My credit report sucks

[terry78]

I went to one of those sites where you can view it for free for like 30 days, and I had forgotten about past student loans and other personal loans I made when my dad was sick back in 2001 are still on there in full force. I wasn't working for like 6 months at one point and a lot of that **** became late, so now I see I have to attempt to see if I can improve some of it, because apparantly you can't step onto concrete without them checking your credit these days.

 

[Halcohol]

How do you improve your credit? 'Cause I might be in a similar situation pretty quick.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

How do you "forget student loans"?
They've been a dark cloud over everyone I've known who owed them, coloring every moment of every day, tainting every major decision with anxiety.

 

[terry78]

How do you "forget student loans"?
They've been a dark cloud over everyone I've known who owed them, coloring every moment of every day, tainting every major decision with anxiety.

Not forget, just wasn't able to pay for a long period due to unemployment. I had several of them with different companies, so keeping track wasn't always top priority. Had family issues and what not.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Having seen several lives not destroyed, but severely effed up by debt, this is why I pay cash for everything.
If I can't afford it, then I save up till I can.
The interest with credit cards is criminal, they don't even tempt me.
Only sucks when obscure nunsploitation films are only available online.

 

[Avalanche]

My sister used my credit card, kept incurring late payment fees, and now I have a bad credit rating because of her. I can't even open a new bank account now.

 

[Man-Thing]

If you ever have to make a payment late, you should call the lender and tell them, they will normally work with you.

Also, it's silly to pay off student loans early if you have other debt like credit cards. Student loans are at a such low interest rate.

 

[Man-Thing]

My sister used my credit card, kept incurring late payment fees, and now I have a bad credit rating because of her. I can't even open a new bank account now.

Did you let her use it?

 

[Anita18]

See if you can call your lenders and explain your situation. They'll try and help you consolidate your loans, since they want you to make your payments after all, LOL.

It's kind of a catch-22, since you need a good credit score, but the only way to get one is by keeping good credit, which involves having a credit card and rent payments. I've tried to cancel my old credit card, but the lady on the phone explained to me that even if I don't keep a balance on it, it adds to my score and benefits it. (Since then I've made one late payment oops...but if you keep a really good eye on it, it doesn't make much of a difference.)

The most important thing to do now is to work on improving it. If you've got lousy credit, but if you work really hard at improving it for 6 months, you'd be amazed how much it helps. Call your lenders, make your payments, and stick with it.

My college had a personal finance seminar for seniors, and they said that to maximize your credit, you should keep a maximum credit card balance of 30% of your limit. (Like, if I have a card with a $10,000 limit, I'll keep an optimal score if I keep the balance at or below $3,000.) It's rather unintuitive, but that's kinda the way it goes. I've gone over it a lot, but it won't kill you. Just something to keep in mind. The most important thing is to make your payments on time.

Good luck!

 

[NOFX]

I have 780 credit score! I only started having credit last year and I almost have perfect credit! Hey im azn what are you going to do!

 

[guitarsingerguy]

Credit is not a hard thing to get a hold of. My credit score was 760 when I bought my car last year. I'm 26 years old. This is why you don't let your credit get out of hand. How much were your monthly payments? On credit cards, they're next to nothing.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I have 780 credit score! I only started having credit last year and I almost have perfect credit! Hey im azn what are you going to do!

I'll bet if we were sitting at dinner, and I asked you to pass the salt, you'd say, "Sure thing, Azn's pass the salt, and I'm Azn afterall!" and then pass the salt.

 

[NOFX]

How do you improve your credit? 'Cause I might be in a similar situation pretty quick.

I use credit keeper and its awesome! For a long time I had no credit! I didnt get approved for ****! Anyways I asked my aunt if she could co-sign my Best Buy credit card and it got approved! While I got approved the clerk asked me if I wanted to sign for credit keeper and he told me that credit keeper keeps check of all your credit and make sure no one is using your credit! So I signed up. Within one year of using of Credit keeper I went from no credit to almost prefect credit! How did I do it? Everytime I use my credit cards I would make sure I could afford it! and I simply pay it back the end of the month. My scores went to the roof! But whatever you do, dont miss a payment! I missed it once it almost took 50 points off

 

[NOFX]

I'll bet if we were sitting at dinner, and I asked you to pass the salt, you'd say, "Sure thing, Azn's pass the salt, and I'm Azn afterall!" and then pass the salt.

No! I would asked the white man next to me to pass the salt! because "azn dont pass salt to the white man!"

 

[Man-Thing]

See if you can call your lenders and explain your situation. They'll try and help you consolidate your loans, since they want you to make your payments after all, LOL.

