Articles Tagged with Credit Score

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Are you being haunted by a low credit score? We know how our credit score is a huge part of our financial picture. Having bad credit can cost you money (not qualifying for a particular job) and missed opportunities (paying higher interest rates, higher insurance premiums, and not being able to qualify for loans).  If your credit score has become something that sabotages your financial goals at every turn, fear not. It doesn’t take magic to bring your credit score back to life: just some good old fashioned time and effort that involves clean up of what’s out there and careful movement going forward.

The first thing you should do

Take a good, honest look at your monthly budget. Are your debts far outweighing your income? Can you pay off your debt within a reasonable amount of time without stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, lack of necessities due to working more than 1 job? Before you worry about bringing that credit score up, get your budget into a workable position. If you work on your credit but your income can’t sustain your debt level, you won’t get very far.  We offer free consultations regarding the options that bankruptcy brings to the table.  Bankruptcy can clean the slate and help you to rebuild so much faster.  Typically your score takes a 30-50 point hit when you file, but the clean up and rebuild is so much faster.  You can recover that and build in 12-18 months rather than killing yourself for up to seven years trying to out live the negative items reported.  If your income to debt ratio is under control, then dive right in and get that credit score up!

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was created to promote accurate, fair, and private filing of information by consumer reporting agencies.  There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies (those that sell information about check writing history, medical records, rental history, etc).  Most familiar to everyone are the 3 national credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Here is a summary of consumer’s major rights under the FCRA:

  1. You must be told if information in your file has been used against you.
  2. You have the right to know what is in your file.
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