Repair My Finances.com

Whenever you apply for any type of credit or financing, a credit report is pulled from at least one of the three major credit bureaus. While there are hundreds of smaller credit bureaus around the country, virtually every credit bureau is affiliated with Trans Union, Experian, or Equifax. These credit bureaus collect and maintain information on the vast majority of Americans, but they are not affiliated with the government in any way. The credit bureaus are for-profit corporations that sell your personal information for money.

The credit bureaus receive your personal information through the same lenders who grant you credit. They have agreements with each of these credit grantors that require the credit grantor to inform the credit bureaus of everything that occurs in your relationship with the credit grantor. If you make a payment late, the negative credit listing is quickly reported to at least one of the three major credit bureaus and is added to your credit history.

Credit reports are not just a record of how you are currently managing your credit accounts. Credit reports are histories of everything you are doing with your credit now, and everything you have done in the past. The credit bureaus collect this information, list it on your credit report, and then sell it to credit grantors who wish to see your credit history before they decide to lend you money. The credit grantors who review your credit are especially interested in any negative credit. If you have shown any tendency to pay late, or to disregard your financial commitments in the past, then the creditors’ computers will immediately reject your application. Just like when you were in grade school, your credit report is your financial report card to the world.

What Kind of Information Appears on the Credit Report?

Merchant Trade Lines These include all regular credit lines such as department store cards, auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. If there is any history of late payment, or if the trade line was included in bankruptcy, charged off, or put into repossession, the listing will be considered negative by all credit grantors.

Collection Accounts When an account is referred to collections because of delinquency or because of a bad check, this appears on the credit report as a collection account. Collection accounts can appear as paid or unpaid accounts. Any type of collection account, whether paid or not, is considered very negative by all credit grantors.

Public Records Public records include bankruptcies, judgments, liens, satisfied judgments, and satisfied liens. All court records, including satisfactions, are considered negative by all credit grantors.

Inquiries Every time a potential credit grantor looks at your credit file, a credit inquiry appears on at least one of your credit bureau reports. If the number of inquiries is very few over the last two years, then there may be no negative effect on your credit worthiness. However, if there are many recent inquiries showing on your credit report, credit grantors may become nervous and deny you credit.

How Long Will Negative Information Stay on My Credit Report?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that most negative credit items be deleted from your credit bureau file in no more than seven years, except for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy which can be reported for up to ten years. These are the time limits for reporting negative credit. The creditor or the credit bureau can choose to have the negative credit information deleted whenever they please. Inquiries may remain on the credit report for up to two years.

Can I See My Credit Report?

Most credit grantors are not allowed by the credit bureaus to show you your own credit report. But you can purchase your credit report from the credit bureau for a fee. Once you receive your credit report, you may find that you cannot read it because the information is listed in an unfamiliar code. Trans Union and Equifax credit reports are particularly difficult to interpret and understand. Experian credit reports, however, are relatively easy for most people to read. Your best bet would be to order a 3-in-1 combined bureau report since they are the easiest to read.

How Much Bad Credit Does it Take for Me to be Denied Credit?

As you may have already experienced, even one small late pay listing may result in credit denials. It is a myth that a large amount of positive credit can outweigh some negative credit. Any negative credit whatsoever can become a substantial credit obstacle. Learn More.

Who Looks at My Credit Report?

With the passing of each year, your credit report is used more and more often as a yardstick to measure your character. Prospective creditors will always review at least one of your credit reports before granting you credit. Today it is increasingly common for insurance companies to review your credit before extending auto or health insurance. Many employers now check credit before they consider you for a position. If you rent, you may have already been through a credit check to determine your worthiness as a renter.

Tax, Tax and More Tax.

When you run a business, it can feel like you spend far too much of your time worrying about tax. Here’s a quick guide to the what you need to know about tax.

What Do You Qualify For?

