Developing A Credit Rebuilding StrategyWritten by T.B. Collins
Everywhere you look credit seems to be an essential part of our daily lives, it is used if we want to buy a house or rent an apartment, buy a new car, or even go shopping for large item merchandise. With credit being such an important factor in our lives, number of consumers that have poor to bad credit is astounding, but these people can rebuild their credit to a good or excellent status if they develop a strategy to improve their credit.Developing a credit rebuilding strategy is not as complicated as it may seem, but it can be time consuming and process can be frustrating. Dealing with consumer reporting agencies, agencies responsible for maintaining credit files of consumers, requires that you know laws that govern these agencies and how to use them to your benefit. The Federal Trade Commission has developed a set of laws that protects consumer, and most important of these laws is Fair Credit Reporting Act, this law gives consumer right to make sure their credit report is accurate and up-to-date. Before any strategy can be developed, a firm understanding of what tools are available to assist in implementation of developed strategy is essential, and most important of these tools is Fair Credit Reporting Act. Before you can start developing a strategy you have to know what F.C.R.A. entitles consumer to do about their credit report, and what is covered under this act: •You have right to receive a copy of your credit report. The copy of your report must contain all of information in your file at time of your request. •You have right to a free copy of your credit report when your application is denied because of information supplied by a consumer reporting agency. Your request must be made within 60 days of receiving your denial notice. •If you contest completeness or accuracy of information in your report, you should file a dispute with consumer reporting agency, and with company that furnished information to consumer reporting agency. Both consumer reporting agency, and furnisher of information are legally obligated to reinvestigate your dispute within (30) days. •You have a right to add a summary explanation to your credit report if your dispute is not resolved to your satisfaction. This is just a summary of laws that pertain to consumer contained in Fair Credit Reporting Act, for complete text go to FTC’s website located at http://www.ftc.gov.
| | Avoid the Three Biggest Financial PitfallsWritten by Terry Mitchell
For average person and/or family, three biggest financial pitfalls to avoid are new vehicles, credit car interest, and short-term loans. Any and all of these can drain a person's or family's coffers of much needed funds. At best, they create opportunity costs, i.e., money spent on them could be better spent on sound investments like a home or stocks (both of which appreciate in value over long term) or on college or retirement savings. At worst, they can eventually create financial hardship and even lead to bankruptcy. Buying brand new cars, trucks, SUVs, etc. can be a real money-eater. They all depreciate in value, some much faster than others, of course. Most vehicles depreciate most in their first year or two of life, so person buying a vehicle when it is new will have to absorb bulk of its depreciation costs. With price of new vehicles as they are today, that amount can be quite excessive. On top of that, many people have financially disastrous habit of trading them in about every two to three years for another new one. That habit will result in piling on of depreciation and debt. Instead of buying new, I suggest buying a low-mileage vehicle that's about one to two years old. There are services available now like CarFax which allow you to trace a vehicle's history. If you look around, you can find previously-owned, former-rental, or former-lease vehicles of every type, make, and model which are in like-new shape and have less than 20,000 miles on them. You can even find them on Ebay now! Once you have found one, I suggest keeping it for least three years after paying off loan. Ideally, I would suggest paying cash for it to avoid those used car interest rates and then keeping it for at least seven years, but I know paying cash is not an option for most people. If you absolutely feel need to give yourself or a family member gift of a new car some day, I wouldn't fault you for that. However, I suggest planning this out over several years, similar to how one would save for a college education for a child. Estimate amount that you are saving by buying used cars instead of new ones and pay yourself that money by putting it in bank on a regular basis. Over time that money will add up. Once you have saved enough, wait until a dealer that sells kind of vehicle you want offers one of those deals in which you can get zero percent interest or a rebate. Pay cash for vehicle and take rebate. That way, you get zero percent interest and rebate!
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