The Path to Perfection
Perfect credit requires timely payments, but that is just the beginning. If your goal is to have the highest possible credit score you must understand the mechanism of the FICO scoring model and structure the content of your report accordingly. Here are some well tested credit repair tips that will take you to your goal. Many of the adjustments you must make will seem like common sense, while others will be less clear, but you cannot reach the summit of credit perfection without playing by the rules.
Be Good
Don’t’ make late payments. This cannot be over emphasized. A single late payment can devastate your credit score, and although the impact of a single isolated derogatory issue will fade substantially in a matter of months, it can put a serious dent in any financing activity you have in mind for the immediate present. Make sure this does not happen. Avoid silly mistakes; if you have a payment dispute make your payments on time until resolution, if you return a purchase don’t count on the credit to cover your payment on time. When it comes to credit repair, every detail matters.
Build New Credit
If hard times have left you without credit, you must open accounts now. Your credit score will languish forever if you are not feeding the credit bureaus positive data every month. If you can’t get approved for regular credit cards, get secured cards. The limit is of no consequence. Just get started today. Secured cards are the perfect credit repair tool and can make a major difference in your scores. As your score improves you will be able to phase out the secured cards as you are offered superior unsecured cards.
Eliminate Store Cards
The FICO scoring model does not treat all debt the same. Store cards and consumer debt, like furniture loans, are not a good way to rebuild credit. There are several reasons for this, but the crux of the issue is the built-in FICO bias against this type of debt. There is some logic behind this treatment, as this type of debt is often inferior and in many cases has a built in budget “time bomb” in the form of tempting time-limited no payment offers. This is not entirely fair, as many of these offers make great financial sense, so make your best choice, but be aware.
Optimize Revolving Debt
Keep your revolving balances as low as possible. The optimal revolving balance for credit repair purposes is under 20 percent of the available limit. The FICO scoring model puts major importance on this factor; you can lose over 100 points for a maxed out credit card depending on the overall content of your credit report. The more depth and breadth your credit has the smaller will be the impact, but don’t ignore your balances. If you are planning any significant loan application in the near future make sure to reduce your balances at least 60 days in advance as the credit bureau balance updates are lagging.
Structure the Report Content
I am often asked what a perfect 850 credit score looks like. I’ve never seen a perfect 850, and wonder if such technical perfection is possible, but I have seen successful credit repair clients achieve scores over 820 and they all have similar characteristics. The perfect credit score seems to include the following: one mortgage over three years old, one or two auto loans over two years old, and between three and five credit cards over two years old with very low balances. You will notice that there is a time factor involved in all of these accounts mentioned, but there is also a neat equilibrium of clean installment and revolving debt.
Pay a Consultant
Your credit is important. Most lenders rate and price loan applications based on scores. The difference between decent credit and great credit can translate into thousands of dollars in interest payments each year. You cannot afford to ignore any opportunity to optimize your scores. Professional credit repair services are very affordable and will insure that no opportunity is missed. If you don’t feel up to the task yourself, make an investment in your life and hire a credit repair professional.
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A great article about Free Credit Report and Score. Subscribe to the Free Credit Report and Score blog now to get more updates on free credit report services, check credit online score, and business credit report.
Showing posts with label Equifax Credit Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Equifax Credit Report. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Equifax Launches New Debt Freedom Product
Equifax's Debt Wise(TM) is the first-ever debt payment plan product powered by a credit report
ATLANTA, July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Equifax (NYSE: EFX) today launched Debt Wise(TM), an innovative product that uses information from the Equifax Credit Report(TM) to empower consumers to free themselves from debt--faster.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060224/CLF037LOGO)
Debt Wise effectively eliminates one of the biggest hurdles for many debt laden consumers -- getting started. Subscribers can create their personal debt payment plan online in as little as 10 minutes, in the privacy and comfort of their own home. The product's Fast Pay Plan Wizard makes it easy. The wizard automatically imports debts from a subscriber's Equifax Credit Report so that they can easily select which debts to include in their plan. Debt Wise aligns those debts in an optimal order and then applies a debt stacking strategy so that the subscriber can see how to pay them off faster -- without paying more in monthly payments than they already do. And because Equifax already protects the personal credit information of more than 200 million U.S. adults, subscribers never need to disclose the user names or passwords associated with their financial accounts to an unknown third party in order to create their plan.
"On average, households with credit active consumers owe 24% of their annual income in debt, but are only spending 13% of their disposable income repaying debt," says Steve Ely, President, Equifax Personal Information Solutions. "At that rate, consumers are not even treading water, they're drowning in debt! That is why it is so important that consumers have a game plan for getting out of debt -- a plan that they can actually stick to."
Debt Wise is a powerful, easy, and secure way for consumers to create a plan to pay off their debts faster; plus have their progress automatically tracked and receive alerts to let them know if they are on or off plan. By sticking to their plan, consumers may be able to pay off their debts faster and potentially save a lot of money in interest payments.
For less than $.50 per day, Debt Wise combines the power of the Equifax Credit Report with the ingenuity of debt stacking to help consumers take control of their debt with features like:
* Fast Pay Plan Wizard that makes setting up a plan simple, straightforward and flexible by automatically importing debts from the Equifax Credit Report and enabling subscribers to decide which debts to include in their payment plan.
