Ever pull your credit report and wonder what the difference between "Regular Inquiries" and "Promotional Inquiries" was? Have you been reading up on your favorite credit repair website and run across terms like "hard pull" or "soft pull"? All of these terms refer to instances in which a company or entity requests your credit file from one or more of the three major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). A soft pull, or promotional inquiry, is a credit request that does not affect your credit score in any way. Credit card companies, insurance agencies, and various other types of companies use these reports to determine whether or not to offer you some product or service they're trying to sell. A regular inquiry, otherwise known as a hard pull is an inquiry that will negatively impact your credit score and is the kind of credit request made by companies that you are either attempting to open a credit account with or perhaps a company that you already have credit with. These types of inquiries in excess can reduce your credit score.
FYI, you can "opt-out" of promotional inquiries if you so choose by navigating to http://www.optoutprescreen.com . By opting out, you disable the credit reporting agencies from selling your information to companies like the ones offering you bogus credit cards and car insurance. After opting out, only companies with permissible purpose can pull your credit. You may think that you'll miss out on some great offer, but in my experience, the credit accounts offered by most of these companies are less than desirable. When the time comes to open a new credit account or switch car insurance, you'll do the research and find better offers anyway (I know you will....you're smart...I can tell by lookin' at ya! ;-).
Also, for those of you that are beginning your journey toward credit repair, opting out is the very first step! Some companies use information found in your credit report to verify debts and negative information that resides in your credit report. Many of these companies do not have permissible right to attain your credit report if you opt-out leaving them in a much less favorable position. In other words, opting out makes it more difficult for creditors and/or collection agencies to verify negative information which in turn makes getting a deletion much more likely.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Credit Score Increase Guaranteed!
So your credit score is awful. All your creditors have closed your accounts and you can't get approved for anything that requires a credit check. Life is hard and it seems like there is no end in sight. It's tempting to forget that there is such a thing as credit worthiness, but your good credit becomes more important every day! You can't even get a decent job in this day and age without a reasonable credit score so you would be well advised to start focusing on improving that dismal credit rating right away!
The one thing that's great about a credit score is that its more a flow variable than it is a stock variable (my economics teacher would be so proud). My point with that statement is that your credit score reflects your credit worthiness right now. If you take steps to improve your credit worthiness, then you can start rebuilding your credit right now! The only thing worse than bad credit is no credit. That's why letting your bad credit lie dormant for lengthy periods of time will make it even harder to recover your score. The best way to improve that score is to begin (all over again!!!!) to establish a good payment history as soon as possible. There are many different options out there for people just like you and I that have less than desirable credit scores. A quick google search for "secured credit cards" will turn up most of those options, but since I have some recent experience I'll point out the two that I found to be best.
The secured card I chose was a Public Savings Bank secured card. I liked this card because there is only an initial setup fee and a $25 fee to increase (or decrease; although I have no idea why anyone would do this) your credit limit. There is no annual fee and your credit line is whatever amount you choose to deposit. This card overall is not a bad choice because when you've recovered your credit and you're ready to get a big boy credit card you can cancel the account and they'll send you back all the money you deposited (not including setup/credit line increase fees). Also, the company began reporting to the credit bureaus quickly and had a near immediate impact on my score. The downside, however, is that the bigger banks like Chase, Bank of America, or American Express don't know who in the world "Public Savings Bank" is and as such don't consider it to be very meaningful.
Another secured card that I recommended to a friend ended up being (in my opinion) a much better choice. That happens to be the secured card from Capital One. Since Capital One is a much more recognizable name, this card would be thought of more highly by other banks like the ones mentioned earlier. They too report your payment history regularly to all three bureaus and will have a quick impact on your credit score. One big reason that I think this card is better is that if you pay this card on time and never go over limit on this card for six months or so, they can and often do increase the limit without another deposit. To state this more clearly, if you deposit $400 and keep the account in good standing for long enough, they will often raise the limit an amount they see fit. Lets assume they increase it $200. Now your limit is $600 with only $400 being secured. If you maintain this account in good standing for a good while, they can and will convert it to an unsecured credit card like a traditional credit card that we're all familiar with. This would no doubt be looked upon much more favorably by the other banks and would (I think) result in a quicker recovery to your credit file. The downside with this card is that it does have annual fees. I really feel strongly though that the increased speed of effectiveness would overshadow the $39 annual fee plus you have the possibility of this card being converted into one without an annual fee.
So, in conclusion, don't quit! Your credit won't fix itself. The longer you wait to take steps in the right direction, the longer its going to be until your credit score is good enough to buy the car you've been wanting but couldn't get approved for or closing on the house of your dreams. Begin reestablishing your good payment history and start the process TODAY!
The one thing that's great about a credit score is that its more a flow variable than it is a stock variable (my economics teacher would be so proud). My point with that statement is that your credit score reflects your credit worthiness right now. If you take steps to improve your credit worthiness, then you can start rebuilding your credit right now! The only thing worse than bad credit is no credit. That's why letting your bad credit lie dormant for lengthy periods of time will make it even harder to recover your score. The best way to improve that score is to begin (all over again!!!!) to establish a good payment history as soon as possible. There are many different options out there for people just like you and I that have less than desirable credit scores. A quick google search for "secured credit cards" will turn up most of those options, but since I have some recent experience I'll point out the two that I found to be best.
