When banks, credit card companies and other lending institutions make offers or even turn down applications, they aren’t using magic to guide their decision making. Instead, they rely on a person’s credit history, current income versus debt and overall track record of making stable choices. To find out what they are going to see in advance of an application, you need to get your hands on a free credit report.
Free credit reports are provided by the major credit bureaus one time a year to individual consumers. A credit report is essential for giving you a leg up on knowing what type of loan or offer you might be eligible for. If you discover your credit is in great shape, for example, you might be able to take your time and compare credit cards for the best possible offer.
Should you find a history that’s blemished and needs some work to improve, there will still be options open to you. If your credit report looks bad, work on fixing it by:
Requesting that errors be corrected – This is perhaps the biggest reason to pull your own credit report. Mistakes are sometimes recorded that can hurt you when it’s time to borrow. A free credit report will let you see the mistakes and put you on the path for getting them corrected.
Paying down debts – Try to pay off outstanding debts, or at least pay them down. If a lot of “credit” is open in the form of zero balance cards, close a few.
Rebuilding history – It is possible to rebuild history even if a report looks very bad. Look at such options as bad credit loans, credit cards for bad credit or even secured credit cards. If you show responsibility with these lending vehicles, your record should improve over time.
If you want to know what lenders will see in advance, it does pay to pull a free credit report. This tool can guide you on the way to repairing problems before they bite you in the form of high interest rates.
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The economic atmosphere is largely what defines behaviors on a smaller financial scale. The real estate market will dictate if we buy or sell, the job market will determine if we are employed or paid at the wage scale that we deserve, and the economic environment as a whole will decide how comfortably we live. We of course make choices within the parameters of this environment and now, more than ever, those choices can impact us significantly.
So it stands to reason that the choice of the lines of credit that we utilize will make a very big difference in our cash flow – as well as all of the things in our daily life that are impacted by that cash flow. Everything adds up when it comes to finances; the amount we pay on interest rates, service fees, and the like can dramatically alter our month to month payments. And so, when it comes to making sure we are working smart instead of throwing money out the window, it is important to look at the options.
Credit cards, for instance, are still being used despite the economy even though credit limits are being drastically decreased in many cases. Now is the time to explore the cards available to us – and the fees that are attached to them; when we compare credit cards we are making sure that we are not overpaying. This is tantamount – on a larger scale – to us going over our utility bills with a fine toothed comb; as oftentimes we are significantly overpaying for services we can get much cheaper with a little bit of research.
By taking the time throughout the year to examine what it is that we spend money on and how we can go about cutting down our expenses, we are taking the ultimate control of our finances.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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If you are like most people right now you are doing all that you can to lie low and forget the real estate market even exists. But if you are a particular group of people – namely potential buyers who have nothing to sell – you are actually in really good shape for this market. You have available to you low interest rates and low housing prices so that you could easily afford a home that would otherwise be out of financial reach. But this, of course, is only possible if you are in the position to actually get a mortgage right now which can take some doing in this present lending market.
There is nothing worse than getting all the way to the mortgage process and discovering that there are items on your credit report that will preclude you from getting a mortgage. In fact, this is the worst time to discover such information; when there is always the opportunity to get free credit reports ahead of time so that you know what it is that you may be up against in the mortgage process.
And it’s easier than anyone could imagine. Staying on top of your credit report is as easy as logging on to one website and ordering a free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus – Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. And because we are legally allowed – as consumers – one free credit report a year from each of these credit bureaus, it is only comes down to us taking the steps to order what we need.
Free credit reports are more than just information; they represent the power to take control of the mortgage process so that we are not caught off guard and can go into the experience in the driver’s seat rather than being dictated to by the market.
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In the last post I talked about how in the coming months my daughter will graduate from high school – just minutes after I put her five year old self on the bus to school for the first time. Where did the time go? And yet here it was and she was eagerly making plans to leave home and go off to college where she would room with someone she had yet to meet in a city she had yet to really get to know. It has been an exciting time for all of us and I am trying to focus on the excitement and the preparation rather than my own sadness that my child is leaving home.
More than anything I want her to leave with the utmost preparation and part of what I had failed to go over with her was her finances. I realized with sudden panic that she would be on her own and while we would be sending her money she would have a part time job and would have to manage her own budget. I had fallen into a bit of a trap my first year of college and had run up credit card debt that had affected my credit report for years to come. I didn’t want the same thing to happen to my daughter and so I began talking to her in earnest about things like balancing her checkbook, budgeting for her week and month, and paying attention to her credit report.
It’s hard to understand at that age how decisions you make can have such a great impact in your life post-college but I related my own experiences to her so that she could learn from them. And I impressed upon her the importance of ordering free credit reports from the credit bureaus throughout her life – something she could now easily do online – so that she could keep herself “honest.”
