* OUR CREDIT *

Having a bad credit history can be a real nightmare and major source of headaches.

With a bad credit history you are pretty much financially disabled from everything except transactions that can be covered with cash. Finding an apartment to rent, trying to buy car, putting a down payment on a house, or applying for a credit card or a loan from a bank can all be activities you are basically barred from with a bad credit history. Banks, businesses and landlords can see a bad credit history a mile away and will avoid you like the plague. And it seems like all the steps that are supposed to build credit require good credit in the first place. How can you break out of this credit catch-22 once you get stuck in it?

A good place to start if you have a particularly bad credit history is to contact a credit counseling service.

These services will help you to identify why it is you have a bad credit rating, and will help you figure out some steps you can take to repair your bad credit history. A lot of people struggle with credit at one point or other in their lives, and the use of these counseling services is a great way to get back on track.

Most counseling services will tell you that improving your bad credit history should start by clearing up any past debts or forgotten bills.

Missed payments have a tendency to work themselves into ugly marks on your credit rating, and make for a bad credit history. It is not in their nature for businesses to forget that you didn’t pay them what you owed, and they will almost always eventually contact a collection agency. When a collection agency decides that you aren’t going to pay, they’ll do everything in their power to give you a bad credit history.

These collection agencies are supposed to contact you about your debts first, but if you’ve moved or changed you phone number and they don’t succeed, they won’t be shy about ruining your credit without your permission. If you have a bad credit history, you might have been an unknowing target of one of these agencies.

Whatever the reason, clearing up a bad credit history should start by settling old debts or forgotten bills.

Additionally, you want to take steps to show that you can make payments responsibly. Use your credit cards often and pay the minimum payments on your bills immediately. If you don’t have a credit card, get a secured card and likewise make your minimum payments promptly. Credit counseling services can help you find additional ways to fix your bad credit history as well.

The difference between the success and failure of a small business can often be found in whether or not they accept credit cards.

In order for a business to thrive they need to cater to the needs of their customers. Most customers want a method of payment that is easiest for them. If you accept credit cards you’ll give your customers another choice in payment options.

Many people carry credit cards because they are one of the most convenient and accessible methods of payments.

Almost every major type of retailer will accept credit cards. The customer doesn’t have to worry about having enough cash nor do they need to use a debit card. Most banks allow you only a limited number of transactions on your debit card each month. If you surpass this, you’ll be faced with use charges.

Credit cards don’t have these same limitations and therefore many people use them as their primary method of payment. If they come across a business that doesn’t accept credit cards they might decide to take their money elsewhere.

If you are indeed a small business and it seems that having the ability to accept credit cards is out of your reach you might be wrong. It’s possible for many businesses, regardless of size, to obtain a merchant account which then affords them the privilege of being able to accept credit cards.

The first step is to visit your local bank.

There you’ll be able to discuss with a financial advisor how your business can take the leap into the credit card world. He or she will explain the process and costs involved to you so that you can begin to accept credit cards.

There is a bit more paperwork involved when you do offer credit card payments to your customers. However, any extra work is more than made up for in the increase in business.

It’s especially vital that an online business has the ability to accept credit cards.

When someone visits your website and spots a product they want to purchase, it’s important to them that they can buy the product quickly and effortlessly. They do not want to write you a check or go get a money order. They want to be able to go through the order process online which includes using their credit card to make the purchase.

If you want to give your business its best chance of success than get set up to accept credit cards. Your future customers will appreciate the convenience and you’ll enjoy the benefits as well.

Some of us have no business writing about the three major credit bureaus, and some of us have no need for all that is involved in the 3 major credit bureaus.

(And some of us fit in both of these categories, having no real assets to work with or write about!) In the same respect, the leading bureaus do factor into most of our lives—if we have ever purchased a home, a car, or other major item or if we use credit cards.

When we shop for autos or houses or even appliances or electrical or computer equipment, and we want to finance the items (get them on a loan to own or credit basis), the ones doing the financing will run a credit check with one of the 3 major credit bureaus: they will consult with or contact Equifax, Experian, and/or TransUnion. Listed here in alphabetical order are some of the particulars of each of the three major credit unions:


Equifax – www.equifax.com – Equifax offers services and products to protect against identity theft, to manage and check credit, and to prepare for a major purchase.

Equifax also provides tools for checking the value of a property, credit ranking, and the latest in business solutions (for B2B, B2C, and direct marketing, for example) and news …featuring such valuable articles as “Small Businesses Beware: ‘Rip Me Off’ is Written all over You;” “Yo Say You Can Smell Phish in Your In-box?” “Credit Union Thwarts Phishers and Reveals How;” and “Websites Let Users Send Email to Future.”

