Thursday, June 12, 2008
credit report
Recently I have been looking into managing my credit better, and these are some of the tips that I found online that I thought were the most helpful:
How do you know if you have a credit card debt problem?
You know if you have a credit card problem if you owe more than you can pay off in sixty days. That's too much debt to have on a credit card. And if you have trouble paying your credit card bills, you have a problem. If you use your credit cards out of need instead of convenience, you have a problem.
What are the three most important tips to managing credit card debt?
1. If you can't afford to pay cash, don't charge it. Credit cards are primarily for convenience, not a way to finance your life.
2. Never charge more than you can pay off in a sixty day period.
3. Never be late. You signed a contract with your credit card company that you would pay on time. If you break that contract, your interest rate can explode. It's the interest that will bite you in the butt in the long run.
What are some important tricks to staying out of debt?
Simply paying down your credit card debt is not enough to enhance your credit rating in the eyes of banks and lenders. You must stay debt-free in order to improve your credit history and qualify for better loan interest rates and deals in the future.
" Close credit card accounts that you will no longer be using. Simply cutting up the cards and not using them does not close the account and only makes fraud easier.
" Pay for most items with cash. If you don't use the credit cards at all, you won't risk getting back into debt.
" Pay credit card bills off in their entirety. Leaving balances to roll over to following months only adds interest payments to already hefty bills, making the balance even higher the next month.
" Examine your monthly statements thoroughly to detect signs of unauthorized use and fraudulent charges immediately. The sooner you are able to put a stop to such activity, the better your chances of recovering from the incident.
In short be sure to get a copy of your credit report so you can keep an eye on your debt. If you have recently been declined for a card, you can get a free credit report. Then if you think that you are in trouble take steps now toward credit repair before things get out of control. Then you will not need to worry about credit repair
Mike @ 12:44 PM