Friday, May 28, 2010

Benefits of increasing credit score

Increasing your credit score without leaving your home is a very easy task to do, and something that can greatly improve your financial reputation in the process. We all know that a big part of the American dream is to own a home, but that can be quite a difficult thing if you have already put yourself in a poor credit situation. The problem of poor credit score can affect your financial status for a long time indeed. But you have to make the right effort to make your credit score better. Even making negligible corrections or closing a smaller account can have a remarkable effect on a credit score.

Regardless of the fact that credit reports are so relied on, they can often include mistakes, omissions or other faults that affect a score. If you re-examine your credit report and notice that you have a credit account listed twice, missing payment information or maybe even an account that you thought was closed you can increase your credit score. The credit reporting agencies rely on credit companies to furnish them with precise information; they do not make alterations to the statistics, which is completely up to you.

So how do you go about fixing the errors on a credit report? The process is actually rather simple; just contact the financial institution you have your account with and ask for the problem to be corrected. You will not see immediate results on your credit report so it is important that you continue to receive updated reports and look for the corrections.

If you are serious about repairing your credit and increasing your credit score the last thing you want to do is to delay. Putting off making corrections to a report will only elongate the time you have to wait for your credit score to increase. Notifying your credit company or another agency of an inaccuracy does not take a lot of time and effort on your part and will help you on the road to financial liberty. When you are acquainted with the consequences of having poor credit you will see that waiting for an error to clear or payments to draw level makes no sense.

While you are waiting for your the errors to clear it is always a good idea to look into investment options to and perhaps shift some of your money into a High interest tax free savings account, to save your money and also avoid any taxes on your investments.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

How important are collection agencies to the creditors?


Collection agencies are firms that operate in the debt collection industry to collect debts on behalf of creditors. These agencies are usually regulated or governed by Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, commonly referred to as FDCPA. There are many websites that offer a list of collection agencies for hire and you can find out the agencies that operate in your state. Collection agencies play an important role in debt collection. If a creditor has extended a loan to you and for some unknown reasons you fail to make payments to the creditors which make the amount you owe escalate, the creditor may do any one of the following –

The creditor may offer a flat fee to the collection agency to collect the debt on his behalf, give a certain percentage of what is collected as fee to the agency that is collecting the debt or sell the delinquent accounts to the collection agencies for few dollars.


How do collection agencies operate?


The collection agency may contact the debtor in any one of the following ways –

  • By telephone
  • By sending Demand letters
  • Notifying the 3 credit reporting agencies Equifax, TransUnion and Experian
  • Legal proceeding

The collection agency will send demand letters to the debtors. The ultimate letter is in form of a warning that may spur the debtor into action. The debtor is usually threatened that a failure to pay will compel collection agencies to report to the 3 credit bureaus


You will come across collection agencies that contact debtors over phone. By doing so, a lot of unpleasantness can be avoided and this also helps collection agencies to maintain a healthy relation with the debtors.


The last resort is a legal proceeding or litigation.


Are all collection agencies reliable?


All collection agencies are not reliable. There are many agencies that violate the FDCPA that need to be followed by a debt collector. Although from a list of collection agencies, you will not be able to identify a collection agency that may take you for a ride, you can go through reviews and rip off reports of many collection agencies for hire. So, if you find that a collection agency is violating the rules, you can report the same to the Attorney general of the state in which you are residing or lodge a complaint with the FTC or Federal Trade Commission.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Repair your credit to get financial benefits.

At present more than 35 million US citizens are plagued by bad credit and the various issues related to it. Some of them have started accepting the bad credit reality. Others have embarked on an elongated voyage of financial order and careful budget planning with the ultimate goal to pay off debt in full. There is, however, a small percentage of Americans that have found shorter and easier ways to credit repair. Here are the three most important pillars of fast credit repair.

In the world of credit repair, knowledge is all. Trying to fix your credit without the proper knowledge is hard. You must know how your FICO score is calculated? How to interpret your credit report? Which are the most harmful items in your report? Which are the most essential factors in the credit formula? Do you know how to ask for validation of debt from credit bureaus, collection agencies and original creditors? How to quarrel for imprecise, obsolete, unclear and dubious info in your report? How to get rid of errors in your credit file using the Rapid Rescore policy? How to use your lawful rights mentioned in the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

As a consumer, you have an assortment of rights, most of which are specified in the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. For instance, you have the legal privileges to sue credit bureaus if they fail to take action on your written dispute within 30 day, creditors if you dispute a debt and they fail to report it as disputed to credit bureaus, collection agencies if they don't legalize your debt (upon your request), but go on pursuing collection activities.

Just like with any other area in life, credit repair requires vigour and commitment. Collection agencies are not always keen to settle for the amount that you propose. Credit bureaus will not always respect your dispute and remove the disputed item from your record. Original creditors might not be in agreement to remove that one time late payment from your record even after you describe the sad situations surrounding it. In other words you cannot be always hopeful of all credit lights in front of you turning green.

Persistence is a vital part of the credit repair formula. Credit repair requires credit understanding, knowledge of your legal rights and the right amount of diligence and devotion. Once you start opining outside the credit box, you'll be taken aback to find how simple credit repair actually is.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Some helpful techniques that you can use to make quick cash

If you’re trying to make some more money for a holiday trip or to provide for the needs of your family, then you should follow some useful techniques. Making quick cash is not difficult if you know the basics. The Internet is a valuable resource that lets you know about different techniques that you can adopt to make quick cash.

Techniques that you can use to make quick cash

Some techniques for making quick cash are given below:

Become a freelance writer: Look for freelance writing jobs. You don’t have to be an expert in English to become a freelance writer. You can write and sell your articles at different forums and make some quick money.

Auction items online: You can sell items on Ebay. This is also a popular technique to make quick cash online. You can really make significant gains by selling things on Ebay. See what items are in demand and try to auction them.

Become an affiliate marketer: This is one of the best means to make quick money online. When you become an affiliate marketer, you’re basically marketing products of other people over the Internet. When somebody buys that product, you receive a commission. You can enjoy unlimited income by doing this.

Perform a garage sale: If you have some useless items that you no longer need, you can sell them off to make some quick money. Advertise about the garage sale in your locality.

Sell your digital photos: If you’re a photographer, you can sell your digital photos at various freelance photography websites. You need not be a professional photographer. If the pictures are clear and attention-grabbing, you can make some money by selling them.

There are various ways to make quick cash. Choose the one that is best for you.