Archive for January, 2010

I know Verizon charges people a large fee for having bad credit.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is your credit ?

i just turned 18 and in american NO CREDIT is bad credit.

they said anyone with a score of 300 or below will be charged $300-$400; i was charged $400

My husband and i would like to sell our place and buy another place,however our debt income ratio is too high right now.
What would be better to pay off to lower our debt to help us move. Would it be better to pay off all our credit card / loan debt or one of our vehicles?
all our credit card/loan debt equals to around $10,000 and our vehicle is about $25,000

Thank you all for your help
i should also add that our credit card interest rate on everything is 19.9 % and up and our vehicle interest rate is 15%

As mentioned - it’s best to pay off the higher interest as it would cost you more money that you otherwise wouldn’t pay.

I’m a little confused however - do you have enough to pay off the full amount of the car? if you do, then maybe fully paying off the car would be your best bet to get that new house. no car payments = bigger repayments on your credit card AND your debt to income ratio will change more significantly.

You also have to understand that debt - does not mean you will have a low credit score. Missing a payment does however lower it.

Maybe holding off on a another house and upgrading your current one may be a better option for the time being. Let the market come up a little, and have a better valued place to sell may work in your favor.

Best of luck!

Many credit cards say they are platinum, and say platinum on them. I know there’s got to be a meaning for that. But what does it mean? How is a platinum credit card different from a non-platinum credit card?

Please, no links to websites, just answer the question.

Once upon a time long, long ago, a gold card meant something. Back in the days before everything was computerized, merchants had to dial a phone and call for authorizations for charges of more than $50. If you had a gold card, it was $100.

Now the color of the card means nothing. It’s just a marketing ploy. You can pretty much get the same interest rates, limits, rewards, and other account terms on any color card. It all depends on your creditworthiness. Don’t worry about colors and cute names. Read the fine print and find the terms you want.

If you open a credit card, but don’t use it or don’t carry a debt balance. I read the more inquiries on your credit score, the lower it goes. I found a deal where I can get free stuff through Discover card just by opening a new card.Thanks!

Inquiries only cost you between 2-5 points and that is made up when the new account reports on your credit.

Considering that 30% of your score is based on your total debt to credit ratio having another card is a good idea because it will lower that ratio as long as you pay in full every month.

I have 3 cards including a Discover that I use every month for things I used to pay cash for. I always pay in full before the due date and last year they paid me almost $1,000.00 in cash back rewards for using their money for free.

It also has raised my credit score over 150-points in the last 24-months.

I have a lot of debt spread out among credit cards, private loans, hospital bill, etc. Is it possible for me to consolidate all of that into one payment each month? I have trouble keeping on top of all of my bills because none of them fall on the same day. Does this seem like a good option? Also, who/what company is reliable for debt consolidation?

“Debt consolidation” can refer to two completely different things: The first is getting a loan to pay off all debts to consolidate your bills into one lower payment. If you do this, go through a local bank that you know and trust. Stay away from online firms. You need to have good credit to get this type of loan. Many people who get debt consolidation loans quickly find themselves in twice as much debt as when they started….because it’s simply too tempting to start using all that newly available credit that was paid by the consolidation loan. If you get this type of loan, contact your credit card companies after the debt has been paid off by the loan and request voluntary credit limit reductions to under $500 to avoid the temptation of using all that newly available credit again.

Debt consolidation also refers to a risky practice of debt settlement: deliberately defaulting on your credit cards to try to force your creditors to settle for less.

When you sign up with a debt consolidation firm, the program involves deliberately ceasing payments to all your creditors to force your accounts into default to attempt settlements for less. You pay a monthly fee to a debt consolidator….this entire fee goes towards building a settlement account and to the consolidator’s fees to “settle” your accounts in the future. Your credit card companies will deliberately not be paid so that all the accounts will default/charge-off so that they can attempt settlements at around 50%. If you are current on your accounts, this process will ruin your credit rating. You can never predict how your creditors will respond to the deliberate defaulting of your accounts…they might settle at 50%…or they might serve you a summons, take you to court…and if they win, you could be looking at wage garnishment.

Im looking for a credit repair company to help repair my credit and raise my credit score. There are many companies online but I want to choose a reputable company and do not know how to make sure they are legitimately a good company. Any suggestions?

Forget credit repair companies. Most are pure scam. Even the legit ones only do what you can easily do yourself. There are no special letters or secret procedures to clean up your credit.

Get a copy of your credit report (AnnualCreditReport.com). If there are errors, dispute them with the credit bureau. Legitimate negative items age off your credit report 7-1/2 years from the date of first deficiency. The older the item, the less impact on your score.

If any of your derogatory items are single entry items, like medical or utility bills, you can try to negotiate pay for delete agreements (you pay $x and they remove the item) with the collection agencies. This doens’t work for regularly reported items like credit cards and installment loans. The collection agency can only remove what they report. The original creditor’s charge off would remain.

If you have open credit card accounts, use them and pay off the balance in full every month. If you don’t have a credit card, get one, even if you have to get a secured card — you pay a deposit which is held as collateral against the line of credit. You need to build up at least 24 months of consistent, on time payment history to improve your score.

What are the reason or factors of someone to get denied for debt consolidation. With all the bills, by doing the math it is clearly that money coming in, is not enough for the money coming out. I’m thinking of applying for debt consolidation, but what if they don’t accept it. I’m running out of options. Bankruptcy would be last on my list. Please I need help/ advice. Thank you.

I would be very surprised if a debt consolidator turned anyone down (unless they didn’t have a sufficient amount of debt). They are going to want to work the account and collect their fees, regardless of whether or not the final arrangements are able to be met by the debtor.

What they will probably try to do, though, is negotiate with the creditors to accept a smaller payment than the minimum, stop interest from building and late fees being added, so there is some hope of eventually getting it paid off. They will try to get your total monthly payment for all debts (and their fees) down to something your income can accommodate.

I have credit card and i would like to purchase products online, but i am fear of credit card frauds and hacking the same. So what can i do to purchase items more securely with my credit card ?

You can do online parchase using your credit cards by some simple safety methodes.
Make sure that you are giving your credit card to a verisign verified sites and also in a https web page.
Try to use a virtual credit card rather than your own original credit card (source)
use on screen keyboard to enter credit card details
more informations about the same is given in the source

I have a total of $7000 of credit card debt with a high interest rate. I would like to buy a house but cannot afford both the credit card payment plus a house payment. I have an excellent credit score with all three agencies.

Is it possible to obtain a home loan that I could use to pay off the credit card debt? If so, any advice?

Call your credit card company and tell them you have an offer from company X to transfer your debt to them, interest free for two years, with no fees. Ask them to match it.
Or, open a line of credit at a credit union. Generally they offer lower interest fees.
Or, pay off your CC debt, THEN buy your house.

Good Luck!

I have about 25K in credit card debt. I am planning to buy a 540K house. Currently I have great credit, is it possible to add my credit card debt into the home loan in order to make it a single monthly payment. What is the loan program called? I am shooting for 5 yr. ARM. Me and my wife plan to live there for about 3-4 yrs.

Dont know if you can combine them into one loan.

What you can do though is after you purchase the home, take out a home equity loan to pay off the credit cards - still two different bills a month, but should get a better interest rate on the home equity loan.

I dont think you can get a mortgage to cover both since the mortgage is a secured loan - the house is collateral for the loan - while credit card debt is unsecured.