Understanding the Relation Between Gender and Good Credit Score

Men and women have a different approach towards managing finance and debt. Women are more responsible in handling their credit, while men tend to accumulate more debt and default on mortgages. Experian’s study on interrelation between gender, credit, and financial management proves it right. Read further to know more about the revelations in the study and more on what is a good credit score, and how to earn it.

The Study

The study says that women have an average credit score of 675 compared to 670 among men and they have 3.7% less average debt.  Women have 23.5% more open credit cards as compared to men and the revolving utilization ratio is 4.2% less than men. Borrowings for secured mortgages are 7.9 % less in terms of volume and women make 8.1% less late mortgage payments than men.

Key lessons from the Experian study

1. Education and income do not guarantee a good credit score. Women offset the wage difference by prudent fund management, which also defines their financial stability. Wage difference is offset by prudent management of funds by women that also defines their financial stability. Creditworthiness of women is high as they have lower debt, use credit wisely and pay bills on time.

 

1. Credit cards are important not just because they offer convenience, but also help you during financial emergencies. Though an increase in credit card usage by women does not translate into bad debts, it helps in developing a positive payment history, debt utilization, credit length and greater diversity in credit reports. Such parameters help to boost credit scores by over 90%, which can significantly bolster confidence and self-esteem.

 

1. The importance of credit health increases as people age. Retirement income, medical bills and existing debt are some of the expenses that more than 65 percent of the consumer face everyday. A good credit score results in low interest rates and premiums and keep the costs low. Such factors depict that both male and female retirees need to ensure that their credit score doesn’t suffer.

Women may not always have a higher credit score than their male counterparts. Spending habits, wise purchase decision, and understanding finance management is crucial to secure the financial future. Credit scores are usually down when people are young, but they should be repaired as you enter middle –age and be perfect by the time you retire. An individual needs to spend wisely to avoid financial crunch in the future. Hope the blog gives a clear understanding of the mindset of both, men and women to help individuals plan their credit and budget.

Improving Your Credit Score Post Bankruptcy: 5 Essential Tips

Credit score experts believe that people can get close to a credit score of 700 within three to five years after filing for bankruptcy. Although rebuilding credit after bankruptcy is always possible, the first requirement is to cultivate sound financial habits and ensure borrowers never falter on their payments while rebuilding their credit. Whether you consult a friend to get advice in this direction or take the assistance of a credit repair service provider, that’s up to you. Through this blog post, we’ll have a look at five essential tips how to repair credit after bankruptcy. Take a look.

1. Apply for a Secured Credit Card

Secured credit cards come with collateral. Consequently, they are easy to apply for and are a great way to start your credit-rebuilding journey. The line of credit available is often equal to the collateral amount, and if you continue to make its payments regularly, banks sometimes increase the available credit limit.

2. Improve Payment History

FICO, one of the most used scoring models, calculates 35 percent of the total credit score on your payment history. Therefore, before you apply for a new loan, it’s first important to ensure that you score maximum in this section. Pay your bills in full and on time, as this will increase your credit score gradually. A positive credit history also reflects you as a responsible borrower among your lenders.

3. Keep Credit Utilization Ratio

Lenders usually consider those borrowers as a risk who have more than 30 percent of credit utilization ratio reflecting in their credit report. The reason behind this is that a high credit utilization ratio means you are closer to using your maximum credit line or maxing out your credit card if you are already using one. On the other hand, when you have low credit utilization ratio, it will have a positive impact on lenders and increase your credit score.

4. Maintain the Credit Lines With a Good History

One of the mistakes that people do is close their old accounts after bankruptcy. You don’t want to do that, however, if you have accounts with a good credit history. Even if you aren’t using them, let them be open, as it will keep your total credit line high and consequently, lower your credit utilization ratio. On the other hand, closing previous accounts will decrease your total line of credit and increase your credit utilization ratio.

5. Review Credit Reports at Regular Intervals

Once a person files for bankruptcy, all their accounts in the credit report must be discharged and show as zero balance. Therefore, it is important to get copies of your credit report and check for these items. Simultaneously, checking your credit report also provides a clear picture of all your dues and what all pending accounts need the most attention.

