CHALLENGED CREDIT

Any collection will have a story that goes with it. Whether you’re in the right or wrong, you must deal with any collections that end up on your bureau – they wont just go away. Often, when a debt ends up in collections, the companies have the authority to negotiate. Take the time to see if you can negotiate the debt down before making the full payment.

In order to establish a substantial bureau, you will need to have at least two trade lines reporting. This could be credit cards, a vehicle loan or a line of credit. If you’re at the beginning stages, you may need to establish credit before a major institution will be prepared to offer you a Visa or a Mastercard. Secured credit cards are great to get going.

Its easy to blame a financial     institution for any error on our bureaus but the reality is that it’s your bureau and your responsibility. Be proactive and sign up to receive monthly reports showing any areas to be concerned over.

He or she who has credit, but doesn’t use credit, will have better credit. Someone that can show they have credit available to them and not use it, will have a higher credit score than the person who is maxed out.  As a general rule, you don’t want to use more than 80% of the credit available to you. As an example, if you have a $1000 credit card, you don’t want to have a balance over $800. Stick within this rule and watch your score go up.