* Monitoring and Monthly Alerts that help subscribers know if they are on or off plan and when an account is paid off. Plus alerts within 24 hours of key changes to their Equifax credit file.
* 4 FICO Scores every 12 months so subscribers can check their credit score, as it may change over time.
* Commitment Calculator tool to simulate how paying additional amounts towards debts could accelerate one's debt freedom date.
* Spend Smart Tools that provide ideas on ways to save money and spend wisely.
* Identity Theft Insurance of up to $25,000 with no deductible *.
Debt Wise is a part of Equifax's suite of products designed to help consumers understand their credit, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being. For more information about Equifax Debt Wise, visit www.equifaxdebtwise.com.
About Equifax Inc. (www.equifax.com)Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, employment and income verification and human resources business process outsourcing services, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
Customers have trusted Equifax for over 100 years to deliver innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses - large and small - rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, HR/payroll services, and much more. We empower individual consumers to understand their personal credit information, protect their identity and maximize their financial well-being.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 14 other countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500(R) Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.
*Insurance underwritten by member companies of American International Group, Inc. The description herein is a summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for complete details of coverage and exclusions.
Debt Wise does not provide debt management advice, credit counseling, financial planning or counseling, and will not act as an intermediary between subscribers and their lenders/creditors. Subscribers must continue to pay their lenders/creditors directly in accordance with their terms. Debt Wise will not improve or repair subscribers' credit history or score, or debt-to-income ratio. Debt Wise is not available in NV, UT, or DC. See equifaxdebtwise.com for important additional information.
Source
A great article about Free Credit Report and Score. Subscribe to the Free Credit Report and Score blog now to get more updates on free credit report services, check credit online score, and business credit report.
ATLANTA, July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Equifax (NYSE: EFX) today launched Debt Wise(TM), an innovative product that uses information from the Equifax Credit Report(TM) to empower consumers to free themselves from debt--faster.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060224/CLF037LOGO)
Debt Wise effectively eliminates one of the biggest hurdles for many debt laden consumers -- getting started. Subscribers can create their personal debt payment plan online in as little as 10 minutes, in the privacy and comfort of their own home. The product's Fast Pay Plan Wizard makes it easy. The wizard automatically imports debts from a subscriber's Equifax Credit Report so that they can easily select which debts to include in their plan. Debt Wise aligns those debts in an optimal order and then applies a debt stacking strategy so that the subscriber can see how to pay them off faster -- without paying more in monthly payments than they already do. And because Equifax already protects the personal credit information of more than 200 million U.S. adults, subscribers never need to disclose the user names or passwords associated with their financial accounts to an unknown third party in order to create their plan.
"On average, households with credit active consumers owe 24% of their annual income in debt, but are only spending 13% of their disposable income repaying debt," says Steve Ely, President, Equifax Personal Information Solutions. "At that rate, consumers are not even treading water, they're drowning in debt! That is why it is so important that consumers have a game plan for getting out of debt -- a plan that they can actually stick to."
Debt Wise is a powerful, easy, and secure way for consumers to create a plan to pay off their debts faster; plus have their progress automatically tracked and receive alerts to let them know if they are on or off plan. By sticking to their plan, consumers may be able to pay off their debts faster and potentially save a lot of money in interest payments.
For less than $.50 per day, Debt Wise combines the power of the Equifax Credit Report with the ingenuity of debt stacking to help consumers take control of their debt with features like:
* Fast Pay Plan Wizard that makes setting up a plan simple, straightforward and flexible by automatically importing debts from the Equifax Credit Report and enabling subscribers to decide which debts to include in their payment plan.
* Monitoring and Monthly Alerts that help subscribers know if they are on or off plan and when an account is paid off. Plus alerts within 24 hours of key changes to their Equifax credit file.
* 4 FICO Scores every 12 months so subscribers can check their credit score, as it may change over time.
* Commitment Calculator tool to simulate how paying additional amounts towards debts could accelerate one's debt freedom date.
* Spend Smart Tools that provide ideas on ways to save money and spend wisely.
* Identity Theft Insurance of up to $25,000 with no deductible *.
Debt Wise is a part of Equifax's suite of products designed to help consumers understand their credit, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being. For more information about Equifax Debt Wise, visit www.equifaxdebtwise.com.
About Equifax Inc. (www.equifax.com)Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, employment and income verification and human resources business process outsourcing services, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
Customers have trusted Equifax for over 100 years to deliver innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses - large and small - rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, HR/payroll services, and much more. We empower individual consumers to understand their personal credit information, protect their identity and maximize their financial well-being.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 14 other countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500(R) Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.
*Insurance underwritten by member companies of American International Group, Inc. The description herein is a summary only. It does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for complete details of coverage and exclusions.
Debt Wise does not provide debt management advice, credit counseling, financial planning or counseling, and will not act as an intermediary between subscribers and their lenders/creditors. Subscribers must continue to pay their lenders/creditors directly in accordance with their terms. Debt Wise will not improve or repair subscribers' credit history or score, or debt-to-income ratio. Debt Wise is not available in NV, UT, or DC. See equifaxdebtwise.com for important additional information.
Source
A great article about Free Credit Report and Score. Subscribe to the Free Credit Report and Score blog now to get more updates on free credit report services, check credit online score, and business credit report.
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