Conclusion

Bankruptcy can remain on a person’s credit report for ten years; however, it shouldn’t stop people from rebuilding their credit score. In fact, taking smart and responsible financial steps can help borrowers once again build a decent credit score over time. What’s most important here is to keep a track of their credit report on a regular basis, as doing so ensures that no erroneous items deteriorate their credit score. Simultaneously, whenever somebody feels they need assistance, there’s no harm in consulting a professional credit repair company.

Decoding a Credit Report is Easy: Learn How

Most people we meet in our daily life would say that there are a lot of things on their credit report that they could not understand. People mostly complain about not being able to decipher what the various abbreviations and the numbers on their credit report indicate. However, the truth is that credit reports are not that difficult to comprehend. In fact, if people were given a few tips on how to go about reading a credit report, most of them would be able to read it without much difficulty. In this post, we discuss the layout and the important sections in a credit report, learning which reading a credit report would be a cakewalk for you.

How to Read a Credit Report?

Though the credit reports that the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) provide to the consumers are not the same, the sections that all of them have are almost similar. Usually, the credit report from each bureau contains the following five major sections.

Personal Information

This section includes the personal information of the consumer. The information includes the name, phone number, address, employment details, and many other details. Very few consumers realize that the information in this section is more important than what many consumers presume.  One quick tip – It is common for consumers to come across errors in this section. It is advisable that one must get the same rectified as soon as possible. It is important to do so because often wrong information can be a potential sign of fraud.

Credit Summary

This section includes information on your accounts. It includes the following account types – real estate accounts, revolving accounts, installment accounts, collection accounts and others. The section lists the following details about the different account types – the total number of accounts, the number of current as well as delinquent accounts and the balance in each account type. The section also summarizes the number of accounts that have been opened, closed, and the inquiries made against your credit during the last two years.

Account History

The account history section is one of the bulkiest sections in a credit report. It includes all the information about the credit accounts that you hold and the details about the payments made. Each credit account consists of the following major information – creditor’s name, account number, account type, the amount paid per month, date of opening the account, payment status, payment history, remarks, and more.

Public Records

The public record section is the most important section and any negative information in this section can severely impact the benefits that you get basis your credit report. Therefore, it is advisable to check this section for errors and keep this section clear. This section includes information such as judgments, state court records, bankruptcies, tax liens, and, overdue child support (as applicable in some states). Usually, any account related public record stays on your credit report for 7-10 years. The duration depends on the type of account listed.

Credit Inquiries

This section lists all the inquiries made by third parties on your credit report during the past two years. It lists all the hard as well as the soft inquiries that were made on your credit report. The difference between the two is that “soft” inquiries are the ones that are made by lenders for the purpose of promotions, however, “hard” inquiries are the ones that are made by lenders to check your credibility before approving a credit application.

A Word of Advice

Unfortunate but true, few people check their credit report on a regular basis. Some don’t even ask for the one that they are eligible for free of cost every year. People should order their credit reports every six months, if not quarterly. This would help prevent any credit related issues such as identity theft, rejection of a loan application due to inaccurate information on the credit report, and more. If you want to be financially successful, make sure you monitor your credit report on a regular basis apart from saving regularly and keeping a track of your spending.

Overdrafts May Affect Your Creditworthiness: Here is How

Overdraft is an extension of credit to borrowers from a lending institution despite having zero account balance. If you are consistently using overdrafts to meet your financial requirements, it indicates that you are spending more money than you can afford and that you may have failed to cover up your credit card bill because of insufficient funds.

When you opt for overdraft transactions, the bank provides the amount, but it charges an overdraft fee for each transaction. Some banks even charge a fee for each day your account is in negative. Fortunately, bank overdrafts don’t hurt your credit score if you clean up your bad credit on time. However, if you fail to pay back the overdraft amount, the bank will send your debt to a collection agency, and that’s when your overdraft can spoil your credit score. Unless you clean up your bad credit fast, it will leave a negative impact on your credit history in the long run.

