Archive for June, 2010

fixmyreport.com FAQ:What is a Fico Score?

thejuggler asked:


“What is a FICO score and how can I get one?” Loan Professionals call 858-270-0251. We can help you close 25-50% more deals.

Edith

 

Does piggybacking still work in relation to fico 2008 and increasing your credit score?

dgoldenboy67 asked:


I keep hearing conflicting stories about fico 2008 and piggybacking? Does it still work?

Alvin
 

Why is my bank and credit card company running random credit checks on me and how is this affecting my fico?

nutty asked:


I was just checking my credit report and noticed that chase, first usa, first entertainment union amongst others, have been running credit checks without my consent. I have accounts with all of these companies and have had them for years but there should be no reason for them to check my credit. Does this affect my fico score and how can I stop them from unsolicited credit checks.

Angel
 

How to Raise a Credit Score – 3 Tricks That Helped Others Raise Scores in a Month

Irena Bocheva asked:




How to raise a credit score? More than 35 million Americans are asking themselves the same question. Your 3 digit FICO score determines whether you will get approved for a major mortgage or auto loan. But the importance of your FICO goes beyond shopping. Employers, landlords and insurers are also pulling your credit score in order to evaluate applications. The growing significance of your FICO makes having a good credit a simple necessity.

Here are 3 simple tips that will help you raise credit fast

1 Correct mistakes.

Under FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) you are allowed to dispute any erroneous, incomplete, questionable, biased and unverifiable item on your report. The fastest ways to dispute this kind of information is the so called Rapid Rescore Strategy( normally results come in 48 hours). However, the Rapid Rescore Strategy can only be done through a mortgage company or a bank. The mistakes should be corrected within 48 hours. If you are not applying for a house or a car loan, you can start disputing negative items yourself. The results normally take about 30 days (45 days if you used the service of annualreport.com). Never file your dispute online, because this way you will have no written proof of your dispute. And you will not be able to dispute specific info within the listing ( wrong balance, wrong date the account was opened etc). Under FCRA you are also allowed to dispute on various levels-collection agencies, credit bureaus, original creditor.

2 Validation of debt strategy

A popular strategy to raise credit score fast is to ask for validation of debt from various sources. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act credit bureaus, collection agencies and original creditors are required to provide documents that the debt is valid upon the request of the consumer. Failure to provide such paperwork should result in the deletion of the negative item. The heavy bureaucratic machine and the miscommunication among agencies is the reason that much documentation is lost along the way.You’ll be surprised to find how many agencies don’t have the proper paperwork to validate the debt.

3 Aim for deletion.

Most fast credit repair strategies aim for the deletion of the negative items from your report. Why? Paying off a negative item will not necessarily raise your score. Deleting a negative item, however, will instantly boost your credit. The hard part is how to leverage with credit bureaus, debt collectors and original creditors and ultimately convince them to remove the negative items. And this is where little known credit tricks come into play.

How to raise a credit score fast? The answer is simple. Educate yourself on the inner workings of the credit system and the various loopholes in it. Once you start thinking outside the box, you’ll be surprised to find how easy credit repair actually is.

Glen
 

Your FICO Score and How You Make It Work for You?

Cathy Taylor asked:




Whether or not you receive a loan and what interest rate you get on your credit card may be determined by something called a FICO score. Named for Fair, Isaac & Co., a California-based company that developed the credit score, the FICO score is the most widely used scoring method to determine credit worthiness.

Scores range from approximately 300 to 800 and are provided to lenders by the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You also have access to your FICO scores, but will be charged a fee by each credit agency providing your report.

According to Fair Isaac, the credit scores of the American public are divided as follows:

o 499 and below 1 percent

o 500-549 5 percent

o 550-599 7 percent

o 600-649 11 percent

o 650-699 16 percent

o 700-749 20 percent

o 749-799 29 percent

o 800 and above 11 percent

A score of 720 or higher will probably get you the best interest rates on a home mortgage. Your credit card company looks at your credit score to decide whether or not to raise your credit limit or charge you a higher interest rate. The higher your credit score, the better you look to lenders and the lower your interest rates.

Raising your FICO score can make a big difference to your wallet. Some basic actions you can take to improve your score include paying your bills on time, lowering your account balances, and not taking on new debt.

Around the time you intend to apply for a loan, several factors can decrease your FICO score and, therefore, your ability to qualify for credit and low interest rates. First, order copies of your credit report from all three bureaus and correct any errors you find. Be sure that balances you have paid down are reflected on the report, along with closed accounts and settlements.

