Bad Economy, No Job – How Can I Repay My Debts?
When you have collection agencies calling you and you are in debt up to your eyeballs, it’s time to take action and quick. First step you need to take is to get a job, sooner than later. You cannot afford to use the bad economy as an excuse any longer. The bad economy may be standing in the way of you getting the job that you desire, but it shouldn’t keep you from obtaining gainful employment that will help you start paying your bills. Your only priority when you have debt to repay should be to get a job that allows you to have enough income to start repaying those creditors.
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Credit Card Debt – ‘Til Death Do Us Part
There are a lot of things you can’t take with you when you die, and in the case of credit card debt, it can be a good thing. However, this can change depending on where you live and whose names the credit card is under. Of course, the simplest scenario is that the credit card was on your name alone, with no joint account holders. In this case, any debt owed on the card, after death, would belong to only you and no one would inherit it.
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Credit Repair Companies-Buyer Beware!
After some unfortunately bad financial decisions, you find yourself with a very low credit score and collections agencies hounding you on a daily basis. You are desperate to find a way out of this mess that you have landed yourself in. The credit repair commercials on TV and radio seem so attractive. They claim they can make all your credit woes go away with magic solutions that seem almost too good to be true. Well, most of the time these claims are really not true and may even be illegal. Although legitimate credit repair companies do exist, you must be aware of some very key facts if you plan to sign up with one.
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Maintain the “You” in Your Credit Union
However, when it comes to credit, too much togetherness can be bad for your bottom line. Even though there’s no such thing as a “couples” or “joint” credit report, if you both are named on a loan or listed as joint account holders, any flub-up (late payments, defaults) on the account will mar both of your credit files, no matter who forgot to put the mortgage check in the mail.
CreditReportBlog.com recommends that all couples make looking at each other’s credit reports a part of the screening process once things start to move towards the marriage phase. As skeptical as it sounds, there is never a guarantee that any marriage is going to last forever. An uncomfortable conversation now can avoid an even more uncomfortable situation later, if things turn sour with your finances.
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Easier, cheaper credit report freezes
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday signed legislation to put the deep freeze on fees charged for freezing credit reports.
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com
CreditReportBlog.com - Well, we can hardly call this piece of legislation a “deep freeze”. There a few good changes, but anything huge. It calls for the fees charged by credit reporting agencies to now be $10 instead of $12, gives seniors a rate of $5, and calls for agencies to comply to all freezing requests within 3 days. Another little tidbit, requests can now be made through regular mail, instead of only certified mail.
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Payday Loans-The Good, Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good
Payday loans are basically quick cash advances made to qualifying individuals. These loans are hassle-free and very convenient to get. They are great for people who are capable of paying them back. They are used for making an unexpected payment, going on a short trip or buying something you absolutely need, but don’t have the money for at the moment. Almost anyone that is over 18 years old has a monthly income and a checking account can qualify for a payday loan. People with bad credit are also eligible. A person can apply for payday loans even over the phone or online. The convenience of getting payday loans makes them very attractive to people in need of fast cash. Approval can take at the most, 24 hours.
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Reasons to Check Your Credit Report
Most people don’t check their credit report until it is time to make a purchase that requires a degree of creditworthiness, i.e. buying a house or a car, opening up a credit card, etc.
Credit Report Blog.com would like to take this opportunity to reinforce to its readers the importance of consistently checking their credit reports for various reasons, as mentioned in this report. When an important decision is to be based on your credit report, it may cause unforeseen delays or rejections, if surprises pop up on your credit report which you were not expecting. The causes of these surprises could be the result of identity theft, reporting errors, mistaken names, etc.
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Credit Restoration Service Announces Contest for the Worlds Worst Credit Report
July 2, 2008 — Lee Harrison Credit Restoration is looking for the world’s worst credit report. They will clean the worst credit report each month for 6 months for free. To enter the contest, applicants must send a copy of their Experian, Equifax, transunion and CSC.
CreditReportBlog.com – Well, this sounds like a great deal if you are the lucky, chosen few. With the enormous number of Americans sinking in debt these days, there will the credit restoration company is likely to be flooded with applicants for this new “contest” to find the worst credit reports in America. If you think you’re situation is bad, there will probably be many others with stories 10 times worse.
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How do I correct a mistake on my credit report?
Everyone should take advantage of their right to obtain a FREE credit report for themselves, every 12 months from each of the three credit bureaus. This is the only way you can monitor your own credit file, without paying high fees to a credit monitoring service. Although the FREE credit report will not include a credit score, it will let you view any negative information included in your file. If the negative information is true, complete and accurate, then you can take actions to start improving your credit situation. Read more
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Foreclosure stigma haunts would-be renters
As if losing a house on the court steps wasn’t enough, some former homeowners may fiand themselves turned away by apartment owners spooked by the foreclosure history on their credit reports.