The secured card I chose was a Public Savings Bank secured card. I liked this card because there is only an initial setup fee and a $25 fee to increase (or decrease; although I have no idea why anyone would do this) your credit limit. There is no annual fee and your credit line is whatever amount you choose to deposit. This card overall is not a bad choice because when you've recovered your credit and you're ready to get a big boy credit card you can cancel the account and they'll send you back all the money you deposited (not including setup/credit line increase fees). Also, the company began reporting to the credit bureaus quickly and had a near immediate impact on my score. The downside, however, is that the bigger banks like Chase, Bank of America, or American Express don't know who in the world "Public Savings Bank" is and as such don't consider it to be very meaningful.
Another secured card that I recommended to a friend ended up being (in my opinion) a much better choice. That happens to be the secured card from Capital One. Since Capital One is a much more recognizable name, this card would be thought of more highly by other banks like the ones mentioned earlier. They too report your payment history regularly to all three bureaus and will have a quick impact on your credit score. One big reason that I think this card is better is that if you pay this card on time and never go over limit on this card for six months or so, they can and often do increase the limit without another deposit. To state this more clearly, if you deposit $400 and keep the account in good standing for long enough, they will often raise the limit an amount they see fit. Lets assume they increase it $200. Now your limit is $600 with only $400 being secured. If you maintain this account in good standing for a good while, they can and will convert it to an unsecured credit card like a traditional credit card that we're all familiar with. This would no doubt be looked upon much more favorably by the other banks and would (I think) result in a quicker recovery to your credit file. The downside with this card is that it does have annual fees. I really feel strongly though that the increased speed of effectiveness would overshadow the $39 annual fee plus you have the possibility of this card being converted into one without an annual fee.
So, in conclusion, don't quit! Your credit won't fix itself. The longer you wait to take steps in the right direction, the longer its going to be until your credit score is good enough to buy the car you've been wanting but couldn't get approved for or closing on the house of your dreams. Begin reestablishing your good payment history and start the process TODAY!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Somebody hurry up and take this money before I pay a bill with it!!!
It's funny to me that even though my finances haven't been spectacular over the last year or so that I still managed to find a C-note to drop on my fantasy football league. I find that I'm very persuasive when I want to be. Especially when it comes to persuading myself! Seriously though, 1 in 12 odds at winning a thousand bucks aren't bad odds! LOL. OK....they're not that great either. But how bout if you factor in the fact that I won the Superbowl in two out of the three years our league has been in existence?! Still not sold eh? I sure was.
We're all pretty good at convincing ourselves that the thing we are so eager to buy is a necessity, even if deep down inside we know we don't really need it! I'd venture to say that most people that are struggling with bills spend money on things that they really shouldn't be spending it on. I know; I speak from experience!
At the beginning of my voyage from the rock bottom of the money pit, I realized that I was wasting a lot of money on needless items. I'd stop at the gas station for a coke and a snack spending four dollars where I could have had the same items from the grocery store with a little planning for half or less. I was paying over a hundred dollars a month on satellite television when I really only needed the thirty dollar package. I also subscribed to the highest speed internet service available (and most expensive) so that I could compete at the highest possible level in computer games I wasn't even taking the time to play (I know...I'm a computer nerd...story of my life). My point is, for most people out there, there are things that you spend your hard earned dollar on that you shouldn't, and I'm going to give you some tips about how to solve the problem so you can get those extra dollars flowing into your savings account instead of the 7-11 register.
First step to cutting back on unnecessary expenses is to identify them. It's hard to remember from day to day the items that you spend your money on. There are probably several different ways out there to track your expenses, but the easiest method that I'm aware of is with a checking account. A checking account offers a few benefits. First off, it enables you to track your purchases provided that you put all your money in the account and make all of your purchases either by check or debit card. In this day and age, your debit card can be used just about anywhere you need money which makes things a little easier. Second, your money is more secure in a bank than in your pocket/sock drawer. It's not cool when you lose your money and its even less cool when your sock drawer eats it like I ate fried turkey on Thanksgiving. Another plus is that putting your money in a checking account makes it less accessible. It's a lot easier to stop wasting money on nonsense when you can't pull a buck out of your pocket to pay for a candy bar. That said, step number one is get a free checking account and use it.
Using a checking account gives you a log of all of your purchases which is great, but another good idea is to link that checking account to a personal finance application like Quicken or the web-based Mint.com which will help you keep track of where your money is going by downloading your credit/debit history and separating your purchases into categories like food, gas, or entertainment. By combining your checking account with a good personal finance utility you'll be able to track your purchases in detail. You might find that you spend fifty dollars a month on soft drinks at the convenience store or that you're spending way too much money on entertainment.
