Education

Top Ways to Manage Your Debt Ratio

Debt ratio is the difference between the amount of debt you have charged versus the amount of money the credit card has authorized for you to use, or your credit limit. The difference is your debt ratio. This can also be referred to as revolving (credit card) credit you have available. If your credit limit is 5,000 dollars and you have charged 2,500 on the card, your debt ratio is 50%
Debt ratio accounts for 30% of your FICO score, which makes it the second highest factor the credit agencies take into account when looking at your credit.
Maintaining your debt ratio can make an impact on your credit score, but unlike payment history, not everyone knows how ensu...

How a Bad Credit Score Can Hurt You

While a credit score may seem like an arbitrary number, calculated by an invisible credit agency with no real bearing on your life. However, bad credit can cost your real money. To get an idea of just how much money you can lose due to bad credit, take a look at the following examples.

Credit Cards

If you have a low credit score, you will not be eligible for prime credit cards. These cards have the best interest rates, payment terms and credit limits, making it easier for you to maintain good payment history, thus further establishing good credit. Consumers with less then stellar credit "qualify" for less attractive credit cards or "sub-prime" cards. These ca...

Your name
Your Social Security number
Your address (and any previous addresses)
Your current and past loan information
Your public record information (court judgments, bankruptcies, liens)
A list of other companies who have reviewed your credit.
Your 3 digit credit score (optional)
While some of this information is self explanatory, some of the other aspects, especially your credit score, are a bit of a mystery to most consumers. Few people know their credit score or understand how it is calculated. Additionally, most people are unclear about how their behavior can affect their scores.
The majority of people understand the basics, like failing to make a payment will make your score go down, but ther...

Contrary to what the credit bureaus would like you to believe, credit repair does work and can work for 100% of people in most circumstances. This is, of course, provided you are getting the best advice and have an experienced professional working on your case.
Any one with a credit score below 720 can benefit long-term from the advice and information provided through credit repair; however, there are times when your own limitations make adhering to this advice impossible. The two limiting factors are: (1) your financial situation and (2) the time frame within you need to reach your results. It is possible to remove anything from a credit report, even accurate items, if the creditor does not ...

1. GET RID OF YOUR COLLECTION ACCOUNTS.

Did you know that paying a collection account can actually reduce your score? Here’s why: credit scoring software reviews credit reports for each account’s date of last activity to determine the impact it will have on the overall credit score. When payment is made on a collection account, collection agencies update credit bureaus to reflect the account status as "Paid Collection". When this happens, the date of last activity becomes more recent. Since the guideline for credit scoring software is the date of last activity, recent payment on a collection account damages the credit score more severely. This method of credit scoring may seem unf...