I know my job as her mother is not just to raise her but to prepare her; and I hope that all that I have done has readied my daughter to go off on her own – even if I’m not ready at all!
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As incredible as it seems to me and my husband, our first child is graduating from high school in three short months. It seems like it was just yesterday that we walked her to the bus stop to go off to Kindergarten and I remember standing there waving with a smile plastered on my face when all I wanted to do was cry like a baby. Nothing really has changed. I talk to her about college, classes, shopping for her dorm, roommate anxiety, and all the exciting things that are to come in her life; and I do it all with a smile on my face. But inside I am crying just as I did on that day she left me for the first time when she was five and I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest.
Growing up is hard; and I don’t mean just for her. It’s really hard for me because I am not ready to be without her on a day to day basis and I’m now scrambling to make sure she has fully absorbed all of the lessons that we have tried to teach her over these years that have flown by so quickly – too quickly.
One thing that I really failed to take into consideration is how this first time away from home will call upon her to handle her own finances to a certain extent. This is a vulnerable time for many young people. I remember being a college freshman myself and getting hold of a credit card that some company was stupid enough (or wise enough considering how much they wound up making off of me) to give me. And so I knew that it was time to start talking about finances with my daughter - starting with the importance of her credit report. More to come…
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It is certainly a natural human reaction to want to hide our head from something that brings us pain or discomfort. Facing something that makes us unhappy – while it may very well be the truth – is difficult indeed; but unfortunately that is often what must first be done before any sort of progress can be made. The truth will indeed set us free. When it comes to finances, this is most especially true. While we may want to simply stick our head in the sand and pretend everything is fine, the truth of the matter may be that everything cannot be fine until there is total and complete knowledge.
While we may have an idea of what the state of our finances may be the reality lies with our credit report; it is there that everything about our finances is detailed and there where we can find the answer as to how our past financial indiscretions have affected our credit. Unfortunately too many people wait to see their credit report when it is being called forth from potential lenders, when in fact they should already have the information in hand prior to such applications.
Staying on top of our credit report is easier than many believe. In fact, we all have the right to receive free credit reports from each of three credit bureaus. Once a year each of the credit bureaus must issue us a free credit report upon our request; and those who regularly order free credit reports are able to stay on top of their financial matters in the most comprehensive manner possible so that nothing catches them off guard during loan applications and so that they are able to jump right on inaccuracies. A credit report is the only way that we can know for sure that our finances are stable and safe.
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This is most definitely not the time for unchecked spending. The economy has devastated the finances of many people and there is no doubt that fear is in the air. People are just not spending money the way that they used to; in fact, there is a general all around hesitation around anything financial. Houses are being downsized, lives are being simplified, and credit cards are staying in the wallet.
In terms of credit cards, there is no reason to carry high balances at the present time. There is still viability in having a credit card for emergencies but spending should be kept in check at all costs. The fact of the matter is there needs to be some thought put into choosing a credit card; there are deals out there that can save consumers money as long as they are willing and able to search them out and take advantage of them.
In order to do this most effectively it is necessary to compare credit cards. With all the deals out there it is easy enough to sit down with all of the offers made available to us on a monthly basis and compare the rates and other services and products offered by particular credit card companies.
For those who are in the market to consolidate their debt in order to improve their credit report, going through the process to compare credit cards is more important than ever. Being able to transfer balances onto a low interest card and pay down debt significantly – moving towards the ultimate goal of completely paying it off – can put us on the road to financial freedom. And ultimately this is the road we want to be on in this present economy.
More than anything compare credit cards so that you are not throwing money out of the window – wasting it on high fees that can just as easily be avoided.
Popularity: 24% [?]
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Not knowing is the worst part. It doesn’t matter what you apply that statement to – it is always the truth. When you come at something, anything, with knowledge, you, in turn, have the power. This is most especially true when it comes to finances. There are so many people who are so frightened by their finances that they choose to stick their head in the sand rather than deal in facts and reality.
Where this can really derail a person is when they are suddenly thrust into reality when they least expect it – such as when they are applying for a mortgage or another loan. This is the worst time to be made aware of the state of your finances; people in control of their money go into a situation where they are applying for a loan already knowing what the potential lender will find.
One way to arm ourselves with information in the world of finances is to continually stay on top of things with free credit reports. A free credit report can be ordered from each of the three credit bureaus once within every twelve months and this information is absolutely priceless in terms of giving a consumer insight into what their financial future holds.
A great credit report gives a baseline for the coming years so that changes can be measured against it and any negatives can be caught early and addressed aggressively. Those who are working to improve their credit report need to be made aware of their progress and free credit reports are just the vehicle for awareness. More than anything, a free credit report can take the pressure off of consumers who have been in the dark for far too long and give them the knowledge they need to tackle the reality of their financial situation.
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