how to fix your credit without too much hassle

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How To Fix Your Credit Without Too Much Hassle Has your bad credit been giving you problems? A lot of credit scores are going down during this difficult economic time. Luckily, you can improve your score and start now with the tips in this article. If you have credit cards where the balance is more than half of your credit limit, pay these down right away. Once your balance reaches 50%, your rating starts to really dip. At that point, it is ideal to pay off your cards altogether, but if not, try to spread out the debt. You will be able to get a lower interest rate if you keep your personal credit score low. This should make your monthly payments easier and allow you to pay off your debt much quicker. Obtaining the best possible interest rate saves you money, and helps you maintain your credit score. You can easily get a mortgage if you have a high credit score. Fulfilling your mortgage obligation in a timely fashion does a great deal of good for your credit rating. Having a major asset like a house also looks good to potential creditors. This will make taking out future loans much easier. You should consider talking to directly with your creditors when you are trying to improve your credit. Talking http://www.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_of_the_dangers_of_credit_cards to them will help keep you from drowning further in debt and making your credit worse. This can be accomplished by negotiating with them for a change in due date or monthly charges. Make sure you thoroughly research into any credit score repair agency or counselor before you do business with them. Although some credit counselors are truthful and legitimately helpful, other credit counselors are not honest and upfront with their motives. Other options are clearly scams. It is smart to verify the legitimacy of credit counselors prior to getting involved with them. Put the spending brakes on yourself by lowering your credit limit on all of your cards. Not only will this stop you from overspending, it will indicate responsible behavior to a credit card company, and may enable you to get future credit. Credit unions are an option for those who have run out of options when trying to find a line of credit to boost their score. Credit unions sometimes have better rates and more options for your credit rather than a large bank. You can base this on how well the economy is in your area instead of the national situation. Anything on your credit report that you feel is inaccurate should be disputed. Draft a dispute letter that will go to each credit rating agency that shows an error, and prepare any supporting documents. When you mail your dispute package, be sure to make arrangements for confirmation of receipt. In this way, you will have documentation that your information has been received. The first step in credit score repair is to close all but one of your credit accounts as soon as possible. Make the minimum payment each month on your other accounts, but make the largest payment possible to the one account you are focusing on. This allows you to pay off one credit card bill rather than many smaller ones. It is important to get any payment plan that you agreed to with a creditor in writing. You want documentation to back yourself up so there will be no problems in the future, and if the company

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Page 1: How To Fix Your Credit Without Too Much Hassle

How To Fix Your Credit Without Too Much Hassle

Has your bad credit been giving you problems? A lot of credit scores are going down during thisdifficult economic time. Luckily, you can improve your score and start now with the tips in thisarticle.

If you have credit cards where the balance is more than half of your credit limit, pay these downright away. Once your balance reaches 50%, your rating starts to really dip. At that point, it is idealto pay off your cards altogether, but if not, try to spread out the debt.

You will be able to get a lower interest rate if you keep your personal credit score low. This shouldmake your monthly payments easier and allow you to pay off your debt much quicker. Obtaining thebest possible interest rate saves you money, and helps you maintain your credit score.

You can easily get a mortgage if you have a high credit score. Fulfilling your mortgage obligation ina timely fashion does a great deal of good for your credit rating. Having a major asset like a housealso looks good to potential creditors. This will make taking out future loans much easier.

You should consider talking to directly with your creditors when you are trying to improve yourcredit. Talking http://www.answers.com/Q/What_are_some_of_the_dangers_of_credit_cards to themwill help keep you from drowning further in debt and making your credit worse. This can beaccomplished by negotiating with them for a change in due date or monthly charges.

Make sure you thoroughly research into any credit score repair agency or counselor before you dobusiness with them. Although some credit counselors are truthful and legitimately helpful, othercredit counselors are not honest and upfront with their motives. Other options are clearly scams. Itis smart to verify the legitimacy of credit counselors prior to getting involved with them.

Put the spending brakes on yourself by lowering your credit limit on all of your cards. Not only willthis stop you from overspending, it will indicate responsible behavior to a credit card company, andmay enable you to get future credit.

Credit unions are an option for those who have run out of options when trying to find a line of creditto boost their score. Credit unions sometimes have better rates and more options for your creditrather than a large bank. You can base this on how well the economy is in your area instead of thenational situation.

Anything on your credit report that you feel is inaccurate should be disputed. Draft a dispute letterthat will go to each credit rating agency that shows an error, and prepare any supportingdocuments. When you mail your dispute package, be sure to make arrangements for confirmation ofreceipt. In this way, you will have documentation that your information has been received.

The first step in credit score repair is to close all but one of your credit accounts as soon as possible.Make the minimum payment each month on your other accounts, but make the largest paymentpossible to the one account you are focusing on. This allows you to pay off one credit card bill ratherthan many smaller ones.

It is important to get any payment plan that you agreed to with a creditor in writing. You wantdocumentation to back yourself up so there will be no problems in the future, and if the company

Page 2: How To Fix Your Credit Without Too Much Hassle

owner changes you will have more of a chance of keeping your plan. You also want it in writing if itgets paid off so you can go ahead and send it to credit reporting agencies.

Filing for bankruptcy is a bad idea. Bankruptcies appear on credit reports for ten years. Whilegetting rid of your debts all in one go seems like an excellent idea, your credit will be affected by itfor a long time to come. It may be hard to get a credit card or a loan if you declare bankruptcy.

To accomplish getting a better rating on your credit, pay down the balances of your currentaccounts. You can up your credit rating just by paying down your balances. The FICO system has anew level for every twenty percentage points of your credit available.

Make sure the credit score improvement agencyis reputable. You have to watch out for creditimprovement agencies that promise more thanthey can deliver or are simply fraudulent. Somepeople have been victimized by scams that weresupposed to help their credit. See if thecompany in question has a reputation on any ofthe user review sites before you commencebusiness with them.

You may want to justify yourself, but thestatement has no effect on whether a lenderwill extend credit to you or not. It is irrelevant.The less you can do to attract attention tonegative reports, the better.

When repairing your score, be cautious of law offices and lawyers that promise fixes for credit. Sincethere so many people struggling with their credit today, there are a lot of businesses that havepopped up to take advantage of the situation. Investigate any lawyer thoroughly before contactingthem for credit assistance.

When you are involved in a credit crunch, you have many debts but not enough money to pay them.Spread your payments to all of your different creditors. Even if the payments you are making are theminimum ones, these small payments will still somewhat please your creditors, which will likely stopthem from getting in touch with collection agencies.

Building your credit back up is the number one way to fix a bad credit score. Prepaid credit cardscan be a good way to raise your FICO score, away from the dangers of late fees or charges forexceeding your credit limit. By doing this you will be proving to potential lenders you are creditworthy and capable of paying money when you are required.

This advice and a little motivation are all you need to turn your bad credit around. By applying thesetips, you can improve your credit score.