The Relation Between Overdrafts and Credit Score

Though overdrafts may not directly hurt your credit score, but there can be direct implications if you ignore the payments required against overdrafts for long enough, as your bank may turn it over to a collection agency. This is when the collection agency may put it in papers in an attempt to collect the debt, which in turn affect your credit score. The information of your defaulting account remains on your credit report for seven years, even when you have already paid the amount. You can only insist your creditor to remove negative items from the report after you have paid the due amount.

You May is not Eligible for a Credit Card or a Loan

Frequent overdrafts can cause your name to be reported to ChexSystems, a financial reporting system that banks refer to when considering an application for a new checking account. Your name gets reported to ChexSystems when you abuse bank account or any bank-related instrument including overdrafts that you may have failed to pay.

There are also several banks that operate on their internal scoring system in which they assess credit report of the applicants along with their account history of existing accounts with that bank. If the bank from which you are planning to borrow, use any such credit scoring system, and you are defaulting on several overdrafts with that bank or reported to have a poor credit score by ChexSystem, it may reduce your creditworthiness.

The Bottom Line

ChexSystems may put you on the list of low credit score holder, but if you find errors in the report, you are allowed to dispute the information and report the as inaccurate under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If you get the account deleted through a dispute, you can put a notation on your file to explain the debt when applying for any loan or a new checking or saving bank account. If you still feel the need of some professional guidance, you can seek the assistance of a credit repair company to clean up your credit by guiding through the process.

4 Store Credit Cards that Can Help Rebuild Your Credit

Using store credit cards may not offer the same value as conventional credit cards, still they are an effective way for consumers looking to mitigate their credit problems. If your credit score is low, a store credit can be a good option for you to rebuild your credit, as they are easily available than normal credit cards for which consumers need to have an adequate credit score. In addition, store credit cards are also a good alternative to subprime credit cards that carry higher interest rates. In this blog post, we have listed four store credit cards that you can use to get some significant discounts as well as improve your credit score.

1. MY BEST BUY Reward Zone Credit Card

MY BEST BUY credit card comes in two categories — MY BEST BUY CREDIT CARD and MY BEST BUY VISA CARD. Though both the cards offer a five percent back in rewards as well as promotional financing, the later also allows two percent back in rewards for dining, grocery, and gas purchase, outside Best Buy. You can use the MY BEST BUY VISA card to get one percent back in rewards for everyday purchases as well. The BEST BUY Mastercard has no annual fee.

Note: The reward you get for gas purchases on MY BEST BUY VISA is only available through April 2016.

2. Walmart Credit Card

Just like MY BEST BUY credit card, consumers don’t have to pay any annual fee to get this store credit card. Though the card does not offer substantial rewards, they get customers some discounts on gas and special financing offers. Unlike some of the other store cards, the Walmart credit card gives its applicants the privilege to also receive a monthly update of their FICO credit scores.

3. Kohl’s Charge Card

Kohl’s Charge provides its credit card applicants discounts at least 12 times a year. You receive a 20 percent discount on your first purchase. In addition, when you become their MVC or Most Valued Customer, you receive six more offers every year. Applicants don’t have to pay any fee to sign up for or use this credit card.

4. Lowe’s Consumer Credit Card

Consumers can use this store credit card to either get a five percent discount on everyday shopping or sign up for a 12-month or 18-month special financing. No interest is charged to your account till the moment you settle the card’s payments within 12 or 18 months, depending on the financing option you have chosen. The Walmart credit card attracts no credit fee. In addition, Lowe’s credit cardholders can also combine the special financing options with the five percent discount till their purchase values meet the minimum purchase threshold.

Conclusion

Store credit cards can be a great way to rebuild credit and resolve your credit score problem as the benchmark credit score to sign up for them is not as high as that required for conventional credit cards. However, these cards often have high interest and, therefore, should be used judiciously. In fact, it’s ideal to consult a professional offering credit repair services before you sign up for a store credit card or look for other ways to restore your credit.

