It's Never
Too Late to Clean up Your Bad Credit
by Ellise Walsh
We understand it may not be your fault you’re living with
bad credit. Sometimes circumstances arise within our lives that we have no
control over. Divorce, death, medical problems, loss of a job; there are
innumerable circumstances that can contribute to a bad credit situation. We
also understand that even when you’ve made bad financial decisions in the
past. It isn’t fair to continue to punish you for them well into the future.
Far too many people have circumstances occur in their
lives that force their credit into the negative. Unfortunately, they continue
to reap the consequences of those circumstances year after year. Once you have
bad credit it can be extremely difficult to clean up your credit report and
once again establish good credit. Experts claim the easiest way to get rid of
bad credit is to take out a loan and make regular payments on it in order to
establish good credit. We understand that theory is much easier said than
done. Most banks and lenders aren’t willing to take a risk on your bad credit
in order to loan you the money you need to establish good credit. It might
seem either way you go, you lose.
That’s not the case with us. We’re here to help you,
regardless of your credit situation.
We have years of experience in assisting individuals in
similar situations. In fact, we specialize in helping consumers who have bad
credit through no fault of their own. Our goal is to help you recover from
your bad credit situation as quickly as possible, with as much dignity as
possible and move on to re-establishing your dreams.
We have provided a few easy to apply tips below to help
you get started back on the road to establishing good credit.
You do not necessarily have to go out and obtain a loan
in order to prove yourself worthy of good credit. Simply start paying your
bills on time. Set up a tickler system if the problem is forgetting to drop
the envelope in the mail. Sit down and budget out your funds so you know when
the payment has to be made and then make sure you put the payment in the mail
at least a week before it’s actually due. If there’s a holiday looming and
you’re concerned the mail might be a little slow, mail it even sooner. Don’t
let delayed mail be the cause of your plummeting credit score.
Don’t take advantage of a department store’s offer to
save you 10% or 15% off a purchase simply by applying for a charge card. What
normally happens in this kind of situation is that the store will run your
credit record and when they do it will show up as an inquiry on your record.
Too many of those make for a bad credit score. It’s far better to simply
bypass the offer and pay in cash or with another card if you absolutely must.
Don’t be tempted to move money around and consolidate
your credit cards. While the offers of lower interest rates can be very
appealing you should know that these offers are almost always introductory
offers only. After the introductory period has passed you’ll be hit with a new
interest rate and that APR might even be higher than the one on the previous
card. Not to mention that moving money around shows up on your credit report
and does you no favors.
If you are carrying several credit cards with balances
and are wondering which ones you should start paying down, in regards to a
healthy credit score, it is best to begin paying on the cards with the higher
balances. This is because one of the factors taken into account on your credit
score is the balances on your existing cards. Credit score formulas do not
look at the interest rates you are carrying, only at number of accounts,
balances and frequency and timeliness of payments. If you are carrying
balances that amount to 75% or more of your credit limit, it is time to start
paying them down. You should try to maintain a 25% margin of credit available
on all credit cards at all times.
Finally, don’t be tempted to start closing out accounts.
Once they are activated they will be seen on your credit report anyway and
closing them out will only hurt you.
Keep in mind that it’s never too late to start trying to
improve your bad credit score. We are here to help you along the way and are
always more than happy to answer any of your questions.
