thinking about repairing your credit, or even if you’re going through the process now, there are some things you shouldn’t do. Here are 10 credit repair mistakes you want to avoid.

1. Not repairing your credit at all.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of all is putting off credit repair indefinitely. Even though most negative information will fall off your credit report after seven years, that’s a long time to live with bad credit.

2. Disputing everything on your credit report.
This is a tactic often used by credit repair companies. There are two problems with trying to repair your credit this way. First, it’s not believable. If you dispute too many items, the credit bureaus could dismiss your dispute as frivolous. Second, you don’t want everything taken off your credit report. Some positive accounts are actually helping your credit rating and disputing them could cause your credit score to drop.

3. Hiring a credit repair company.
Credit repair companies don’t have a reputation for good results. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has been quoted as saying it’s never seen a legitimate credit repair company. Credit repair companies often make lofty promises that they can’t legally fulfill. In the end, you’re better off saving your money and doing it yourself.

4. Canceling credit card accounts.
A lot of people don’t realize that closing a credit card can be bad for your credit score, especially if it’s a credit card with a balance or one of your older credit cards. You’ll never improve your credit score by closing a credit card, so think twice about canceling one.

5. Playing the balance transfer game.
Transferring credit card balances to avoid making a payment is only postponing the inevitable. This tactic will only take you so far. Considering the balance transfer fees that are added to your balance each time you transfer it, the amount you owe continues to grow rather than shrink.

6. Cutting up your credit cards.
A lot of people who go through a period of bad credit swear off credit cards. But, without them you could have difficulty getting new loans or other types of credit. Not only that, using a credit card the right way will help rebuild your credit as you go through the repair process.

7. Missing some credit card payments in lieu of others.
Prioritizing payments is smart. Skipping some payments for others is not. If you want your credit to improve, you should not miss payments. Your credit will continue to get worse instead of better. The only exceptions are accounts that have already been charged off or have gone to collections. If you have to choose between paying a collection account or paying an account that’s current, pick the account that’s current.

8. Sending letters without certified mail.
When you send letters to credit bureaus, collection agencies, lenders, and creditors, you should always send via certified mail with return receipt requested. That gives you proof that your letter has been sent and whether it’s been received.

9. Not checking your credit report.
Before you ever begin repairing your credit, you should check your credit report. Your credit report will help you figure out what items you need to focus on to improve your credit. Without a copy of your credit report, you’ll have a hard time figuring out where to start repairing your credit.

10. Filing bankruptcy.
You should not use bankruptcy as a credit repair tactic. Bankruptcy will not improve your credit and in some cases, your credit can get worse after filing bankruptcy. Since bankruptcy remains on your credit report for 7 - 10 years, you’ll continue having trouble getting credit cards and loans. Most lenders ask if you’ve ever filed bankruptcy, so even after bankruptcy falls off your credit report, it can still keep you from getting a loan.

Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

by: Janna Weiss

 Credit scores are more important than ever now that lenders have tightened their purse-strings. Experts see signs of improvement on the horizon, but there are plenty of dark days yet ahead. Until the credit crunch eases, you should do everything you can to make sure your credit score will qualify you for the purchases you want to make. Here are three fast ways to improve your credit score, legally and legitimately.

First, the bad news: your credit score will not improve by leaps and bounds overnight. If you have bumps and bruises on your credit history, it will take months or even years to make them go away entirely. Now, the good news: there are steps you can take today that will prevent further damage to your score and make lenders look at your credit applications more favorably.

Become an Authorized User

It’s the old Catch-22 we’ve all experienced: You need credit to get credit. So where does that leave young adults who are trying to build their credit for the first time? Credit prospects can be bleak unless you have a family member who is willing to add you to their credit card accounts as an authorized user. If you can get added, you will reap the benefits of the account holder’s good credit history. (Just be sure that there is a good credit history to be had, because you’ll also face the disadvantages of the account holder’s bad credit history.) This arrangement, called “piggybacking”, has helped many young people establish their credit. Note that FICO’s new credit scoring model still recognizes piggybacking between relatives, but strangers who try it will get little to no reward.

Check Your Credit Report – Seriously

We all know that it’s important to check credit reports when you want to qualify for credit, but you also need to check yours regularly for fraudulent or erroneous charges. The vast majority (79%!) of credit reports contain errors. You don’t want to miss out on a new house or car just because the credit reporting agency made a mistake. Also, by checking your report on a regular basis, you can see which lines of credit have been opened in your name, giving you a chance to stop identity theft early while the damages are still minimal. You can get a free copy of your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. The FTC web site contains information about disputing items on your credit report.