3 US Presidents You Wouldn’t Believe had Credit Woes

If you think that only common men struggle to manage their credit properly, you may be surprised to know that credit management woes are something that has not spared even the most famous personalities. When we say famous personalities, the list is not just limited to celebrity actors, musicians, singers or business tycoons or industrialists, but it also has some of the most revered US Presidents. In this post, we will talk about three famous US presidents, who had their own share of credit woes.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd US President (1801-1809), the American Founding Father, a proven architect, a skilled writer, and correspondent. He was also one of the key contributors in drafting the ‘The Declaration of Independence.’ Besides, he mastered various disciplines ranging from mathematics, horticulture to inventions. Despite his vast knowledge and expertise in a wide range of subjects, he was not an exemplary figure when it comes to credit management. Historians, however, historians claim it wasn’t Jefferson’s fault completely, rather he was a victim of unfortunate situations. During his presidential tenure, he got the burden of debts owed by his father-in-law to the British creditors. Later, he made another mistake of co-signing a loan for his grandson’s father-in-law. Both these decisions cost him heavily, and when he died, he left an accumulated debt amount of $100,000.

Ulysses S. Grant

The 18th US President (1869-1877), Ulysses S. Grant first rose to prominence as the Commanding General of the US Army during the tenure of the then President, Abraham Lincoln. While he was able to lead his troops to victory during the American Civil War, one of the major reasons he was later elected as the US President, he failed to resolve his credit issues and ended up being declared bankrupt. His finances were always a problem and in a dismal state most of the times. One major mistake he committed was investing all his life savings into a business venture that badly failed. He was cheated by one of his business partners. However, during his last days, he turned to writing that eventually got half-a-million dollars for his family.

Harry S. Truman

The 33rd US President (1945-1953) is known to the world as the President, who ordered dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The haberdashery, he opened with a friend didn’t do well, and it went bankrupt in less than three years, and they had to keep paying for a decade to settle the related debts. In fact, Truman’s financial status was so stressed that he had to live with his wife in her mother’s home. Even after his presidential tenure, he went back to his mother-in-law’s home to live there with his wife. The only income was the army pension that he received and the money he made by selling the property he inherited from his mother.

Conclusion

Unfortunate but true, credit has nothing to do with how well you are faring in the other walks of your life. Most of the credit issues occur because people fail to keep a track of their finances or end up taking unplanned decisions. If you are facing a similar debt-related situation and need help to repair a bad credit score, conduct a comprehensive research before hiring the services of a credit repair firm. Research is a must because there are more than a few companies that make tall claims of helping repair bad credit issues, but there are very few who actually know how to and can help you with your credit woes.

Repair Bad Credit Score for a Financially Secure Future

Credit Report – A Spot of Bother

In all these years, have you ever taken a close look at your credit report? You might be too busy in your career or taking care of your family, and didn’t get any time. Well, you could have saved thousands of dollars that you may have paid had you given a little attention. This is not a riddle; so let’s clarify it. Checking the credit transactions on your credit could have revealed several errors and prevented you from shelling out your hard-earned money.

Can you remember the instances where you chose a beautiful home for your expanding family, but your mortgage application got declined mysteriously? Or despite meeting all the qualifying criteria, you received a polite rejection in response to your application for an auto loan? Unavailability of the financial services mentioned above has pulled you back pretty badly. This is not what you anticipated. Since then a lot of doubts and questions are cluttering your mind.

All the answers to your questions may have been lying in just one document; your credit report. The report can have many inaccuracies, and this is why it’s important to fix your credit history. For this purpose, you can hire services of a credit restoration firm to repair bad credit.

How to Read a Credit Report

As basic as it may sound, but it is critical to read the credit report correctly. It will help you identify some major flaws there.

The following sections you need to read on your credit report:

• Identity Detail Section – It includes your name, address, and other relevant identifying information.
• Credit History Section – In this section, you will get a list of the all the accounts opened and closed.
• Collection Agency Accounts – Information related to the accounts, your creditors passed on to any collection agency.
• Courthouse Records – These are the public records that are obtained from the federal, local, and state courts.
• Additional Information – The section includes information related to addresses that you previously resided at and your employment history.
• Inquiry Section – This is the section from where you will get to know which companies requested your credit history in the past 24 months.