The next thing to do is to go over your expenditures with a fine-tooth comb and determine which ones are necessary and which ones aren't. Replace soda's with iced-tea made at home or substitute a Netflix account for repeated trips to the movie theater. Try to find every possible way to reduce your monthly bills and keep in mind that every dollar saved is a dollar earned (or stashed in your savings account). By paying for only the things that they need, people often find that they can save surprisingly large sums of money every month! I personally was able to save well over a hundred dollars per month using this method. That may not seem like a lot, but after a year I've saved over $1200 not including interest. For me, $1200 paid quite a few bills that I had lingering around and I'm sure it would help most anyone interested enough to read this post.
By the way, for those of you wondering, I was Vick-timized on Tuesday night dashing all hopes of getting my $1000 payday next week (unless that wealthy donor pops up). I suppose I'll have to keep that in mind next football season (or maybe I'll just draft Michael Vick).
We're all pretty good at convincing ourselves that the thing we are so eager to buy is a necessity, even if deep down inside we know we don't really need it! I'd venture to say that most people that are struggling with bills spend money on things that they really shouldn't be spending it on. I know; I speak from experience!
At the beginning of my voyage from the rock bottom of the money pit, I realized that I was wasting a lot of money on needless items. I'd stop at the gas station for a coke and a snack spending four dollars where I could have had the same items from the grocery store with a little planning for half or less. I was paying over a hundred dollars a month on satellite television when I really only needed the thirty dollar package. I also subscribed to the highest speed internet service available (and most expensive) so that I could compete at the highest possible level in computer games I wasn't even taking the time to play (I know...I'm a computer nerd...story of my life). My point is, for most people out there, there are things that you spend your hard earned dollar on that you shouldn't, and I'm going to give you some tips about how to solve the problem so you can get those extra dollars flowing into your savings account instead of the 7-11 register.
First step to cutting back on unnecessary expenses is to identify them. It's hard to remember from day to day the items that you spend your money on. There are probably several different ways out there to track your expenses, but the easiest method that I'm aware of is with a checking account. A checking account offers a few benefits. First off, it enables you to track your purchases provided that you put all your money in the account and make all of your purchases either by check or debit card. In this day and age, your debit card can be used just about anywhere you need money which makes things a little easier. Second, your money is more secure in a bank than in your pocket/sock drawer. It's not cool when you lose your money and its even less cool when your sock drawer eats it like I ate fried turkey on Thanksgiving. Another plus is that putting your money in a checking account makes it less accessible. It's a lot easier to stop wasting money on nonsense when you can't pull a buck out of your pocket to pay for a candy bar. That said, step number one is get a free checking account and use it.
Using a checking account gives you a log of all of your purchases which is great, but another good idea is to link that checking account to a personal finance application like Quicken or the web-based Mint.com which will help you keep track of where your money is going by downloading your credit/debit history and separating your purchases into categories like food, gas, or entertainment. By combining your checking account with a good personal finance utility you'll be able to track your purchases in detail. You might find that you spend fifty dollars a month on soft drinks at the convenience store or that you're spending way too much money on entertainment.
The next thing to do is to go over your expenditures with a fine-tooth comb and determine which ones are necessary and which ones aren't. Replace soda's with iced-tea made at home or substitute a Netflix account for repeated trips to the movie theater. Try to find every possible way to reduce your monthly bills and keep in mind that every dollar saved is a dollar earned (or stashed in your savings account). By paying for only the things that they need, people often find that they can save surprisingly large sums of money every month! I personally was able to save well over a hundred dollars per month using this method. That may not seem like a lot, but after a year I've saved over $1200 not including interest. For me, $1200 paid quite a few bills that I had lingering around and I'm sure it would help most anyone interested enough to read this post.
By the way, for those of you wondering, I was Vick-timized on Tuesday night dashing all hopes of getting my $1000 payday next week (unless that wealthy donor pops up). I suppose I'll have to keep that in mind next football season (or maybe I'll just draft Michael Vick).
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Brand New!
Living paycheck to paycheck isn't so bad....especially if you're into wasting what little money you have on overdraft fees and high interest rates. Okay, so maybe that isn't so great. Maybe it sucks to walk a tight rope with your budget, bounce checks with regularity, and ultimately struggle to keep your bills paid on time. I'm not overly fond of the myriad of problems that come with insufficient funds and this blog is being created as a documentary of my financial endeavors en route to monetary bliss!
Hopefully, if I can put together some posts with valuable information, I'll generate enough traffic to put some cash in my brand spankin' new savings account (or maybe some wealthy individual will throw a huge wad of cash my way so I'll zip it - there's a "Donate" button if you're the wealthy contributor). As a full-time student with a six-year-old son, every penny counts!
I'm no blogger. This is my first post ever. You pro's send me some tips/advice on running a successful blog (I need all the help I can get).
Hopefully, if I can put together some posts with valuable information, I'll generate enough traffic to put some cash in my brand spankin' new savings account (or maybe some wealthy individual will throw a huge wad of cash my way so I'll zip it - there's a "Donate" button if you're the wealthy contributor). As a full-time student with a six-year-old son, every penny counts!
I'm no blogger. This is my first post ever. You pro's send me some tips/advice on running a successful blog (I need all the help I can get).
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