What makes ‘Good Credit’?
# 1: Paying your bills on time for at least the minimum payment. That’s the single most important action you can take towards good credit.
# 2: The kinds of credit you have can also impact your score. Too many easy credit financing accounts can actually hurt your score. Don’t get me wrong, they are great stepping stones to better, more beneficial credit.
# 3: Do not to go out on a furniture, jewelry, electronics, car-accessory financing sprees. Just one or two of these in good standing can make it possible to the next stage for good credit. And this is where we get ‘too many inquiries’. The creditors view too many inquiries as a bad thing, and can really impact struggling credit scores.
# 4: With the exceptions of Homes and Autos; and especially the easy-credit-items, if you cannot afford it, don’t finance it. Save your money and buy it with cash later. This will teach discipline, it’s good for all of us! And keeps us from nickle and diming ourselves into the poor-house! ~for the record, this is the hardest of all, on the whole list, at least for me! ~
# 5: Once you can afford to buy it with cash, and you are intending using this one account as a stepping stone better credit later. Go ahead and finance it, then pay it off over the next few months. Won’t be super difficult, cuz you are learning to save, and once the account is paid…Do not close it.
# 6: Closing old accounts. Don’t close old accounts just because you got a better account. Use them for periodic purchases and pay the full balance off, before any interest accrues (usually before the due date on the first statement showing your balance). It doesn’t hurt to have several accounts, just to have several revolving accounts with balances.
# 7: Charging up the cards is not, I repeat NOT, the same as building credit. It’s just making debt. Be wise with your spending. Keep yourself from being overwhelmed by the nickle and dime phenomenon.
# 8: Fraud Alerts. You’ve heard me say it before, but I say it again. Fraud alerts have their place. If you really have had your identity stolen, your wallet or purse. Then it can be a good thing, only for a temporary basis. Identity Theft is not the same as letting your girlfriend or boyfriend use your card, or drive the car you financed, believing or not that they will pay for it. If they don’t, you will have to anyway. Fraud Alerts should be used sparingly and only for as short a time as crisis requires. Creditors and Banks see fraud alert abuse, as you not taking responsibility for yourself. They can actually hurt your chances of getting granted some the better credit items.
# 9: Stay away from Payday/Car-Title Loans. Pawnshops too. Live lean, and tough it out. These things are a trap, and once you are buried in the 200% interest, it can take an act of Congress to dig you out. Chances are the circumstances which may tempt you to use these guys, will have resolved themselves far faster than the payments you’ll be locked into by these Payday Loans.
# 10: Read the small print! BEFORE YOU SIGN! On all the loan agreements you sign. Read them. If they don’t make sense, don’t accept the credit. Period. Save your money and buy it later. NEVER apply for credit while you are desperate and in the moment. Take a deep breath. It helps.
The path to good credit goes a little like this: One or two easy-credit items, paid off, then move onto Department store cards. Being in good standing with your department store items will give your own bank enough reassurance to give you a MasterCard or Visa. Those in turn make an American Express possible. Most anywhere along in this good credit journey, you can get approved on a car loan, which helps immensely in improving your scores. Make all of your payments on time, if not early, and for at least the minimum due, if not more. Once you have mastered all these kinds of credit, and learned lots of discipline, you may be ready for the heftiest of all debts. Your own home. Be ready, so you can avoid the mess so many people are in right now. (Again, for the record, I am not entirely sure I am ready for a mortgage myself, as it were…)
Each new line of credit you are granted is an opportunity to prove yourself for the next new creditor on the horizon. Make the most of it. Make all your payments on time, and pay more than what is minimally due. This process can take a couple years, but its so worth the effort, and finanacially beneficial to you too.
I know this doesn’t sound very easy. That’s only because it isn’t. But trust me, it gets easier the further along you get. Then again, maybe you are reading this and thinking it’s too late. Do not waste anytime beating yourself up! Live and Learn. Hit the ‘ReDo’ button! No problem, our credit repair company, can help you get rid of those old bad inaccurate credit items. Afterwards, you can continue on your journey towards Good Credit.
It seems like a simple enough question. It does stand to reason, that if a person has several or more good solid trade-lines, and little or no negative credit history, they should have high scores, right? The truth is maybe. There are so many variables to the credit score algorithms, and the credit bureaus guard that information strictly.