TO CALL
For general concerns, call 1-800-685-1111
To report or investigate fraud, call 1-800-525-6285

TO WRITE
To send snail mail correspondence, write to
PO Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374


Experian – www.experian.com – Experian also offers products and services to protect against fraud, to check 3-credit bureau reports, to check vehicle history (with a report), and to get further educated—understanding your credit and heeding customer alerts (such as those on Experian’s Katrina victims help pages and how to beware of phishing).

TO CALL
For general concerns, or to report or investigate fraud, call
1-888-397-3742

TO WRITE
To send snail mail correspondence, write to
PO Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion – www.transunion.com – Like the latter two, TransUnion offers products and support services for credit monitoring, provides fraud-prevention education and help, and free credit card report disclosures. As well, you can subscribe to the newsletter, to stay updated and get helpful credit tips; can find much information on preventing fraud or resuscitating your credit if you have been a victim of fraud; and can dispute credit card items you suspect or know to be false.

TO CALL
For general concerns, call 1-800-888-4213
To report or investigate fraud, call 1-800-680-7289

TO WRITE
To send snail mail correspondence, write to
PO Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022

If you need to, use all three major credit bureaus, then, for help or support…or use one, as each of these three offers a combined, 3-in-1 report.

One of the best things you can do for your personal finances is to eliminate credit card debt.

It is very simple to actually get into the debt trap, but getting out is a little more complicated. While it is complicated, it is certainly not impossible to eliminate credit card debt, especially with some assistance.

First, if you have a small amount of debt you can try to transfer your credit card balances from a card with monthly interest to a card that offers a period of zero percent interest.

If you have good overall credit there are many companies that should be willing to extend a credit card to you with this offer on credit balances. Most card companies offer this as an introductory period, generally for around six months to a year. Depending on the size of your debt, this should be enough time to eliminate credit card debt because you are paying directly to your debt and not finance charges. Again, if you have larger amounts of debt this may not be the way to go if you cannot afford the payments to pay off the debt before the introductory zero percent interest period is over.

If you do have larger debt amounts, you can either use a home equity line of credit or use a credit counseling service to eliminate credit card debt.

Using a home equity line is usually only beneficial if you have a large credit card balance and cannot escape a large percentage rate on your credit card financing for various reasons. If you use a home equity line, you can then get a lower interest rate through the bank and eliminate credit card debt by paying the balance off in full. If this option will not work for your situation, you can use the assistance of a credit counseling service or a credit elimination service. Credit counseling services negotiate with credit card companies to get lower monthly payments that go towards the debt and not the interest so you pay off the debt faster. Credit elimination services are usually a last resort and for use in extreme situations. These companies work on your behalf to negotiate with credit card companies to eliminate credit card debt without payment.

As you can see, there are several options to eliminate credit card debt. With some calling, paperwork and determination it can be done much more quickly than by paying the minimum payment each month on your credit card statement.

It is always a good idea to make sure that the information on your credit report is accurate.

Many people are surprised to find outdated or wrong information about their debts and their payment histories. Unfortunately, we wait until we are turned down for a loan or until we are denied a charge card before we investigate.

I recently found some interesting things on my credit check that I had no idea were even there. Debts that I had paid off over ten, (yes, ten) years ago were still showing unpaid balances. These two debts were paid in full a decade ago but they were still showing balances. This is very aggravating because those same companies would put a black mark on my credit check in a heartbeat if my payments were late. They can take their time recording payment in full, though.

Even though the payment history was favorable and accurate for these two bills they could have caused some problems for me. I may have had a difficult time getting a loan because I might not show capacity to pay. My credit report is used to determine if I have the capacity to pay. This is also referred to as the customer’s cap in the realm of the loan company.

I knew the importance of accurate information on my credit check because I was a loan officer years ago (back when I paid off my two debts that still show current on my report). When we would look at a customer’s report, we would use a formula to see how the person caps. In other words, we would add the numbers and divide and all of that fun math-type stuff involved in the process to see if the person could realistically make payments.

Simply put, if a person’s debts go over a certain percentage of his income, he won’t cap. He also won’t get a loan. This process is used to protect the loan company from making a bad investment and it protects the customer from getting in over his head.

My credit check showed that I might struggle with payments on a loan because two extra bills were showing as monthly obligations that I simply did not have. Of course, it only took a few phone calls to straighten everything out but I could have had money in hand a couple of days earlier if I had known what was going to be revealed on my credit check in the first place.

A 3 credit report can be useful for a variety of reasons.

There are three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and each of them has their own information about your credit, so to get a good credit report, you have to use all 3. Fortunately, you can get a 3 credit report for about $24, and this will tell you all you need to know about your credit.