How to Find Attractive Commercial Real Estate For Sale Using The Internet

As a new Professional Commercial Real Estate Property Scout, one of the first things people learn is how to find promising properties which could be attractive investments.  There are several different approaches, but today let’s just discuss one of the most popular.

How to Find Promising Properties Using the Internet

One of the best, quickest and easiest ways is to find commercial real estate for sale is using the power of the Internet. The reason most professional Property Scouts love this approach is they can do anytime, it’s low cost, and best of all, they can search for properties around the country without leaving the comforts of home.

What’s great is commercial real estate agents and brokers are starting to become very computer savvy and beginning to list their properties they have under contract online. Usually they upload pictures, descriptions, characteristics data and other relevant information into massive real estate listing databases.

Right now, there are millions of properties online.  Most are segregated into the following categories:


1.    Multi-Family (Condominiums and Apartment Complexes)

2.    Office Complexes

3.    Retail Properties

4.    Mobile Home and RV Parks

5.    Mixed Use Buildings and Warehouses

6.    Raw Land That Can Be Developed


The key to finding properties is knowing where to look.  And by far the easiest place and most success-certain place to look is commercial real estate listing database websites.While there are hundreds, if not thousands of these websites on the Internet, one of the most popular is one called http://loopnet.com.  Another popular one is called http://www.costar.com/.

These websites are probably the biggest, containing literally millions of properties to search through.  They have free services and they also have premium services.  Most property Scouts who are serious sign-up for the premium services.

Why?

Because one of the services you get is to be able to specific the criteria you are looking for and then as new properties are uploaded that meet that criteria, the website will alert you via email.  This especially attractive especially when you are very discriminating and have a particular profile of the type and attributes of the property you want.

You can get very detailed in your profiles also. For instance, it’s easy to search for raw land in a particular geographic area with specific qualities, with specific owner attributes, and special financing terms.  The  Property Scouts of Maverick Real Estate Investments, Inc. are trained in detail in which properties yield the most profit and which are not so attractive.

The key is to have a crystal clear profile of the type of property you want.  The more general you are the more properties will “pop up”, but one doesn’t have the time to search through hundreds or thousands of properties one by one.  

You want to be discriminating. You want to think quality instead of quantity.Once you know and understand your property profile, and once you have learned to navigational basics inside a specific website, then you can start to fully exploit all it’s features and functionality.  For instance, it pays dividends to learn how to use advanced search functions, like using descriptive keywords to find the properties you want.

Let’s say you may want look for properties in the path of progress.  One of the most certain indicators of this is having a Walmart in the area.  So you could search for “Wal-Mart” in the notes associated with a properties being searched.  Usually a smart broker will be thoughtful enough to put that in the description or notes regarding a property for sale.

Some website have lots of functions and other have rather minimal unctions.  Usually, if a Property Scout values their time, they’ll take the time to learn a specific listing website and ALL it’s functions and stick with it.  In other words, they try to become an expert within a certain website, so that they can be efficient and not let potential opportunity slip through their fingers.

The bottomline is searching the Internet for promising commercial properties is kind of like using Internet search engines.  One doesn’t have time to search through millions of them.  You want to find the ones that are most relevant to what you are searching for.

The same thing applies to finding promising commercial real estate on the Internet.

To find out more about Commercial Real Estate investing, Maverick Real Estate Investments, Inc., or the Property Scout profession, Click Here

Credit Myths

COMMON CREDIT SCORE MYTHS

A lot of credit score myths about fico score ratings get spread around and some of them are just outdated information. Sometimes even lenders can give you the wrong advice and it can get confusing. But the bottom line is bad information can cost you money no matter who you get it from.

Fico score ratings are used for most mortgage lending, which means, you need to know what will hurt or help your credit score points. To make it clear, here are some of the most common credit score myths.

Checking your credit report will hurt your credit score

Checking your own credit report and credit score counts as a soft inquiry and does not go against your score. However, if anyone else like a lender or credit card company is checking your credit report, this is considered a hard inquiry and will generally knock off about 5 credit score points.

The credit score rating system treats multiple inquiries in a 14-day period as just one inquiry. The system ignores all inquiries made within 30 days prior to the day the credit score is computed. So if you want to minimize the damage from credit inquiries, shop for a loan in that short period of time.

Closing old accounts will improve your credit report score

Sometimes even lenders will tell you to close your old and inactive accounts as a way for improving your credit report score. In most cases, closing old accounts will actually have the opposite effect with the current credit score rating system.