It's kind of a catch-22, since you need a good credit score, but the only way to get one is by keeping good credit, which involves having a credit card and rent payments. I've tried to cancel my old credit card, but the lady on the phone explained to me that even if I don't keep a balance on it, it adds to my score and benefits it. (Since then I've made one late payment oops...but if you keep a really good eye on it, it doesn't make much of a difference.)

The most important thing to do now is to work on improving it. If you've got lousy credit, but if you work really hard at improving it for 6 months, you'd be amazed how much it helps. Call your lenders, make your payments, and stick with it.

My college had a personal finance seminar for seniors, and they said that to maximize your credit, you should keep a maximum credit card balance of 30% of your limit. (Like, if I have a card with a $10,000 limit, I'll keep an optimal score if I keep the balance at or below $3,000.) It's rather unintuitive, but that's kinda the way it goes. I've gone over it a lot, but it won't kill you. Just something to keep in mind. The most important thing is to make your payments on time.

Good luck!

The highlighted is just really stupid advice. The best way to build credit is to take out a bank note and pay it off early. Credit cards should be gotten not with intentions of getting "good credit", but to be used in cases of emergency.

Don't let anyone tell you mindless stuff like this. Even if having 3,000 dollars on a credit card with a limit of 10,000 dollars were beneficial, the amount you pay in interest is not worth it.

I have a GM card, and I make my payment everymonth in full. I now have about 1,600 dollars I can use toward a new GM vehicle when I decide to buy one. When I bought my house, my lender said that I had the best credit she'd ever seen for anyone my age, and it's because I always have made my payments on time (BEFORE THE GRACE PERIOD) and I always pay stuff off early. I'm not boasting, but I think people need to be concerned about their credit score. It can be the difference of several thousands of dollars on a mortgage, and can help you land that good job, and can keep other things like auto insurance low (yes, auto insurance companies can raise the price of your premium based on your CREDIT!)

Anyway, I highly suggest getting some books from people like Suze Orman, and not get your info from people on message boards who say stuff like "It's good to have 3,000 dollar balance on a credit card that has a limit of 10,000 dollars" I don't agree with Suze on everything, but most of it is because of tastes, but don't get suckered in to silly credit counseling, and don't do those consolidation companie things- they make your credit look horrible.

 

[Man-Thing]

See if you can call your lenders and explain your situation. They'll try and help you consolidate your loans, since they want you to make your payments after all, LOL.

It's kind of a catch-22, since you need a good credit score, but the only way to get one is by keeping good credit, which involves having a credit card and rent payments. I've tried to cancel my old credit card, but the lady on the phone explained to me that even if I don't keep a balance on it, it adds to my score and benefits it. (Since then I've made one late payment oops...but if you keep a really good eye on it, it doesn't make much of a difference.)

The most important thing to do now is to work on improving it. If you've got lousy credit, but if you work really hard at improving it for 6 months, you'd be amazed how much it helps. Call your lenders, make your payments, and stick with it.

My college had a personal finance seminar for seniors, and they said that to maximize your credit, you should keep a maximum credit card balance of 30% of your limit. (Like, if I have a card with a $10,000 limit, I'll keep an optimal score if I keep the balance at or below $3,000.) It's rather unintuitive, but that's kinda the way it goes. I've gone over it a lot, but it won't kill you. Just something to keep in mind. The most important thing is to make your payments on time.

Good luck!

you took advice from the woman who paycheck is dependant upon your not paying off your credit cards. Seriously, pay it off and close that account!!!

 

[Man-Thing]

Having seen several lives not destroyed, but severely effed up by debt, this is why I pay cash for everything.
If I can't afford it, then I save up till I can.
The interest with credit cards is criminal, they don't even tempt me.
Only sucks when obscure nunsploitation films are only available online.

get a debit card...

 

[Man-Thing]

Also, if you are really commited about paying off your cards, call the company and tell them that you have had an offer from another company to transfer your account, and ask them to match it. About 50% of the time they will match it, and 80% of the time they will atleast offer you a lower rate.

Also, when you are paying off your cards, pay off the highest interest one first. The amount that are on the cards shouldn't be considered when paying them off, it should be how much the interest is.

Also, when you pay one off, take what you would normally pay to that card, and apply that to the next highest. Don't get suckered into making only the minimum payments, pay over every month- it equates to thousands of dollars.

 

[War Lord]

If you have a bad credit rating, it takes about 3 to 5 years to repair the damage and bring it back into a good light. The only way to repair your credit rating, unless you want to wait 7 years after a bankruptcy, is to create a plan to pay back any unpaid loans and then work like a dog to pay them down.

The best way to pay it down, if you have several loans and/or credit cards, is to pick one and target it, preferably the smaller ones because they can be paid off quicker, and when you have one paid off, use the money freed to target another loan and keep doing that until you've paid all your debts.