Many institutions need to know your 3 credit report before they will approve of you, and so knowing your credit record can give you a heads up on your chances of receiving all kinds of services. For example, a home loan will not be given if you have a bad credit score, and neither will insurance, a credit card with a low apr, or some times even a lease on a house of car. So knowing your 3 credit report can be a short cut to save you time applying to services which you won't receive.

Another thing about knowing your 3 credit report score is that it can show you if someone has been defrauding you or stealing your identity. If, for example, someone has been getting accounts in your name and not telling you or paying them, they will show up on your 3 credit reports as a bad score. This will let you take appropriate legal action to get them removed from your record and to get the guy who did it by calling the cops.

Getting the bad fraud charges off of your 3 credit report score can be a major hassle

. Once my mon had serious charges on her 3 credit report because someone was filling for a cellphone using her name from Detroit, and the company would not believe it was not her, even though it was a different residence. To get them to believe it, she had to produce several pieces of identity and mail, as well as her home title to show where she was living. They would not believe that he address was what she said it was until she showed them lots of proof. What a hassle.

There are many ways you can improve your credit score. One of them is to own credit cards and regularly pay off your payments to show that you are reliable and can bbe trusted with credit. If you regularly pay off your balance, and are on time with gas, phone, electric, and utility bills, this also can help.

In the long run, it is worth it for you to keep your credit good, because it means you qualify for better interest rates, bigger lines of credit, and all kinds of other financial benefits that you wouldn't have otherwise. Really, it's easy and you've got nothing to lose..

We hope this helps You!

It can be useful to get a loan for many things, however, you must be careful.

I mean, really careful.

There are all types of fraudulent services out there which will lure you in with promises of guaranteed loans even if you have bad credit, or if you have been turned down in the past, etcetera, but many of them don't tell you, or try not to tell you that they will charge you an arm and a leg in interest on your loan in exchange for your gullability in using their services. Basically, any one who offers a loan for people with terrible credit is looking for vulnerable people with economic problems to completely rip off.

Recently, I got a loan for improving my restaurant, and you can bet I didn't use one of these services. I got what was known as a small business loan, a loan guaranteed by the government to help small business owners like me make improvements on their establishments at reasonable rates. This loan let me add a new counter, new tables, several new pots and pans, knives and other utensils, a new sound system, as well as a stage for shows. This loan was very reasonable, and I'd get another loan for my business if I was to need to improve it again.

You can also get a loan for improving your education. College loans can be found if you have economic problems, good grades, or sometimes just because you are going into a program which is under represented. It can be very difficult to pay for college of if you are of modest economic means. Add to that being a single mother, and having to support a family, and you can see why a college loan can be so necessary.

My cousin recently got a loan for college. She did not get the best grades, but because she was going in to science as a woman, she was an under represented group in a fast growing field, and therefore, loans were available for her. She is now a successful researcher doing physics experiments at a major national research laboratory, so obviously that loan paid off.

You can see that, although you will have to pay it off, and with some interest, it can often be worth it to have a loan to improve all sorts of areas of your life. And a college loan, you don't have to pay for until after college.

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Getting a credit report is a good idea if you are not sure about what your credit score may be.


If you are planning on applying for a loan, buying a car, putting a down payment on a house, or simply applying for a credit card, you are going to want to know what kind of credit you have beforehand, and a credit report is the only sure way of knowing. If you’ve been rejected from a loan or credit card, a credit report will help you figure out why.

The good news is getting a credit report doesn’t have to be such a chore anymore. You don’t need to make any appointments, fill out any paper work, or even leave your house so long as you have an internet connection. There are a number of different sites today that offer you a credit report upon signing up. Prior to applying for a new credit card several years ago, I tried one of these site out just for the heck of it. Right off the bat I noticed a number of sites that claimed that they will give a credit report for free, so I tried one of these to start.

The first site I tried was indeed free, however I still have yet to receive a credit report from them. They required a credit card number, which I gave them, and bunch of other personal information, and then said that I would receive my credit report in the mail. Well, its several years later and I haven’t gotten one. Fortunately, they did not charge my account for anything, but nevertheless I regret ever signing up with them.

Your best bet, I soon learned, in getting a credit report is to use one well known and respected credit services such as Experian, or Equifax. There will charge you a small fee, usually around $30 USD, or more if you want a more detailed report. Getting an accurate credit report is well worth this small fee, however.

Overall, my advice before getting a credit report is to spend a few minutes researching different credit report sites. Don’t be fooled by offers of free credit reports, because there are likely strings attached. Additionally, there is always the danger that the site you are signing up on is a complete fraud designed just for collecting peoples personal information for illegal use.

Looking into it a little before signing up for a credit report may save you a lot of headaches later on.

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