The Importance of a Credit Report Check-up

There are many things in life that require close scrutiny or a comprehensive investigation – otherwise known as a checkup – to be sure all is in proper order. Visit a physician for a checkup to verify the condition of your health. Shop at a used car lot, kick the tires and request a CarFax® report to checkup on the history of a car before signing on the dotted line. But there’s one checkup that many consumers fail to perform that can directly affect every aspect of their life – their credit repo...

5 Worst Pieces of Advice for Raising Your Credit Score

Today, many lenders and other financial institutions have been tightening up their availability to credit and only offering loaned funds to those who have higher credit scores. While this is due in large part to avoiding future unpaid loans, it has raised the awareness of individuals to more frequently monitor their credit scores and to take the necessary actions to get and keep these scores at higher levels. For those who are currently striving to raise their credit score, it is important to...

What The Singing Free Credit Report TV Commercials Don’t Tell You

The other night while watching TV with my daughter she started to sing along with the FreeCreditReport.com song. Pretty catchy, I thought. Smart marketing, too. Unlike many ads which are creative but leave you with no way to remember which company or product they are promoting (just watch TV for 30 minutes and count how many ads actually connect directly with the product), this one uses the name right in the song. So you'll always remember the website while you are singing. Kind of like the Afla...

How The US Credit Downgrade Is Affecting Spending

Every person, business and entity has a credit rating. These ratings are a huge part of the economics of lending, borrowing and interest rates. When the United States saw a reduction in their current credit rating, it created ripples throughout the US all the way down the average household and the average consumer. Whether you plan to tuck money away in savings accounts, IRAs or even fixed rate bonds you may be having second thoughts and for good reason. The way people are spending is complet...

Do Credit Checks Really Hurt Your Credit?

It seems there are fewer secretive corners of your financial status than your credit. It’s meticulously hidden, questionably maintained, and scrupulously issued. The credit check is your only real insight to what is going on in the woodwork down below. Typically double checked by a lender or employer do these checks hurt your credit score? And if they do, why? Credit scores are stored and calculated by a few different competing entities, which can cause some discrepancy. The main system for c...

Bad Credit Cell Phones

In these financially unstable times, many people have found that their credit rating suffers quite a bit of damage. With the ensuing credit issues it may seem almost impossible to get the simplest of necessities back on in ones life. One such necessity is a telephone, and most companies are rather resistant to providing to those they perceive as a risk. The good news is that you can still get a bad credit cell phone. The solution is to be had with a pre-paid, or pay as you go, program. These ...

Using a Credit Repair Law Firm

Getting Help to Fix And Increase Your Credit Score Having a good credit standing will enable a person to enjoy most things in life compared to the person with a bad credit record. And the sad truth is that, what's being said on the credit report of some individuals are sometimes not true due to some errors, which could really happen, according to some reports. Credit card application denials, high interest rates on mortgage loans and other negative and embarrassing impacts of a bad credit r...

Improving Your FICO Score

Credit scores, also referred to as FICO scores, can be rightly termed as a way to determine the credibility of an individual for assuming debt. These FICO scores are calculated using software developed by Fair Isaac Corp and are entirely dependent on the past credit history of the individual. All the three major credit-reporting agencies, namely Equifax, Experian and TransUnion calculate these scores and rate the credit risk potential of every individual. Building a good credit history is man...

Credit or Debit? Which Card Makes More Financial Sense?

We’ve reached a stage where our lives are dominated by pieces of plastic – credit cards are a regular feature of every transaction and purchase. Some people swear by it, but others are wary as it ends up putting them in a deep hole of debt. The latter prefer debit cards which work a little differently but which are able to keep you out of debt because you need to have money in the bank to use them. Credit or debit, both cards have their pros and cons, and how you choose to use either depends on ...

Facts About FICO Scores

With the advancements in the field of computers and internet technology, hassle-free financial transactions have become a reality. Thanks to the internet, an individual is neither required to step out of the house nor have to stand in long lines inside the bank so as to check account balances or trade a stock. Beyond these, there are numerous advantages of using internet technology. One such advancement that has tremendously influenced the personal finance sector is the concept of FICO scores o...