Once you go through the above sections in your credit report and identify the inaccurate information, the next step should ideally be consulting a credit repair company. Such a company can fix your credit by following a structured process.

A reputable credit service organization can help you remove the errors from your credit report and also advise you on managing your money and debts. These organizations have experts, who are certified and trained in consumer credit, and money/debt management. This is perhaps the best way you can revive your credit score and become eligible for various financial services.

Summary

Fixing the credit report can resolve the biggest financial woes of consumers. There can be many discrepancies in their report, and it is important to remove those inaccuracies to improve the credit history. A reputed credit repair company can help remove the inaccurate items and repair bad credit in the process.

4 Steps to Raise a Dispute and Clean up Your Credit Report

If this post has caught your attention, the chances are that you may be struggling because of a bad credit score. Consumers are often at the receiving end of inaccurate credit reporting by credit agencies and creditors. When inaccurate items remain on your credit report, they can jeopardize your credit history. There have been instances in the past when consumers were denied credit because their credit score is less than adequate or simply poor. The good news, however, is that by following a few steps you can clean up your credit report and build a strong credit profile. The steps are below:

Step 1: Order your credit report

The only way to solve the inaccurate credit reporting issue is to raise a dispute, and therefore, you should begin by taking out your free credit report and scrutinizing it thoroughly. As a bona fide customer, you are entitled to get one credit report for free once a year from each of the three credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and the TransUnion. Get reports from these major credit bureaus at the same time because there are chances that discrepancies present in one report may not show up on another.

Step 2: Identify mistakes

The more the data on your credit report, the higher the chances of error. As the rule of thumb, read the report carefully and identify those mistakes. Make sure that the following items are correct:

• Your personal data
• Information related to accounts
• Your Credit card data
• Various transactional items
• Any closed or dormant accounts written as “open”
• Any data that is more than seven years old

Step 3: Collate evidence regarding errors

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, all the items in the credit report should be accurate and verifiable. The responsibility lies with the credit reporting agencies when any negative items can’t be verified must be removed from your report. If you find that negative items such as bankruptcies, charge-offs or foreclosure are still in your credit report by mistake, the relevant credit rating agency should investigate the issue, delete them from your report.

Step 4: Inform credit bureaus and creditors

Writing to the three major credit bureaus and the creditors, is important to get a resolution to credit reporting issue. Most debtors make the mistake of writing only to the credit bureaus and not the creditors. It is extremely important to write to the creditors as well because if they admit that the data they provided is inaccurate, half the battle is won.

A Piece of Advice

Despite the fact that restoring your credit score time, patience, and a consistent repayment schedule. ck to where you were initially. The credit bureau has to look into your dispute within 30 days. In case, the credit bureau does not agree with your claim ask them to send in writing their observation. You can consult a professional credit repair firm that has extensive knowledge and expertise in dealing with credit agencies. A reputable firm can help clean up your credit report without you having to go through all the formalities.

Get Your Credit History Restored: Rebuild Your Finance

A good credit score is essential to get various financial benefits such as low-interest rates on loans, credit cards, reduced insurance premiums, zero to minimal security deposits on utilities, and others. On the other hand, a poor or less than adequate credit score can make you ineligible to take advantage of these benefits by bringing down your creditworthiness. A scenario like this can be frustrating to any consumer. On top of it, wrongly reported items on your credit report can add to the woes as they make your credit score dip. The inevitable questions are then “What’s the way to fix your credit history?” and “What steps should you take to dispute an error on your credit report?” Well, in this post we discuss the points you need to keep in mind at the time of drafting a credit report dispute letter and sending it to the relevant authorities to remove the inaccurate items from your credit report and restore your credit now.