There are all sorts of tax breaks for home and small businesses, to try and make it easier for them to survive. To qualify for them, though, you will need to be using your home as the primary place where you do business. If most of what you do takes place in some space elsewhere that you rent, then you won’t qualify for home business tax rules. You also are unlikely to qualify if you haven’t set aside a specific part of your home as the ‘business area’. Be prepared for the fact that you might be audited, to make sure that you are running a legitimate business from your home.

Records You Need to Keep.

You need to keep records of everything — literally everything — you spend on your home business. You should especially keep records of things when their use might be shared between personal and business, such any business-related travel expenses you run up on your car. If you have stock, you need to go through and inventory it at least once a month.

What You Can Deduct from Your Home Expenses.

Because your home office is in your home, you can claim any tax back that you pay on that part of the home. You can also claim back tax on part of your utility bills. For example, if your home is 2,000 square feet and you use 100 square feet for your home office, you can claim back 5% of your utilities. If you rent, then you can claim back this percentage of the rent, and if you have bought the house then you can claim it as a discount off your mortgage interest. Any equipment you have that depreciates (becomes worth less) because you use it in your business may also be eligible for a tax deduction.

Self-Employment Taxes.

When you work from home, you are legally self-employed. This can put you in a sticky situation, meaning that you have to pay for medical and other taxes that your employer would normally pay for you. In the US, for example, you will be responsible for your own social security and Medicare payments, while in the UK you will need to pay national insurance.

Get Tax Software.

If you’re not sure where to begin, get some tax software. Choosing your circumstances from its lists and giving any additional information it asks for should show you most of the tax rules that apply to you.

Get an Accountant.

If you want to save as much as you can on your taxes, don’t rely on things you read on the Internet, or even on computer software — get an accountant. They’ll be up-to-date with all the latest tax laws, and will know thousands of tips and tricks that there’s no space to list here. See if you can find one who will take a percentage of what they save you in tax as payment instead of charging a flat fee — this is an ideal solution for you and for them.

Do Your Taxes Online.

Most developed countries now give the option to do your taxes online, eliminating a big paperwork headache. You may even find that your tax software can send its tax report directly to the online service, without you doing much more than clicking a button. Of course, if you do things this way, be sure to call and confirm that everything went through alright.

Don’t Be Late.

Whatever you do with your taxes, you absolutely must not file them late or pay them late. It’s an all-too-easy trap to fall into, but there are automatic fines. Tax collection agencies will look upon you very unfavourably if you pay late, and are likely to start immediately charging interest on any money you owe them. Write your tax dates on your calendar and underline them in red. Twice.

The government passed a law that allows every citizen to get a free annual credit report a few years ago. This law states that they can get their credit history because of the recent increase in identity theft.  This free credit report is easily available online and will give you reports from all three of the credit reporting agencies.  A credit score is not going to be provided in this instance for you to view.

This is a very popular new law and there are many con artists and identity thieves that have come about and starting their own credit report web sites to scam you.  They are making money off of this new law that is supposed to protect you.  There are over 100 free credit report web sites that will help you online right now.   There is one good web site that will help you get a real free credit report online and that is www.annualcreditreport.com

The free credit report scam is usually going to charge a “small fee” to get what is a free credit report.  There are also fake free credit report web sites that will take down your information and ask for your social security number or they will ask for your credit card information. With this, anyone can steal your identity and spend money on your accounts that will ruin your credit.

You can find these scamming web sites in different ways. Most of the scam sites have a similar name as the official free credit report web site but you can figure out the difference because these sites often have misspelled works or typos in them.  This means that there may be a period of out place.  Also most of the web sites will charge you a fee to get the report and remember that you are able to receive one FREE credit report a year.  This is true even if they ask you for your credit card information and state and they will not charge you this is something to take note of and be very cautious of.  If you get an email of some kind of sales be sure to read the fine print very carefully before you respond.  Some have found that certain web sites or sales do offer a free credit report but you have to enter your credit card information and if you do this, you will authorize them to charge your card for credit monitoring services.

 You need to remember to get your free credit report either online or at the above mentioned site or phone or mail.  You can also make contact of the three national credit report agencies such as Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union and they can also point you in the right direction to keep a your credit on track. 

