Basic credit common sense tells you that paying your bills on time is essential to maintaining a good credit rating. What you may not realize, however, is that your payment history is only one component of good credit. Payment history absolutely matters, but keeping your payments on time alone is not enough to earn and keep great credit scores. Great …
4 Credit Mistakes You Can Teach Your Children to Avoid
As a parent, you are responsible for teaching your kids many different important life lessons. When they are young, you help them learn how to walk and talk. A few years later, you start teaching your kids about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yet somewhere between lessons about the golden rule and the sex and drugs talks, a lot of parents …
How a Good Credit Score Can Improve Your Life
There is no sugar-coating the fact that life can become a lot more complicated whenever you are faced with credit problems. Sure, you can get by with bad credit and low credit scores, but living like that can be expensive, not to mention stressful. On the other hand, when you work hard to rebuild your credit, the payoff for your …
Don’t Fall for These Credit Myths!
The world of credit is overflowing with myths and plain bad advice. Unfortunately, when it comes to your credit, believing the wrong myth could really hurt you. Before you blindly follow the advice you received from your well meaning loved one or the credit tip you read online from your favorite financial “guru”, it might pay to do a little …
5 Things You Can Do to Increase Your Credit Score
Struggling with the effects of bad credit can be very stressful. When you have credit problems, there is no question that life often becomes more difficult. With bad credit it can be tough to purchase a home, secure reliable transportation, and qualify for a credit card. In fact, bad credit can even cause you to be charged more for insurance …
4 Common Credit Mistakes to Avoid
Knowing what not to do can be just as important as knowing what you need to do when it comes to your credit. Even if you have worked hard to establish good credit, the wrong slip-up has the ability to undo much of your hard work. Thankfully you have the opportunity to learn from the missteps of others and hopefully …
Getting Your Credit in Shape to Buy a Home
Dreaming about buying the perfect home? If so, then you may have already picked out your favorite neighborhoods and floor plans. You might have imagined exactly how you will decorate each room in your new home or you may have plans for a beautiful outdoor retreat in your back yard. However, if you have not yet considered how to get …
Will paying off a collection account improve my credit score?
I get this question a lot. Although I would never suggest NOT paying your debts, you need to be very careful when paying a collection account. If you are 100% sure you owe it, then maybe you should pay it (more on this later). However, if your goal is to improve your credit score, paying it will likely have the …