Keep in mind the following items when drafting a credit report dispute letter:

Include relevant identification information

If you find inaccurate items on your credit report, raise a dispute with the relevant credit agencies. Draft a letter and include your name, address, credit report reference number, last four digits of the social security number, date of transactions,  and other details. Subsequently, the credit agencies will reply with their clarifications.

Describe the misreported item

The misreported items should be defined clearly for the officials to remove it from the records. If it is a credit card transaction, mention the last four digits of the credit card used, credit card vendor, transaction dates, and amount.
Make your letter readable and sound professional
Hand-written letters should be legible and easy to understand. It is advisable to send a typed and well-formatted letter and proofread the draft carefully. You can also take help of a professional business writer, who specializes in preparing such drafts. As a rule of thumb, avoid making the dispute letter more than a page.

Include copies of your documents

To bolster your case, include all the supporting documents. These documents can elicit a positive response from the creditor involved. Don’t send the original copies as those are the strongest evidence you have.

No need to mention any FCRA rules

Focus on the area of concern rather than reiterating the rules as the people at the other end already understand the rules. You primarily need to specify your main concerns related to inaccuracies in your credit report.

Ask for a Clear Resolution

Some debtors make the mistake of highlighting the problem clearly, but forget to mention the corrective action that is required. Make sure you categorically communicate to creditors/credit agencies about what resolution you want to get the wrong items removed from your credit report.

Conclusion

If you think you are not getting a satisfactory response from any of the three credit bureaus or agencies and that they are dragging their feet on your case, you can seek the help of a credit repair company. Companies like these know all the rules related to fair credit reporting, and they can present your case strongly to remove all the discrepancies from your credit report, help restore your credit score.

How to Remove Credit Inaccuracies and Repair Your Credit Score

Did you know that 70 percent of all the credit reports contain inaccuracies, and 29 percent of those errors have serious discrepancies? Imagine the possible consequences such inaccuracies can inflict on your credit history. Considering this, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was enacted in 1970. The objective of implementing this act is to ensure accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumers. This act regulates the practices of credit reporting agencies for collection, dissemination, and use of consumer credit information.

According to FCRA, consumers can dispute any inaccurate information on their credit report with the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and the TransUnion. According to this law, creditors need to verify any disputed information and get back to the complainant within 30 days. If creditors fail to verify the information within the specified time limit, they need to remove those inaccurate transactional items from consumers’ credit report.

Ways to Repair Your Credit Score

The responsibility to verify consumers’ credit/transactional information lies both with the three credit bureaus and creditors. Any inaccurate item found in the report such as bankruptcies, charge-offs, tax liens, foreclosures, and collection accounts should be removed from the report after a detailed verification. If you already have a blemished credit report, and looking to get an answer to the inevitable question “How to repair my credit score,” verifying your report is the first step.

Read on to learn about the ways to repair your credit score.

Get a Free Credit Report and Verify Yourself

Consumers in the US are entitled to get a free credit report annually from the three credit bureaus. You can visit AnnualCreditReport.com or request for a report by calling them at their toll-free number mentioned on the site. You can also fill out the request form and mail to their correspondence address.

Contact the Credit Bureaus

If you are sure that your credit report contains inaccurate information, contact the credit bureaus for clarification. You can consult a credit repair company to draft a professionally written letter. Your letter should ideally have the following information.

Your complete name and address
The disputed item on your credit report
The facts and the explanation in support of the raised dispute.

In addition, attach copies of the original documents as evidence. Enclose a copy of your credit report and highlight the disputed items. Also, make sure you send the letter by certified mail and request for a return receipt so that you have the proof of acknowledgement.

Contact the Creditor

Once you send a letter to the credit bureaus disputing the inaccurate information on your credit report, send copies of the same along with a fresh letter to the relevant creditors, informing them about the dispute you raised with the credit bureaus. Usually, the process takes between 30 to 90 days.

Conclusion

Fixing your credit report will pave the way to repair your credit score. It is, however, not a quick process as it involves a significant due diligence to verify the discrepancies in your report. It is advisable that take help of a reputed credit repair consulting firm to deal with the all the hassles involved in the whole process and avoid having a delay in getting your credit score restored.