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Im wanting to fix my credit.....what is the best credit monitoring company out there for the money?
-I want to watch my score go up as I pay things off. - maybe even have help on what I should pay off first.
Public Comments
- Get informed first! I used a company called Credit Solutions. don't use them. Also find out about what happens when you "settle" an account. (IE: You pay 60% of the total and the rest is cancelled). Amazingly, this other 40% is considered INCOME and you have to pay taxes on it!
- www.freecreditreport.com The basic report is free, for an extra fee, you can get monthly monitoring and tools to help you raise you score.
- Hey.. I am a loan officer/real estate agent. I see bad credit like you wouldn't believe. It is more common than people think. I have a person that does wonders for my clients. He is cheaper than most and can also do payment plans. He is 400.00mnth but can do monthly 50.00 payments and he will start as soon as the first payment is rendered. You can contact him at Troy@candccreditrepair.com or at 682-465-3561. He used to work for the credit bureaus so he knows how to go in and clean it up. I swear on his work. If it weren't for him I would not close as many loans so I really appreciate what he does for my clients and for me to eat...lol
- I use TrueCredit. It's cheaper than freecreditreport.com for only $14.95/month. You get unlimited access to reports from all 3 agencies. It also provides alerts whenever inquiries are created when credit is applied for and new accounts, especially negative information appears on your report. It also has trending scales to monitor your progress. As far as what you should pay off, I can offer you some tips that you should know: 1. Depending on what the item is, paying it off may not necessarily increase your score. This hold especially true for certain collection items. Just paying collections off, doesn't increase your score. When the collection hit your report, it did the most damage to your score and typically continues to do that for the next 2 years, then it loses its effectiveness. If you pay off old collections, request a "pay to delete", which is a payment in exchange for removing it from the report. If you don't, you're just wasting money as it will not help your score anywhere near as if you would've negoatiated. Here's several links that explain it detail: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/settle_debts.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/neg_rating_after_settle.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/CanCreditorSue4SettlementDifferences.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/ActualDebtSuccesses.shtml http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/debt-negotiation.php 2. On your active accounts, especially credit cards, you should keep the balances at or below 30% of their limits. 30% of your score depends on this, and this is the part of your score you can control the most besides payment history. So that's pretty important. 3. Only apply for new credit when you're able and ready to use it. Anytime that you apply for credit regardless of whether you're approved or not, your score drops anywhere from 3,5, and sometimes 12 points depending on what you're applying for. If you don't have any open trade lines (credit accounts), I'd suggest opening a secured credit card to start building credit. This is one of the easiest credit cards to get mainly because a deposit which is used as collateral is required upfront in order to establish a line of credit. For example, if you deposit $300, your credit line is $300. Reason I say to get a secured card is that there are some credit cards that target people with bad credit, but those aren't usually worth the plastic they're printed on, as they're loaded with hidden fees that are charged before the credit card is received. At least with a secured card, although you'd have to pay a deposit upfront, it's sometimes linked to a savings account which can gain interest while you're building credit, and would be given back at some time later on. Also, it disciplines you to manage the account better since you would run the risk of losing the deposit if you didn't. Also, once the card converts and you get the deposit back, you could use it to start up an emergency fund. I posted several links to some secured card companies as well below. 4. Lastly, although I should've put this #1, PAY on time. 35% of your score depends on this. You can relate building credit to building a house of cards. It takes forever to get it up there, and the second a payment is missed, or a collection account appears, BOOM! There goes your score, and now you have to start over. These are just a few tips that you can use to start building your credit, I'm confident that you'll get it done! good luck!
- You actually want to pay for the ability to "watch your score" go up.....wow..... Three are three reporting agencies....you can get a free credit report every four months from one of them at annualcreditreport.com.....But NONE offer a "FREE credit score"......don't pay for something that you don't need today....if your're behind on your bills - your scores in the toilet......get current and then splurge on a FICO score... Grab a notebook (or legal pad)....a pen...the phone....and a good cup of coffee and sit down and BE YOUR OWN monitor... List your bills by how much you owe.......list them smallest balance to largest balance......focus every extra penny on the smallest balance and pay minimums on everything else and attack that first bill and be done with it......then go on to the next smallest amount..... While you're doing this.....if you're not totally behind....call up the cards and politely ask for either a reduction in the interest rate......or a reduction just for a few months to help you get back on track..... Time and commitment is the ONLY way to raise your score....don't pay some company.....Heck, I'll charge you $5 and poof 24 months from now....you score is 80 points higher..
- True Credit.com is the best credit watch reporting system out here for the money... I own a credit repair company and I have used them for over 5 years! You can call urbancredit and we can help you understand your credit and what you need to do. (free) If you want us to do the work, we will for a small fee of $119 Either way, call to get the information. 1-888-633-3317 or direct 412-778-1052 www.urbancredit.net
