My Credit Score

My Credit Score - Can I have a better credit score?

The main reason for doing credit repair is to improve your credit and raise your scores. The most significant improvements will occur with those with poor credit, but if you have decent credit you may still get impressive results. Credit scores determine the interest rate you receive on financing, leasing, even insurance. Everyone can benefit from higher credit scores.

Credit repair will address anything that contributes to your credit and it’s score. The process will include sending dispute letters to the credit bureaus to repair damaging information from reporting. Basic information in your credit profile should be addressed as well; if you do not have the accounts you need to develop higher scores a good credit repair service should provide you with the guidance and assistance to rebuild your credit to insure the best outcome. And finally, you may benefit from appropriate score optimization tips. Credit Repair can help but having good trade lines and knowing how information hurts or helps your scores is infinitely valuable.

Just like anything else with proper information and knowledge you can do it yourself. If you want to rewire the electricity in your home go ahead...we just don’t recommend it. Your local hardware store may have a “do it yourself roofing guide” but we don’t recommend it. Here is why; you must have an understanding of the Fair Credit Reporting Act as well as knowledge of the way the Fair Isaac FICO score works. And if you have any collections on your credit report you will need to understand the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and your state statutes of limitation. In addition to the extensive knowledge you must have in order to repair your credit you must also know how Transunion, Experian, and Equifax work. These agencies have in house resources to protect and will do anything and everything they can to prevent you from effectively removing items from your report; if you don’t do it right the first time they may lock you out of attempting it again.

Credit repair brings incredible results, perhaps it will change the entire look of your report and raise the scores beyond what you thought was possible. It may happen fast or it may take time, this all depends on your report. One thing is for sure - credit repair is not the only cure for your sickly credit, it will take work. It is important to understand what credit repair is and to set a realistic mind set of expectations.

There are three things you must do to ensure that credit repair brings the best possible results. Get control of your existing obligations by building a practical budget. Learn to manage your account balances to promote higher credit scores, and learn the effect each type of credit will have on your credit report.

Fail to Plan; Plan to Fail

Creating a budget is an emotional process. The more you know about your finances the better off you will be. When the time comes to make a decision that will affect your monthly cash flow it should be made unemotionally. Too many financial errors were made out of emotional decisions or purchases. You are going to work hard on your credit repair. Look at the numbers - numbers don't lie. You can’t afford to fly blind.

Get a pad of paper and list everything that you spend money on. Take your time and make sure that you have included everything from the big monthly obligations to your daily incidentals. Don’t forget an item because it occurs only occasionally, like an annual vacation. Just estimate the total amount you will need and divide it by twelve to determine the amount you should set aside each month. The goal of this exercise is to get a complete picture of your expenses.

Your Balances and Your Credit Scores

There was a time when you would have great credit if you paid your bills on time. This is no longer enough. Making timely payments for years and still having terrible credit scores is very common. For best results you must understand the relationship between your balances and the scores. The FICO scoring model grades you on the amount of available credit that you use, commonly referred to as the balance to limit ratio.

For the best credit score you should reduce your balances so that you are using less than 33% of the credit. The lower the balance, the higher your score will be. Don’t underestimate this. You could lose over 100 points by running up a revolving balance to the limit.

Using the Right Kind of Credit

The FICO scoring model likes certain credit types, but will penalize you for others. If you want to improve your credit you should use common cards like MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discover. Avoid consumer credit, including store cards and financing offered by furniture and electronics stores.