Archive for November, 2007

Finding credit help, particularly online, has become systematically (and disgustingly) difficult. As you may recall I expressed my frustration with the lack of honest, responsible resources available for people who want to repair their credit score in my first blog entry, “Why I Am Starting This Blog“. While I did rant about the lack of credit resources in that entry, I cut short of actually evaluating the purpose or mechanism behind this shortcoming. After a couple of nights, deep in thought, and given my experience, I have composed a rather solid argument of why it’s so difficult to find honest credit help.

As a premise for my argument, I am going to assume that there are indeed a substantial number of resources available –they are, however, decentralized and flooded out by a competitive market. This market, of course, includes credit reporting agencies (which have no official status by the way –more on this in another article), debt consolidators, and so-called “organizations” designed to help folks fix their bad credit, etc, etc. These organizations and companies have been extremely successful in capturing the attention of their intended audience, and thus, furthering their ability to skew the playing field.

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One of the first steps I recommend when repairing credit is to pay down any credit accounts where the balance is more than 25% of the account’s credit limit. When your credit score is calculated, substantial consideration is taken on a simple calculation. This calculation is called your “utilization”. It simply means, “How much of your total available credit are you currently using?” In other words, “Is this person spending money without keeping in mind it must be paid back?” Utilization is a huge factor when a credit score is calculated.

Two things are taken into consideration in regards to utilization when your credit score is calculated. First, your overall utilization. This is calculated by adding together the balances of all of your revolving accounts, and then adding together all of the credit limits. Then divide the balance by the limit. Use my credit card balance to limit ratio calculator if you are shy in trusting your own arithmetic (like myself).

Overall Utilization Example

• Credit Card #1 — Balance: $300 Limit: $500
• Credit Card #2 — Balance: $100 Limit: $300
• Credit Card #3 — Balance: $500 Limit: $1000
• Total balance: $900 Total credit limit: $1800
• Utilization = $900 / $1800 = 50% Total revolving utilization

Therefore, as you can see, a credit card with a $0 balance has 100% utilization.

In addition to your overall credit utilization, individual credit account utilization is also taken into account. This basically means that if you have ANY individual account where the balance is over 25% of the credit limit, it is likely hurting your credit. Therefore, even if your overall credit utilization is under 25%, if any one of those accounts have a balance over 25%, your credit score is affected.

It’s about ratio, not actual numbers

I have been asked if the credit limit dollar amount matters. Specifically, if one has a credit card with a credit limit of $200, and every month it’s reported that this person uses 75% of the available credit, does the same (as previously stated) apply. Logic may tells us that it shouldn’t apply because it’s likely that this person can easily pay off a $200 balance every month. However, utilization does apply –the limit does not matter. If you have a credit card with a $200 credit limit, spending over $50 will hurt your credit score.

When you are repairing or building credit, it’s good to have a credit card even if the credit limit is low. However, as you begin to build credit, it is in your best interest to request credit limit increases when the time is appropriate. Remember: keep your utilization as low as possible –preferably at or around 25%.

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Many people are under the impression that once they fix (or remove) all of the bad records from their credit report (such as charge offs and late payments), they will have good credit. While ridding oneself of negative credit report records may relieve a great burden, the truth is, until you have gained sincere, long-lasting positive accounts on your credit report, your credit will never be “good” –it will simply be static and hover around 620 - 650. Therefore, an important step in credit repair is building NEW credit.

My mistake, of course, was that I went a little mad and applied for too much credit, too quickly. In my previous article regarding inquiries, I illustrated how this can damage not only your current credit score, but also your ability to obtain new credit. I also mentioned that it’s a good idea to apply for new credit in “bursts”. While this is absolutely true in order to minimize lowering your credit score due to too many inquires (inquires within a 2-week period are counted as one), it does little good if you already have a sour credit. This is true because you have to slowly build the creditor’s confidence.

Applying for multiple credit accounts right after you have cleaned up your credit report will do little good because creditors want to see previous positive accounts. Therefore, you must begin with one credit account (such as a credit card for people with bad credit), keep it for 6 months to get some positive history, and then apply for more credit. This is how to successfully build positive credit history and ultimately increase your credit score.

