Many people fall victim to the consumer driven society we live in and spend more than they could pay off at the interest rates offered by credit card companies. Fortunately, you can take some actions to get your credit score climbing in the right direction.
If you’re credit needs some work, first you should make a plan you can stick with, and then follow through. You need to make a commitment to changing your spending habits. Purchase nothing but the essentials. Ask yourself whether every purchase is both affordable and necessary, and only buy if the answer to both questions is “yes”.
Improve your credit score, as well as make some profit, through an installment account. With this sort of an account, you need to keep a minimum. If you are able to keep up with one of the accounts, you should see your credit score improving quickly.
Interest Rates
Avoid paying off high interest rates so that you don’t pay too much. In most cases, creditors are somewhat limited in the amount of interest they can charge. However, you have entered into a legal agreement that requires you to pay accrued interest. If you’re going to try taking your creditors to court, make sure you can prove the interest rates they charged were excessively high.
If someone promises you to improve your score by changing your factual history, this is a scam. Regardless of their claims, these debts will stay on your report for seven years at a minimum. You can erase information that is incorrect from your credit record.
Make sure you thoroughly research into any credit restoration agency or counselor before you do business with them. Some credit counselors offer real help while others have more dubious things in mind. Some are just people trying to scam you. Intelligent customers will make sure to determine the legitimacy of a credit counseling agency before acquiring their services.
Take the necessary steps to fix any mistakes that you see on your credit reports by filing an official dispute. Send a dispute letter along with supporting documents to the credit agency that recorded the errors. Send your dispute package with a return receipt request so that you have proof that it was received by the agency.
Do not use credit cards to pay for things that you simply cannot afford. You will need to change the way you think. Getting credit has never been easier, making it just as easy for people to buy items they simply can’t afford. This, though, comes with a hefty interest price tag. Be honest with yourself about what you can truly afford.
Examine your credit card charges monthly to ensure they are correct. If there are, you will need to contact the company immediately to avoid them reporting this to a credit reporting agency,
Do not file for bankruptcy if you do not have to. This will show up on your credit for around 10 years. While ridding yourself of most debt may seem ideal, it is not without consequences. Filing bankruptcy makes it difficult if not impossible to get anything involving credit, like credit cards and loans, in the future.
It is important to read all credit card statements you receive. Double-check every charge, to make sure that everything is accurate and you were only charged once for your purchases. The responsibility lies with you to verify that each charge is accurate.
It is obviously somewhat difficult to let derogatory marks stand undefended, but the evidence suggests most lenders don’t use those statements in determining creditworthiness. The less you can do to attract attention to negative reports, the better.
Collection Agencies
Collection agencies are stressful to deal with. You can use a cease and desist letter to stop any harassment from collection agencies. While such letters stop collection agencies from calling, the consumer is still obligated to pay the debts being disputed.
Overwhelming issues occur when you have multiple debts you can’t pay. Try to make sure that you find a little bit of money in your budget for all the creditors you owe payments to. Even if you can barely meet the minimum payments, every bit that you send can help keep your creditors happy, making them less likely to contact debt collectors.
If your credit has suffered and you are trying to rebuild it, many options are available. Prepaid or secured credit cards can help to rebuild your score without late payments or going over your limit. This approach will indicate to others that you are serious about taking responsibility for your financial future.
With some hard work and guidance, you can easily fix your damaged credit and help receive the rating that you deserve. Use what you’ve learned in this article to start fixing your credit and improve your credit score.