Credit repair most certainly makes it POSSIBLE to have great credit scores, whereas before, there would be no possibility with so many negatives items on the record. Credit Repair is like an eraser. You can remove the mistakes, but you still have to do your homework. You can’t get past this. You must have good accounts to have good credit. Simple as that.
First let me tell you, I used to have awful credit! Collections, charge offs, late-pays, you name it! I could have taken care of these things along the way, but just didn’t understand just how important they were. Or how much of an effect those mistakes would have on my future. It’d been some years, and I was taking care of business, but my scores were still so low!
Now after being with NCA Credit Repair for almost a year, my scores are way up! I recently need to trade in my older six-cylinder American car and get something with better fuel economy. I dreaded going to any car dealership. My last(and first) experience at an Easy-Credit-No-One-Turned-Down-Lot was horrible. Pushy, greasy salesmen, high interest, and I was just hoping to not have to take the bus home. This was almost three years ago, before my credit was as good as it is now. I had been determined since I started with NCA, that the next time I went to a car lot, it was going to be different. During this time, I kept right on working very hard to be timely with all my payments. I also learned to avoid having inquiries on my credit. (I used to do this to check my ratings).
Now, my scores are good, and with the cost of gas these days, I knew that the time had come. I had to get brave, make a plan, and take this on, Powerfully. This time I was determined to not get raked over the coals at a Easy Credit Car Lot. I started by researching which cars were rated highest for safety and mileage while still being affordable. I made my choice of the kind of car. I then researched which of the New Car Lots around town had good customer rankings on the web. Ok, Kind of Car and Which Lot, decided. I went to my own Credit Union to get pre-approved. This way, I knew how much I would qualify for, and exactly just how good (or bad) my credit was. The lady at my credit union told me my score was 744. I was pre-qualified at 5.12% interest, which was many points below my current auto loan rate. I knew I was a little upside down on my current auto loan, but I was armed with information, and ready. (A little nervous but ready).
I headed out to the lot, for my test drive, and possibly new car. I found a little white, four-cylinder import. Perfect, just what I needed! Now came the hard part. I didn’t tell them I was pre-qualified, I wanted to see if they could get me a better rate. The first time they came to be it was at 9.99%. I laughed right out loud in the guys face. Can’t blame him for wanting to make a buck, and if I hadn’t done my homework, I might have mistaken that for a good rate. Then I spilled the beans about being pre-qualified. Now of course, there was still a few trips back and forth, but they got me qualified through their system with MY bank. Yes! Turns out the credit reports they used, scored me at 753!
Now they thought the deal was done. NOPE! Not even close. Now I knew I had them, so I haggled my buns off! I almost left at one point. I knew they needed the sale. They knew I wanted the car. “Need” outweighs “want” and we both knew that!
The upshot being: I got the New Little White Car (I call her Kate). I got to give back my American Gas Guzzler. I had to roll the upside down amount into the new loan, however I was able to be in the same length of loan as before, and at about 5 bucks more than my current monthly payment. I was able to finagle both the gap-insurance and also the extended bumper-to-bumper warranty for a fraction of what they initial offered them at. (Before they knew, i knew I had great credit). To top it off? NO MONEY DOWN. I simply signed my name, gave them my old keys, and left in my new car. Could it really be that easy???
None of this would have been possible for me, but for the experience and learning I have received by being with NCA Credit Repair. It’s kind of cheesy but true. I now know exactly what it means to shop for prices and interest rates instead of just hoping to get approved. I can’t begin to describe how good this feels. I know my score is just that, a meaningless score. But boy-howdy! What doors a good score opens up! Everyone should be able to feel this!
For the record, I don’t say these things to brag. But to just illustrate. Good credit means choices. Not character or trustworthiness, but Choices!
I am not at all worried about my next car buying experience. Actually I am kind of excited!
So many times, I’ve heard from our clients that without our help, they never would have been able to get a credit card, or qualify for the home loan they desperately wanted. I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of clean, healthy credit and how it’s changed people’s lives. We love what we do, and we’re great at it – it’s an unbeatable combo! Our passion for what we do makes us the supreme credit repair company out there, and that’s the reputation we strive to maintain. Obtaining fantastic credit is possible, and our goal is to make sure you get it!