This may seem ridiculously obvious to you, but trust me, once your credit score begins to improve, you will be presented with an unfathomable urge to apply for more credit. This will hurt you in the end. Get a secured credit card, keep it for 6 months, and then start applying for a “real” credit card.

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Even if you have never filed for bankruptcy, I suggest you bookmark this. You never know when tragedy may besiege your innocence.

Removing a chapter 7 bankruptcy from your credit report can be a very painful process (as you would imagine), but it is possible to do if you follow these steps. First, keep in mind that this may or may not work. As I have stated in previous articles, your individual situation will ultimately be the main determinate. Nonetheless, if you didn’t just file, this has a much better chance of working.

The first thing you need to do is dispute the bankruptcy with ALL 3 of the credit reporting agencies. See my article on the best way to do this here. If you’re lucky (extremely lucky), they will be unable to verify it and the bankruptcy will be removed. This is the best case scenario, but unlikely to happen.

If the bankruptcy is verified by the credit reporting agencies, you will need to send a procedural request letter asking them who they verified the bankruptcy with. See my example letters here. They will then respond, claiming that it was verified by the courts. No it wasn’t –the courts do not verify.

Next, as you might have guessed, you will need to contact the courts that were specified by the credit agencies. Ask them how they went about verifying the bankruptcy. They will say they didn’t verify anything. Ask for that statement in writing. After you receive the letter, mail it to the credit reporting agencies, and demand that they immediately remove the bankruptcy as they knowingly provided false information and therefore are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Hopefully this should do the trick and the bankruptcy will be removed promptly.

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In the following article I will explain how credit report inquiries can modestly lower your credit score. Depending on the type of inquiry, your score can lower 3 - 10 points -even more with multiple inquiries. While this should not be the pinnacle of your credit worries, it is helpful information to keep in mind.

What is an inquiry?

As the name suggests, a credit inquiry is the nomenclature used when anyone pulls your credit report for review. There are two main types of inquiries: inquiries that are only seen by you, and inquiries that are seen by everyone who reviews your credit report. Only the latter affects your credit score.

While multiple inquiries make a bigger impact on your credit score, multiple inquiries within the same 2-week period are usually only counted as one inquiry. The credit bureaus started doing this after customers started to complain that their scores were dropping 20 - 30 points in one weekend of car shopping (often when you are seeking financing for a new car, dealerships will make 20+ inquiries).

This brings forth an important tip: when you are seeking credit (filling out credit card applications, for example), do it in “bursts”. If you are going to apply for 5 credit cards, minimize the credit score impact by doing it all on the same day and then waiting a couple of months (if you have no success the first time) to do it again. Multiple credit inquiries indicates to credit bureaus that you are desperately in need of credit because you cannot honor your current obligations. This is why they lower your score.

Types of inquiries that do not affect your score

1. Pulling your own credit report is not seen by anyone but you.
2. Inquiries for pre-approval offers such as those “You’ve been pre-approved!” letters you get in the mail.
3. SOME credit inquiries made by debt collectors.

Types of inquiries that do affect your score

1. Inquiries made by creditors when you apply for credit.
2. Inquiries made by cell phone companies when you apply for a cellphone.
3. Car dealerships inquiries.
4. Other misc. credit applications (such as a home loan).

Hopefully this gives you a better idea of how inquires work. I know I did not list every type of inquiry that can affect your credit score. My attempt is to simply give you a list in which will provide a general rule of thumb to go from.

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Hello Ryan,
I mailed your negotiation letter a couple of weeks ago through certified mail. I got the green slip on Monday, but my credit report hasn’t been updated yet. Should I be worried? I haven’t sent them any money.
Thanks
Kenny

Kenny -
You sent them a negotiation letter and you expect them to update your credit report, yet you haven’t paid them anything? Here is how it works, once again Kenny: You send negotiation letter. They send you a letter back saying they are willing (or not) to negotiate. You pay them what you offered. They update your credit report AFTER you pay. This process takes months. Chill.

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