Then don't go into debt for anything else unless you're buying a house.

 

[Man-Thing]

If you have a bad credit rating, it takes about 3 to 5 years to repair the damage and bring it back into a good light. The only way to repair your credit rating, unless you want to wait 7 years after a bankruptcy, is to create a plan to pay back any unpaid loans and then work like a dog to pay them down.

The best way to pay it down, if you have several loans and/or credit cards, is to pick one and target it, preferably the smaller ones because they can be paid off quicker, and when you have one paid off, use the money freed to target another loan and keep doing that until you've paid all your debts.

Then don't go into debt for anything else unless you're buying a house.

Pay off higher interest first, not the smaller amounts. Interest will eat you alive.

 

[War Lord]

Pay off higher interest first, not the smaller amounts. Interest will eat you alive.

I agree, among the smaller loans, to pick the higher interest rates first. But it's easier to free up capital when the smaller loans are gone. It's surprising what even an extra $30/month can do to pay down loans when it's been freed up.

That's how I paid off about $20 grand in total debt when I did mine on my crappy wage.

 

[Anita18]

you took advice from the woman who paycheck is dependant upon your not paying off your credit cards. Seriously, pay it off and close that account!!!

I'm not an idiot. I pay off all of my cards IN FULL on time (except for that one instance..) I just wanted to cancel that card since I wasn't using it much, but if you close an account, it actually shows up on your credit report and then people wonder why you went and closed it.

Of course I have no way of proving that the "only borrowing 30% of the limit" thing works, but it's something several economic profs (at a prestigious liberal arts college) told us. Listen to it if you want...and sorry if I wasn't being clear earlier. When I said, "keeping a balance at this and this percentage," I meant, "only borrowing up to this and this percentage."

I've been told by someone who's been paying off debt for years...only borrow what you can definitely pay off now. I use a credit card instead of cash since I hate carrying cash around, but I always make sure I can afford it before I buy it. Interest sucks the life of your bank account.

 

[War Lord]

I'm not an idiot. I pay off all of my cards IN FULL on time (except for that one instance..) I just wanted to cancel that card since I wasn't using it much, but if you close an account, it actually shows up on your credit report and then people wonder why you went and closed it.

Of course I have no way of proving that the "only borrowing 30% of the limit" thing works, but it's something several economic profs (at a prestigious liberal arts college) told us. Listen to it if you want...and sorry if I wasn't being clear earlier. When I said, "keeping a balance at this and this percentage," I meant, "only borrowing up to this and this percentage."

I've been told by someone who's been paying off debt for years...only borrow what you can definitely pay off now. I use a credit card instead of cash since I hate carrying cash around, but I always make sure I can afford it before I buy it. Interest sucks the life of your bank account.

If your credit rating is already good, the only time you need to be concerned about things like cancelling credit cards and such is if it's within 6 months of buying a house or car.

Banks take those things into consideration already. For the most part, one off things like late payments or cancelling credit cards don't affect your credit rating in the least. You can cancel it without worry and if you don't really need it, go ahead and cancel it.

 

[Man-Thing]

I'm not an idiot. I pay off all of my cards IN FULL on time (except for that one instance..) I just wanted to cancel that card since I wasn't using it much, but if you close an account, it actually shows up on your credit report and then people wonder why you went and closed it.

Of course I have no way of proving that the "only borrowing 30% of the limit" thing works, but it's something several economic profs (at a prestigious liberal arts college) told us. Listen to it if you want...and sorry if I wasn't being clear earlier. When I said, "keeping a balance at this and this percentage," I meant, "only borrowing up to this and this percentage."

I've been told by someone who's been paying off debt for years...only borrow what you can definitely pay off now. I use a credit card instead of cash since I hate carrying cash around, but I always make sure I can afford it before I buy it. Interest sucks the life of your bank account.

Sorry, I was rude, but I was only telling you for your own benefit. This is comming not from someone who has been paying off credit for years, but from someone who knows how to handle their money to begin with and is almost debt free except for a car loan (my mortgage is paid off- and I'm 29 years old and not a millionare.)

 

[Anita18]

Sorry, I was rude, but I was only telling you for your own benefit. This is comming not from someone who has been paying off credit for years, but from someone who knows how to handle their money to begin with and is almost debt free except for a car loan (my mortgage is paid off- and I'm 29 years old and not a millionare.)

Thanks for your concern. That's what we're all here for, right? I guess being good credit-card users is our way of sticking it to the card companies, since they aren't making any money off of us. They're making money off the people who only pay the minimum balance, overdraw, and/or don't make their payments at all.

You must tell us your secret for buying housing. In the news it's all been doom and gloom.