FAQs

After you’ve reviewed your credit card debt, checked your credit reports and talked to your credit card companies, decide which cards you should pay off first. If you pay off the card with the highest interest rate, you’ll lower the total amount you owe over the long-term. You also could try the “snowball” method, paying off the card with the lowest balance first to give you a psychological win. This could lead to paying more in interest over the long-term if the card with the smallest amount of debt also has the lowest interest rate. To avoid that, you could pay off the highest-interest card first.

It’s difficult to know how to pay off credit card debt, especially when you don’t have a lot of spare cash every month. But tackling a big balance isn’t necessarily an insurmountable task. All you need is a good payment plan and persistence, and you can break out of the cycle of spiraling credit card debt.

With a secured card in hand, follow these tips: Make sure your secured card has a MasterCard, Visa, Discover or American Express logo. These are the most popular cards available and the ones most likely to be accepted by stores and restaurants. Apply only for a secured card that reports account activity to all three major credit bureaus. This way, when a lender pulls your credit report in the future, the credit you’ve built with the secured card will appear on the reports. Pay your balance off in full each month. By doing it, you’ll demonstrate to creditors that you’re a low credit risk.

Once you have started your credit-repair journey, make sure you pay your bills on time. Over time, this can establish you as a reliable card user who pays your debts.

Closing credit cards you’ve paid off can lower your credit score. Closing a card causes your available credit to drop, reducing your borrowing power. You can pay off other card balances to reduce the effect of closing the card on your credit utilization, which can influence your score. Another way to increase your available credit is to ask your creditors to raise the limits on cards you already have. To be sure, raising the limits on your credit cards doesn’t mean you should go out and spend more. This is just a tactic to improve your credit score quickly.

When you start to repair your credit score, you must first find out what’s on your credit report. While your credit report contains information on all of your credit cards and your timeliness in paying bills, it also can have erroneous information. To be sure, it falls to you to report any errors. You must dispute these errors with the credit bureaus. After they’ve removed any errors, your credit score should improve as long as your credit is good otherwise.

It depends on the type of negative information. Here’s the basic breakdown of how long different types of negative information will remain on your credit report: Late payments: 7 years Bankruptcies: 7 years for completed Chapter 13 bankruptcies and 10 years for Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Foreclosures: 7 years Collections: Generally, about 7 years, depending on the age of the debt being collected. Public Record: Generally 7 years, although unpaid tax liens can remain indefinitely. Inquiries: 2 years, the first 12 months effect the score however inquiries that are not attached to open accounts that remain on your file could effect a decision makers perspective of your good intentions. Personal Summary: Forever if not updated or modified.

* Take the calculations FICO states and use 550 as your code breaker. This is the difference between your lowest score and your highest score. (300 minus 850 = 550) To calculate how many points per Ingredient, divide the percentage into 550, this will provide you the approximate usage points per named ingredient in the table below. Please Note: This does not mean that if you have 1 account that it will equal the total number calculated. You will need credit diversity to help obtain your full potential. 1.) 35% of your score is for your payment history. To know how many points you can earn up to for payment history divide 35% x 550 = 192.5 pts. 2.) 30% divided x 550 = 165 pts    ( balance owed ) 3.) 15 % divided x 550 = 82.5 pts   (length of credit history ) 4.) 10 % divided x 550 = [...]

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Your credit score is generated by information on your credit report, but is not part of the credit report itself. There are several ways you can access your credit score: Credit card issuers: Some credit card companies provide free access to your credit score as part of their services.Banks: Many banks offer credit score tracking services for their customers, often accessible through online banking platforms.Credit monitoring services: There are numerous credit monitoring services available that provide access to your credit score as well as credit reports. Some of theseservices offer free trials or limited free access.Credit bureaus: You can request your credit score directly from the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). They may charge a fee for this service.Nonprofit credit counseling agencies: Some nonprofit organizations offer free or low-cost credit counseling services that may include access to your credit score.Remember to regularly check your credit score from reliable sources [...]