When you’re dealing with credit cards, you’re playing with fire. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there who don’t realise that, and make all sorts of dangerous mistakes with their credit cards every day.

1)  Paying Late

If you don’t set up any kind of automatic payment, then it can be tempting to just put your credit card bill on a pile and get to it when you have time. Before you know it, a few weeks have gone by and you’re late. If you leave it to the deadline, you might find that the payment won’t get there quickly enough – it’s not a deadline for sending the money, it’s a deadline for them receiving it.

Paying late is a big mistake for an awful lot of reasons. You will almost certainly be charged a late payment fee, and your late payment will go on your credit report for everyone to see. You may also find that you lose any good rate you had, and your debt is automatically thrown onto the very worst rate the company offers.

To avoid late payment, you should always post your payment a long time before the due date (at least a week). If you’ve left it to the last minute, phone up and try to pay that way.

2)  Being Taken in By Rewards

It is never, ever worth getting a higher-interest card simply because it offers some kind of loyalty points, flight miles or whatever. Even if it offers a cash reward, it is unlikely to be more than you would pay in extra interest – after all, why would they give you free money? All ‘rewards’ do is pay you off with your own money to make you feel like you’re getting something for nothing. You’re not.

3)  Collecting Cards

Seeing some people opening their wallet or bag is a scary experience. It looks like they have about a hundred credit cards in there, some of which they haven’t used in years. They have trouble keeping track of all the different cards, balances and interest rates. Don’t be one of these people. You should limit yourself to a maximum of three cards at a time – any more starts to make you look over-committed in your credit report, and could get you turned down for a bigger loan.

4) Maxing Them Out

Your limit is just that: a limit, not a minimum! Whatever you do, don’t get a card and immediately spend your whole limit. This looks very bad. It is better to spend about halfway regularly and pay it back. Wait for the company to increase your limit (which they quickly will), and then you’ll get that extra money without the stigma of having a maxed-out card.

5)  Not Reading the Terms and Conditions

Finally, as ever, don’t sign anything you haven’t read! I know it’s hard going and you’re busy and all, but if you can’t manage to read the terms and conditions then you shouldn’t get the card. Pay special attention to any future increases in rates, and what kind of fees you can be charged.

There is a point in your life that it is required to move on from having no credit and building up a good credit score to secure your financial future.  It makes no difference if you are trying to rent your first apartment of if you are applying for a loan to get something huge, you will have to have a good credit history for your name so that the person that you are working with will understand that you are reliable and very responsible for their investment.  However, there are some people that do not know how to establish credit.

Having bad credit is much worse than most understand.  You can be denied loans and have trouble with some of the financial institutions because you will find that you are labeled as high risk.  Identity theft is a very good reason for the false negative credit to your name.  It is a bad circumstance but you should not think that anyone is going to go easy on you.  If you put it all out there, you will not loan money to a friend that has been slow to repay others in the past.  There are unreliable things that people will notice first and they will not care to hear the excuses no matter how good you think they are.

The key is to be safe and to build credit without risking mistakes that will result in a bad credit history.  For example, your parents could put one of their monthly household bills in your name while you are still going through school.  If these bills are not paid on time, you will gain good credit.  On the other hand, it is vital to understand that if you miss some payments, it is going to get you started off on the wrong foot.

Another factor that plays into your worth to the creditors is to keep the same job for at least two years or longer and have the stable checking or savings account with a good bank are just a few things that you can do.  You should also think about having a stable cash flow and responsibility with finances.  You can make deposits and keep your balance at a positive number with a bank account and have a steady income show that you are not at risk for missing any payments or leaving town to avoid facing any collectors.  Your address, bank, positive bill history, and employment information can be added to your credit report at your request if it is not already there.

Your credit is an important part of everyone’s life.  Having good credit will help you in being accepted for automobile, home, and other loans.  If your score is bad, you will often times be rejected for loans because you will be labeled as a bad risk and it is assumed that you may not be able to pay back the loan on time.  Building good credit is going to be good when you do it early so that you can get a head start in the right direction for your financial future.