Canceling old credit accounts can actually lower your credit score because it makes your credit history appear shorter. If you want to reduce your levels of available credit, it's better to reduce or close new accounts instead. Applying for new credit is more likely to lower your score.

You need to check more than just FICO score rating

If you ever hear this from anyone, consider it a red flag. All of the three major credit reporting bureaus offer FICO credit score ratings using the formula developed by Fair, Isaac. Even though each one gives the scores a different name you only need a fico score rating from the three major credit reporting bureaus.

At Equifax, the FICO score rating is called the Beacon credit score. At TransUnion, it’s called Empirica. At Experian, it's known as the Experian/Fair, Isaac Risk Model.

The reason each of the three major credit reporting bureaus will have three different scores is because they don’t all share the same data. So when checking your credit report, just make sure it comes from the three major credit reporting bureaus: Experian, Trans Union and Equifax.

Examine your credit reports from all three major credit reporting bureaus before you apply for a big loan like a mortgage. Fix any errors in all three reports before you shop for a loan because it takes time to correct your credit report.

Credit counseling will hurt your score

The current FICO credit score rating system ignores any reference to credit counseling that may be in your file. The researchers at Fair, Isaac, the company that created the FICO credit scoring rating system, found that people getting credit counseling didn’t default on their debts any more often than anyone else.

However, any late payments you've had with creditors will hurt your credit score. Credit counseling can hurt your ability to get a loan because you probably have had trouble paying creditors.

Some lenders will back away if you are in credit counseling. Others may see it differently, but usually will charge you higher interest rates than if you had perfect credit.

The best way to improve your credit report score is paying your bills on time and paying down credit card debt. Check your credit report regularly for any errors and make sure you don't fall for these common credit score myths.

Copyright © 2005 Credit Repair Facts.com All Rights Reserved

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Gresham

What Is The Difference with Credit Scores

I would like to take the opportunity to provide you the difference between FICO verses FAKO.  The term Credit Score is a generic terminology that is used to refer to the numeric value given to your credit history. Basically your credit score is calculated based on information contained in a credit report. 

There are a few companies that sell credit scores. Each of the credit bureaus has their own version of the credit score. Equifax has PLUS, Experian has BEACON, TransUnion has EMPIRICA.

However, there is a new score called Vantage Score that has been developed by the three bureaus that also looks at non-traditional forms of debt, such as apartment rentals, leases, and utility payments. 

How Does This Effect FICO Scores? 

Unlike FICO’s traditional 300 to 850 scale, the VantageScore goes from 501 to 990, as reported by TransUnion:

A: 901–990

B: 801–900

C: 701–800

D: 601–700

F: 501–600

A person's VantageScore might not be exactly the same from each credit bureau, since the data each credit bureau collects could still vary. However, in theory, the VantageScore should be more consistent across all three credit bureaus, since the same calculation formula is used across the board. Here is the breakdown of VantageScore.

VantageScore Calculation Categories

Category	Description	Weight
Payment History	how timely and consistent your payments are	32%
Credit Utilization	debt-to-credit ratios and how much credit is available	23%
Credit Balances	what your total debt is; most likely, delinquent debt is counted more harshly than current debt	15%
Depth of Credit	length of credit history	13%
Recent Credit	how recent and many new hard inquiries and new accounts there are	10%
Available Credit	how much credit can be accessed, for example, could you spend $50,000 of credit tonight or within the next week	7%

It’s important to know the difference with your credit scores and report. 

Your credit report is a tickler file of your past financial behavior. mostly showing how you deal with debt. If you’ve have a  bankruptcy, short-sale, or had a foreclosure in your past, all of this will be recorded in your credit report. There are credit bureaus, agencies and independent companies that collect all this credit information into one convenient 3 digit number via an algorithm, resulting in a credit score. With credit scores, things are not as cut and dry as they are with your credit reports, since you can obtain different versions of these numbers from a variety of places, the most well known and widely used by banks and lenders is the FICO score, but other alternatives also exist, called “FAKO”) scores. 

Why is there different types of scoring? 

There’s a licensing cost to use FICO, which has prompted some financial companies that need to buy and use scores, to opt for the more cost effective solution of developing or resorting to proprietary scoring models. Many financial companies are high volume users of such scores, since they evaluate risk levels for lots of accounts. This chance to grab a piece of the credit score market has encouraged reporting agencies to develop and offer their own scoring system to the public. 