CreditReportBlog.com sympathizes with individuals hit with such a dreadful experience as foreclosure on their home. Along with bankruptcy, foreclosure can be one of the most devastating experiences in one’s life. Being forced out of your home, can cause enormous stress, shock, and even depression to an otherwise content person. Read more
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The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
Although you may have defaulted on your loans and owe creditors their money, remember, you do have the right to be treated fairly by the collection agencies. Creditreportblog.com feels for its readers who are frustrated at being hounded by these collection agencies, leading to a lot of stress in their daily life. In order to keep these aggressive collection agencies in check, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act was put into place. This act applies to those who work on behalf of creditors to collect outstanding debts from individuals, such as unpaid car loans, mortgages, credit cards, and medical bills. Under this Act, there are certain guidelines that the collection agency must adhere to.
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“Freezing your credit report?”Good idea?
Credit Report Blog (Creditreportblog.com) frequently gets this question about the idea of “freezing your credit report”. However, there are still many who have not heard of this new concept of limiting access to the credit report. The credit report is a key tool and essential part of the decision process of lenders on whether or not to extend credit to individuals. In the wrong hands, however, the credit report can also be the tool used by thieves to cause much financial damage to someone. As a result of the rise in identity thefts across the country, this option of freezing a credit report has come about.
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What to look for in a CREDIT COUNSELOR
At Credit Report Blog (Creditreportblog.com), many readers write in about having heard of credit counseling agencies and ask whether they really are helpful and even make sense to hire, when you are already up to your neck in debt. People think of the services of a credit counselor as another bill to pay. If you are one of many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, worried about calls from debt collectors and not being able to work out a suitable repayment plan, then a credit counselor could be the answer. However, you have to be very careful when choosing a counseling service. Many credit counseling organizations claim to be non-profit but actually end up charging high fees that are sometimes hidden or suggest solutions that cause the person to go deeper into debt.
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How is your CREDIT SCORE calculated?
Well, it’s just a mathematical formula. It’s based on information contained in your credit report which is compared with millions of other people. The resulting number is in indication of how likely you are to repay your debts. The higher your number is the better deals you will get with lenders, in terms of types of plans offered and interest rates. Credit scores are used extensively by lenders when determining what rate you get for a mortgage, car loan, credit card, or auto insurance. There are many different kinds of credit scoring models used by lenders to determine credit worthiness of potential clients.
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Bankruptcy and your credit report
We at CreditReportBlog.com get this question asked pretty often by our readers: Is it a good idea to file bankruptcy to get rid of our debts? Well the answer is not a simple one. With the economy in shambles these days, more and more Americans are looking at filing for bankruptcy as the only alternative left to get themselves out of a bottomless hole of debt. However, before you go ahead, you must be made aware of the terrible stain filing bankruptcy leaves on your credit report.
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Thieves steal $22,000 using credit card of U.Va. Professor
Identity thieves in New York had opened a checking and savings account in Grant’s name, aided by his Social Security number and a fake New York driver’s license with his name on it. Using an online banking feature of the fraudulent checking account, the thieves hijacked Grant’s existing Bank of America credit-card account.
***Credit Report Blog*** After reading about this incident, it is apparent that no matter how safe you think you are or no matter how many precautions you take, identity thieves still manage to do what they do best—severe financial damage to their victim. In the professor’s case, after finding out that his personal info may had been compromised, he took all the right steps that he thought would save him from becoming another powerless victim of identity theft.
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Experts say consumers can minimize fraud risk
One of the surest ways to protect against new account fraud is to place a security freeze on credit reports, which consumers can do for a one-time fee of about $10 to each of the three major credit reporting agencies, according to Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group on privacy rights.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/
***Credit Report Blog*** At first read, placing a “security freeze” on your credit reports seems like an ideal way to go to prevent identity theft. However, it must be mentioned how inconvenient this can be in your daily financial matters.
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Credit Monitoring Services - Wasting your money?
When you listen to ads pitching credit monitoring services, the top benefit they usually mention is to protect you from identity theft. Not true! These credit monitoring services do not really do anything to prevent identity theft. If anything, they may be able to alert you, once the crime has been committed. In addition, you will only receive these alerts on any credit-related activity, if certain conditions are first met. What’s more, these services can be very expensive. Why spend unnecessary dollars when you are entitled to a FREE credit report once a year? You can also receive it FREE if you are denied a line of credit, denied employment, or become victim of identity theft.
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Low Credit Scores hurt in more ways than you know
CreditReportBlog.com has done extensive research on how low credit scores hurt innocent buyers. We are all aware of the obvious ways in which a low credit score hurts us like higher mortgage and credit card interest rates. What we don’t realize is that there are many other unsuspecting ways that a low credit score may affect our lives.
EMPLOYMENT
You may find it surprising that some employers care about credit scores as well. Close to 70 percent of companies, especially large organizations will check credit before they hire a person. The logic behind it is that they assume credit problems at home create stress and distraction at work. They don’t want to have an employee get collection calls at work or have to get involved in garnishing wages.
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When do you need a credit counselor?
If you can pay your bills on time and are current on all your payments, you certainly do not need a credit counselor. Some indications that you may require the aid of a credit counselor are:
1. If you are not able to pay the minimum payments on your account.
2. If you are constantly late paying one or more of your regular bills.
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