Finance: Ten steps to building a good credit history

Ten steps to building a good credit history

Written by Drahcir Semaj

Ten steps to building a good credit history

By Drahcir Semaj

Are you thinking of buying a house? Do you want to buy a new car to replace that old wreck? Trying to get insurance on you home, auto, or life? In each of these situations, what's on your credit report will determine if you can get a loan or insurance and what rates you'll have to pay.

If you're trying to build or repair your credit history, you have a daunting but not impossible task in front of you. Lots of people have been where you are and today they have good credit. With time, discipline, hard work, and by taking repparttar proper steps, you'll be able to build a good credit history too.

To build or rebuild your credit history you need to take certain steps:

1.Develop a budget and live by it. Whether your building credit for repparttar 112574 first time or rebuilding credit, you need to know how much money you have coming in each month and how you're spending it.

Start by listing your income from all sources. Next list all fixed expenses (rent, mortgage, car payments...). Finally list all of your variable expenses (entertainment, recreation, clothing...) no matter how small they are.

Writing down and tracking your expenses will help you to understand your spending patterns and you'll be able to see where you can save money by making lifestyle changes. 2.Open a checking account and use it responsibly. Lenders want to know that you have a relationship with a financial institution and that you have a checking account available to pay your bills. Don't overdraw your bank account; in addition to possible damaging your credit record, you'll be charged fees.

3. Pay your current bills on-time and pay them in full. Paying your bill on-time puts positive information on your credit record. Late payments or missed payments count against you.

4. Review your credit report annually. Contact Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union to get copies of your credit report. You should get a copy of your credit report from all three reporting agencies because some creditors don't report to all three agencies. If you're a member of a credit union, check to see if your credit union offers discounted credit report ordering for its members.

5. Fix any errors on your credit report. If you find errors on your credit report, contact repparttar 112575 credit reporting agency and repparttar 112576 creditor (in writing) to get repparttar 112577 errors fixed. Check your credit report to make sure that negative information like late payments, delinquencies, liens, and judgments against you have been removed after 7 years; bankruptcies should be removed after ten years.

It’s Not the Size of Your Bank Account

Written by Stephanie Yeh

You might think that if you win repparttar

lottery or get a huge raise, all your problems will be solved. Sounds logical, right? Well, it might sound logical, but it isn’t. Having a bigger bank account will not make all of your problems disappear. Why? Because money is nothing more than a giant magnifying glass. Any problems you have with money only get bigger when you have more of it. There are people who earn $150,000 a year who have huge money problems because they have never learned how money works.

So, if you are want to implement another top wealth creating habit in your life, learn how money works while your bank account is still modest. Deal with any out-of-control spending habits, plus any fear of loss, fear of risk and fear of money issues you might have. If you start small, you’ll be able to make a lot of mistakes without it costing a bundle.

You see, if your bank account is large, chances are that you will want to play big with your money—buy large things, invest large sums and take huge risks. If you’re not well-educated about money, though, or don’t have a lot of experience yet, huge risks can equal huge loss. But if your bank account is small, you’ll be more inclined to learn how to handle your money carefully and frugally, which minimizes your down-side. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores, always proclaimed that if he controlled his expenses (i.e. kept it small), he could afford to make a lot of different mistakes.

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