It’s important to get your credit scores from all three credit reporting agencies. Each bureau may have different information about you as reported by retailers and creditors. Clerical errors at a particular agency may also result in a varying score. Lenders often look at all three FICO scores, and rather than using the average of the three scores, they may use the middle score to determine your credit worthiness. Finding out what this middle score is and doing what you can to raise it is to your advantage.

Second, pay what you can on your debt rather than moving it around. Consolidating your credit card debt may be tempting, but it could lower your FICO score. Here’s why: keeping your account balances between 25% and 50% of your available credit, signals a responsible borrower. For example, if you have a credit card with a $2000 limit, you should keep your debt below $1000. The ratio of your credit card balance to your credit card limit will increase if you pile all of your debt into a couple of accounts, rather than keeping it spread out over several.

If you have three credit cards with limits of $2000 each, and you owe a balance of $1500 on all three combined, you have a total credit limit of $6000 on which you owe a balance of $1500. That’s a debt to credit limit ratio of 25%. But if you consolidate your $1500 debt into one card with a $2000 limit, you increase your debt to credit limit ratio to 75%, an unfavorable factor in your overall credit score. For this reason, the best solution is to simply pay off your existing cards as quickly as possible.

Also important in making the most of your FICO score near loan time is keeping unused accounts open, for the same reason as listed above. Your debt to credit limit ratio will rise drastically if you close your unused accounts. Wait until you have secured your loan to trim inactive accounts from your credit report. Also refrain from applying for any new accounts during this time.

Paying off your debt in a timely manner, building a solid credit history over a lengthy period of time, and erasing errors from your credit reports can all help you make the most of your FICO score and, in the end, make the most of your money.

Resources:

Equifax 800 525-6285 http:///www.equifax.com

Experian 888 397-3742 http://www.experian.com

TransUnion 800 680-7298 http://www.tuc.com

Gilbert
 

Understanding What is a Fico Score and Tips on Hiring the Best Credit Repair Service

asked:




Margaret
 

Learn How to Improve Your FICO Score

Vincent Polisi asked:




If you would like to learn how to improve your credit score, then you will want to read this article. Specifically, we will be discussing three strategies that you can implement to improve your score. After reading this article, you should have a good idea of some things that you can implement with your own credit file.

Play the Dispute Game

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit bureaus and information providers (creditors) must investigate any dispute you make with regards to your credit file.

How does this work? Upon receiving your dispute, the three credit bureaus will immediately notify your creditor. Your creditors have just 30 days to respond to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus must delete information from your credit file that creditors fail to verify within 30 days. This must happen even if the information is actually correct.

Pay Down Revolving Debt

The most successful credit repair efforts involve paying off revolving debt. If you have a high level of debt, there is most likely no other single strategy that you can implement that will have more impact than paying off debt. What you want to do first is pay down each account to 25% of your total credit limit. You should not pay off any account in full until each of your accounts are down below 25% of your credit limit. If you want to have the best possible credit score, you should make an effort to always keep your accounts below the 25% mark.

One thing to keep in mind is that you never want to close accounts once they are paid off. Closing accounts lowers the total credit that you have available to you and therefore increases your credit utilization ratio. Instead, just cut up the cards when you pay accounts off. That way, you aren’t tempted to use them again but still have the benefit of the available credit for credit scoring purposes.

Piggyback

Many people believe that FICO 08 put an end to piggybacking. The truth is that it merely regulated how piggybacking is done. The reason for the changes is that unscrupulous credit repair companies were having people pay strangers to be added to their credit cards.

While you can still benefit from piggybacking on someone else’s credit, the new guidelines restrict those that can help you out. You can now only benefit from piggybacking off of a parent or spouse.

If you have a parent or spouse with an older account that has a great credit history and low balance, this is still a great way to improve your credit score!

Mark
 

Personal Finances & Money Management : How to Raise Your FICO Score

ehowfinance asked:


Raise your FICO score by paying bills on time, lowering debt-to-credit ratios and keeping a steady job. Notice an improvement in credit scores after fixing problems within two and six months with insight from aregistered financial consultant in this free video on credit scores. Expert: Patrick Munro Contact: www.northstarnavigator.com Bio: Patrick Munro is a registered financial consultant (RFC) with outstanding sales volume of progressive financial products and solutions to the senior and boomer marketplace. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC

Stacey

 

Your Credit Score. How Much Is A Fico Score Worth?

asked:




Manuel