You may end up applying for a loan based on the “wrong” credit score (one that your lending is not using - a FAKO score). I’ve heard about people ending up with expensive loans than they bargained for, because they were relying on numbers that were different from those used by their lenders. So before paying to see your score, make sure you know what it is you’re picking up. Ask your lender or bank what they’re using: is it a FICO or a Vantage score that they’re basing their evaluations on? Better yet, some banks may be willing to share your credit information with you for free, so it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Here is a good online article to read. Click Here

Will a Foreclosure or Short Sale effect my Credit Scores?

Reporting is up to the lender, but generally, a short sale is going to cause about the same amount of damage to your credit report and FICO score as a foreclosure.

Effects on your credit report

There is no doubt that you will have much more damage to your credit report with a foreclosure than with a short sales. It will also take much longer to repair and restore your score once your financial difficulties are resolved.

For a Foreclosure

Expect about the same things to take place. Quite often this means a loss of between 200-280 points on your FICO score. A pre-foreclosure FICO of 675 could drop to as low as 395, essentially eliminating you from future credit approvals. It may be as long as three years before you can qualify for another home loan.

For a Short Sale

Expect to have some credit score damage, but nowhere near as much. Loss of FICO points will be around 75-125 and your report will show it listed as a ‘pre-foreclosure in redemption’ which is far less negative. You will most probably be able to secure a new home loan in about a year and a half.

It would be a good idea to consult with a lawyer, tax accountant (CPA) or a good professional real estate agent who is experienced with short sales. So don’t consider doing this alone. Get the help you need.

What I Look For In A Credit Card Company

Credit repair really does work, but it's not magic and doesn't happen over night. With the current economy thousands of folks out of work and unable to pay the bills, credit repair is needed.

When you're looking for a credit repair company you will need to find one with a full, knowledgeable customer service department that has live representatives you can actually talk to.

Look for a company that is established. So many companies come and go, giving the other a bad name.

Choose a company that stays in contact with the client on a regular basis. The most important part of credit repair is monitoring the flow of credit reports being sent in by the client. Some credit repair companies will take the client's money and not follow up. A good credit repair company will have a system or agent that will notify the client of any past due reports or any personal information needed. Find a company that follows this closely.

An active owner is imperative to a successful credit repair company. Find a company that has an owner that you can talk to personally if you have concerns. And last but not least find a company that is licensed and bonded in all 50 states.

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Tell Me About The New Credit Card Laws

In the last couple of weeks, I've had friends, family and clients ask me about the new credit card laws and what I thought about it. My response was-------------. Being in the business of credit repair and restoration, I should have been up to date with all of this stuff, without fail I did some research and some online reading. So, for you folks interested in what's new with the Credit Card Law, here it is.

Most of the major reforms of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act that President Obama signed into law last May of last year, does give consumers added protections.

Here's a look at the key changes:

1. Billing practices

Payments will be due at the same time each month, with notification of the bill made at least 21 days in advance of its due date. Payments will be applied to highest interest-rate balances first so that customers can pay off their balances quicker and more cheaply. Finally, credit-card companies will use simple and plain english on all their documentation/materials/statements that are related to the account and periodically show how long it would take consumers to pay off their existing balance and interest charges if they paid only the minimum due.

2. Interest-rate reform

All interest-rate increases on outstanding balances will be prohibited and card companies must notify the credit card holder 45 days in advance of an interest-rate increase hike. Moreover, there cannot be any interest rate increases for the first year any account is open.

3. Overdraft and over-limit protections

Credit Card holders now will to opt-in to a overdraft program instead of being automatically enrolled - at least the customers now have an option. Well, at my bank, I was asked if I wanted to participate in the overdraft program for a fee. With this new opt-in feature, if you try to make a purchase that exceeds your limit or overdrawn debit account, your card will simply be DECLINED- Yes, you will be declined and embarrassed. Under the old rules, the transaction could go through and the consumer would have to pay a fine. This option works to your advantage to avoid any derogatory records on your Credit Score.

4. Protections for the Young folks

Those under 21 will have to prove that they can pay off their card limits or have a cosigner before they can be granted a card.

Caution: For those parents who want to co-sign, I would not recommend doing this. Let me explain, if you as a parent fail to make a monthly payment, and visa-versa, you are both jeopardizing your credit scores.

THE REAL TRUTH IS

Credit card companies seeing the law coming into effect, have already cut credit limits, closed accounts, and increased rates in anticipation of the changes. When the laws go into effect this will be much harder to do. So basically the new law having a preset start date has given the credit card companies the room to pre load the risk. So we can only wait and see what happens......

Guide To Credit Card ACT 2009

Low Interest Credit Cards