Wealth Today » Credit Repair

What makes up your credit score?

joshuak — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:45:43 +0000

As I’ve been helping share the process of credit repair with my friends and family, I’m often asked about what factors account for their credit score. Today, I found a great article on it at MoneyCentral that goes into the issue in great detail. You’ll discover why your credit score is where it’s at.

Here’s some of the most interesting information in the article:

The final number is a composite of individual ratings in five categories:

Payment history (35% of the rating)
Length of credit history (15%)
New credit (10%)
Types of credit used (10%)
Debt (30%)

Pre-Approved Bank of America Credit Card with 0% Introductory Interest Rate

joshuak — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 01:49:53 +0000

If you’ve been reading my history over the past year and a half at Wealth Today, you’ll know that my credit has been important to me because I want a good rate on my mortgage loan when I get it. We’ve worked real hard and we worked through several steps to improve our credit rating. To find out more about how we did it, www.creditlovers.com has done a pretty good job of outlining the steps to repairing bad credit.
All of that work is visibly becoming evident. We were recently received an offer of a 0% introductory rate on a pre-approved Bank of America credit card with the largest credit line we’ve ever had and no annual fee. We’ve also gotten offers from Washington Mutual, HSBC, Chase and of course CapitalOne. We seem to now get a pre approved offer on a daily basis. It’s crazy how much these banks want our business. I’m glad I know better than to take any of them. We’re pairing it down and probably going to keep our two lowest interest rates, while keeping a close eye on any annual fee.

Managing Credit Card Debt

joshuak — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 06:35:42 +0000

Many of my readers already know that while I’ve already started my savings plan and enrolled in the company’s 401k, I do have some outstanding debt that I’m in the process of eliminating.

One of the first credit cards I got when I was trying to repair my credit was a CapitalOne card. It cost a bunch for the setup fee and the yearly fee was terrible (about $170-$200 combined), but I had to do something to get things turned around and headed in the right direction…no one else was giving me a credit card, and this was an unsecured card, so I took it.

I’ve maintained that account and watched my credit score climb. They were satisfied with me as a customer and have since offered me two more cards (Platinum Plus Preferred) with a 0% introductory rate and lower annual fees.

I took them up on both offers. That left me with three CapitalOne cards. It’s a hassle to manage all of those accounts and also pay for the annual fees, so I decided to do something about it.

After the success with lowering my interest rate on one of the cards, I thought maybe they could offer something as far as merging the accounts. I called and they were very accomodating. I combined the two lower credit limit cards into one and waited for that process to complete.

Today, I called to combine the remaining two. Those two calls took less than 20 minutes combined and saved me $90 this year. Yes, I’m really happy about it.

JLP of AllThingsFinancial writes about Resolutions for 2006

joshuak — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 07:40:30 +0000

JLP probably has one of the best all-in-one personal finance posts I’ve seen all year. This post is about making personal finance resolutions for 2006. He enlisted help from Jim, FMF, Flexo, Smarty, Jose, Alexander, and Jonathan. Together, they cover emergency funds, getting out of debt, 401ks, IRAs, budgets, and personal finance statements. It’s worth your time to read every bit and reference every link.

I raised my credit score 150 points

joshuak — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:49:12 +0000

It’s taken a year and a half, and with much diligence and effort, I’ve accomplished raising my credit score 150 points. I’ve gone from 506 to 656. It seems as though it’s slowed down a lot over the past 8 months, but not really. It’s increased 70 points since February. I’m hoping to keep up that pace, so that this time next year, it’ll be 720 and I’ll be in a good range to get the best deal on a home loan [my ultimate motivation for an awesome credit score] By having a favorable credit score, it can save tens of thousands during a home loan.

Free Money Finance recently hosted a Carnival Of Debt Reductionthat has many different insights into copy and recovering debt, which is partially related to your credit score.

PrivacyGuard – 2 Months for $1

joshuak — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 17:35:21 +0000

Well, my credit score has gone up again. I’m still in the fair range of all 3 credit bureaus, but I’ve had a big jump. As I was checking my credit today, I noticed an awesome deal for anyone who wants to know more about their credit rating. PrivacyGuard is offering 2 months for $1. I’ve been using them for awhile and am very happy with their online service. The regular snail mail service seems a little slow though. The downside to using PrivacyGuard is that they don’t provide enough specific information (creditor’s account #/address/phone#) to complete a dispute, but they give you your score with all 3 bureaus and all inquiries/accounts/etc in an easy to read format. If you’re unsure of what your credit score is, it’s a must to at least try for 2 months for $1.

Credit Repair Success

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 03:36:00 +0000

My wife has used the debt validation with some success in removing derogatory information from a credit report. I have been able to remove one or two items, but Sherman Acquisition continues to be a thorn in my side. The credit reporting agency has claimed now that they have verified the debt twice, yet Sherman Acquisition has yet to respond to my first attempt at validating the debt. I will try again with the creditor this weekend.

Dallas Morning News : Free Credit Reports Available Now

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 05:00:00 +0000

For all of us Texans that are interested in seeing their credit reports, today marks the first day to get a free copy of your credit report.

Credit Repair

Tue, 31 May 2005 17:31:00 +0000

Trying to repair a scarred credit history is tough. It takes patience and lots of diligence, but the effort pays off. I checked my credit file again today and I see that my lowest score has now jumped 50 points thanks to the deletion of bad credit account. It cost me $15 dollars for the certified letters, but the score is now so much higher that I’ll qualify for better interest rates and that could potentially save me thousands. With good credit, I’ll also be able to apply for loans for credit for business ventures as well. To see my credit score slowly crawl out of its grave is one of the best feelings and an enormous relief.

Improving Our Credit Scores

Tue, 17 May 2005 17:26:00 +0000

My wife’s credit is in need of some help. She has a few negative items, and no good items. So I had our credit card company start reporting my account on her credit too so that they’ll begin reporting the good credit.

I use a service, called Privacy Guard that allows me to review my credit at any time. I’ve seen my credit score go up over a hundred points using the service. I’m going to use their online form and request the reports for her account too.