Does your credit hold you back from getting the best deals? I find it frustrating, as my credit is not very good, and I don't quallify for a lot of sweet deals because of this. I am trying to improve my rating by making small purchases on a card and paying them off on time..it has improved a bit..but really to get a big improvement I think I need to pay or at least make arrangements to pay a couple of charged off accounts. I notice from the credit card offers I am getting in the mail that my credit is improving a little, and I check the score for free at Credit Karma..I am not sure what else I can do. I guess I could look for inaccuracies in the report.
You can certainly challenge an inaccuracies from the past but ultimately it's about your behaviors going forward. You've got to be seen to be better credit over a period of time. So you should continue to make the small purchases but also make sure that all other bills and loans are being paid on time. As you say, it's the bigger ones that are more of an issue. But control the controllable. At the very least continue what you're doing.
I have yet to check my own credit score. Then again I don't use a credit card either. Now I know for sure why having a good credit is important. I would really hate to miss out on some purchases because of credit issues. I try to pay bills off when they come so I don't owe anybody anything.
it is great if you can do without using a credit card, but to have the best credit rating you should show that you handle credit responsibly. You may want to use a credit card and pay the balance off every month. Sometimes a thin credit file is almost as bad as having a poor credit file. You want to show you can handle credit.
We used to have a problem with our loans but not with credit cards. That was the time when our finances were down so we had to borrow to pay existing loans until the borrowing would be overlapping 3 or 4 times. Fortunately, we were able to recover by saving money on all aspects like electricity, gas for transportation, etc. Now we have the credit cards, we are very careful in our purchases and always maintaining a good standing for our credit record.
I read an article written by a self-proclaimed financial guru over the Internet and he was saying that in order to make the most out of your credit card (should you own one) is to take advantage of your reward "points" and convert them into "rebates." If you don't want your credit card bills to pile up, then you had better link with an existing bank account so that your monthly payment can be automatically debited to your personal or payroll ATM.
I've been paying off my credit card charges diligently and I can assume that my credit rating is increasing because I've been receiving loans offers with lower interest rates and my credit limit for each card has increased up to four times their original limit. I don't get tempted to use the available limit for impulse purchases because I treat my credit card like cash and I always make sure that my utilization rating is low. It's important for me to maintain high credit rating because I always look forward to good business opportunities and my credit limit may be handy for funding part of the capitalization needs.
If you are dealing with bad credit scores you can start off by checking your credit report and disputing items you do not agree with. The process normally takes about 30 days and I have done it before with a little success. I was able to get a few points bump up by getting rid of a couple dings. The most important thing to do is pay your bills on time. If you have a lot of bills, try paying them in small chunks during the month before they are do. For instance, if you owe $100 a month on a credit card, do not wait until the bill is due and try to scrape up the money, make small payments online for free and just make sure you have paid your minimum due through the month before your due date.
