Having Trouble Getting A Loan? Ten Common
Credit Mistakes
If you are having credit troubles, you are
not alone. Many people are denied funding, financing and loans everyday
because their credit is poor, bad or nonexistant! Most of these people
make the same credit mistakes over and over.
These common mistakes and tips can help
you improve your credit score and your chances of getting a loan at better
interest rates.
1. Check your credit report. It is one
of the most common mistakes, but you need to know if what is stated on
your credit report is correct or not. Incorrect entries could negatively
impact your score.
2. Always pay your bills on time. One of
the most obvious credit mistakes, but many people ignore this adage and
build a record of late payments. Even if your payment arrives only a few
days late each month it still hurts your rating. Also not paying on time
causes unnecessary late fees and charges and can often lead to increased
interest rates.
3. Report any address changes to creditors
to avoid misplaced bills and late payments.
4 . If you ignore your credit problems,
it will only cause more negative impact to your rating. Contact and talk
to your creditors before you are late on your next scheduled payment and
make arrangements to make your payments on a slightly altered schedule.
This can help keep negative reports from going to the credit bureaus.
5 . Avoid when possible from using expensive
types of credit. It costs too much in interest and fees and is negatively
scored.
6. Do not charge more than you can afford.
This will only lead to larger and larger debt and higher interest rates,
fees and penalties. Also it puts you in a position where you may not easily
be able to pay off these accumulated debts for years, or ever. If you must
charge at all, make sure you can pay off the total amount at the end of
each billing cycle.
7. Avoid exceeding you credit limit. Going
over your limits will cause you to have to pay over-limit fees, which will
tend to lower your credit score with creditors and will cause negative
remarks on credit reports. It is never a good idea to exceed the boundaries
set up in your credit agreement, doing so can only serve to decrease your
ability to borrow money at desired interest rates.
8. Avoid accumulating too much credit,
ie; too many credit cards. Doing so can negatively impact your score due
to the fact that lenders may doubt your ability to pay off all of your
debt if you were to actually borrow or charge the full amount of your credit
lines.
9. Avoid paying only the minimum amounts
due on your credit cards each month. Not only does it keep your account
balances high, causes increased interest charges, and the long payment
term necessary to pay it off; it also negatively impacts your credit score.
10. Avoid keeping your credit cards maxed
out. This can cause a negative impact to your credit score and your ability
to borrow additional funds.
While this is not an exhaustive list of
credit mistakes, improve on some or all of these outlined above and you
can improve your credit report score and your ability to gain the confidence
of additional lenders in the future.
James Smith publishes information on credit
issues at http://www.loans-online-i.com/
. Visit the website for more information and resources. This article may
be freely reprinted as long as the authors resource box and url links remain
intact.
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