Raise your FICO Score

In today’s dwindling economy, low FICO scores are unfortunately spreading like the plague. More and more people are suffering from bad credit, inhibiting their abilities to get loans and credit with affordable interest rates and, in some cases, get jobs. That’s why it’s more important than ever not to underestimate the importance of your FICO score.

What is a FICO score? FICO is an acronym for Fair Issac Corporation, which is the company responsible for distributing your scores. Fair Isaac uses information from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to determine your three scores. Most likely each credit report will contain different information. That’s why you may have a Equifax score of 600, an Experian score of 610, and a TransUnion score of 640.

Even if you have one low FICO score, you can badly hurt your chances of getting awarded loans. That’s why it’s important that you request your annual free credit report from each credit bureau. Check for errors and inaccuracies. Are all your paid debts listed as “paid”? Are some of your loans listed twice?

Various types of credit report errors may contribute to your low credit score. For example, there may be a charge-off on your report that’s 8 years old. Due to the statute of limitations on debts, that charge-off (paid or not) should’ve been deleted from your report after 7 years. Recent debts are always more crucial to your FICO score than your older debts.

If you sign up for a professional credit repair company, you can help raise your FICO score. The credit repair service will remove all negative items from your credit reports, causing your FICO score to gradually improve over time. Before you know it, you’ll be on the fast track to financial freedom!

Credit Repair 2012

You can’t ring in the New Year without first scribbling down a series of resolutions. Now that a new year has started, it’s time to start things on a clean slate and right all your past wrongs. The tricky part is following through with those resolutions.

Resolutions normally consist of common themes: losing weight, quitting smoking, and—of course—improving your finances. One of the best ways to better your financial health is to improve your credit score. More and more people, like yourself, are suffering from poor credit. In today’s rough economy, you don’t have to feel alone. It seems like only a privileged few are lucky enough to possess the coveted 720 FICO score.

Being consistent with your credit and loan payments is one way to improve your credit score. Compile a budget. You may think you have zero money available to make your bills on time, but if you’re really that broke, how can you afford that morning coffee you purchase from Starbucks on a daily basis? You can pay your bills, but you need to find a more affordable way to do so. Maybe you can start by enrolling in a debt settlement program.

To better understand improving your credit score, you must first understand your credit bureaus. The three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) are known for committing a fair share of mistakes. As a matter of fact, an estimated 79% of credit reports contain errors, with 25% containing errors detrimental enough to wreak havoc on your credit score.

Credit report errors may be attributed to simple clerical mistakes, inaccurate reports from creditors, identity theft, and debts that have passed their statutes of limitations. Most debts, paid or not, must be removed from your credit report after seven years. Bankruptcies may take 10 years to be removed.

Now that you know the different types of credit report errors, the next step would be to hire a professional credit repair company to get those errors removed. If you enroll in a quality credit repair program, the credit counselors will know to deal with your credit bureaus and delete those errors as soon as possible. Plus, they will use other methods (i.e.: helping you establish new lines of credit) to effectively boost your credit rating.

Credit Repair

If you’re suffering from a low credit score, it may be about time to seek out professional credit repair. Unfortunately, one’s credit score cannot be repaired overnight. However, choosing a credit repair program will be tremendously more helpful than simply letting the credit bureaus get away with posting errors on your credit report and, in turn, preventing you from getting the loans, credit, and jobs you deserve.

Depending on your financial situation, your low credit score may or may not be due to your own irresponsibility. Naturally, if you’ve submitted late payments to a credit card company for the last 2 years, you’re going to be stuck with a poor credit rating. How can you expect a lender to trust you with a new line of credit, when you can’t even handle your current ones?

That being said, the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) are not infallible. They’re very much prone to mistakes, and so are your creditors. Blemishes on credit reports could range from misspelled names to inaccurate reports from your creditors. For example, one of your credit lines may be listed inaccurately. Your credit line is $1,300.00, but the creditor reported it as $1,000.00. If you hold a $500.00 balance on your credit card, your debt-to-income ratio will be 50%, which will most likely decrease your credit score. If your credit line were listed accurately, your debt-to-income ratio would be 38%, which is less than perfect but manageable.

With an estimated 79% of credit reports containing errors, it’s imperative that people review their credit reports on a regular basis. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, everyone is entitled to one free credit report a year. If you want to maintain a healthy credit rating, my suggestion would be to take advantage of that luxury.

You can repair your credit on your own, but you want it done right. If you enroll in a credit repair program, professionals will review your credit reports themselves and dispute all errors with your three credit bureaus. Of course, there are fraudulent credit repair companies that charge a ton of up-front fees. As long as you steer clear of those businesses, you should be able to repair your credit score successfully.