Top 5 Credit Misconceptions

Written by Cindy Morus


We have all heardrepparttar rumors…from neighbors, relatives or friends. There are a wide variety of myths floating around about what you should and shouldn't do to improve your credit reports and credit scores. The buck stops here! Phelps Creek Financial Coaching has exposed these urban legends to provide you withrepparttar 110948 truth about credit:

1. Your score will drop if you check your credit - Fortunately, this one is definitely not true.Checking your own report and score is counted as a "soft inquiry" and doesn't harm your credit at all. Only "hard inquiries" from a lender or creditor, made when you apply for credit, can bring your credit score down a few points. Worried about damaging your credit while shopping around for a loan? Multiple inquiries forrepparttar 110949 same purpose within a short amount of time (a few weeks) are grouped together into a less damaging period of inquiry.

2. Closing old accounts will improve your credit score - To close or not to close, that isrepparttar 110950 question. Many people advocate closing old and inactive accounts as a way for improving your credit. In most cases, closing accounts will actually haverepparttar 110951 opposite effect. Canceling old credit accounts can lower yourcredit score by making your credit history appear shorter. Think twice before closingrepparttar 110952 oldest account on your credit report. If you want to reduce your levels of available credit, ask for your credit limits to be reduced or close newer accounts instead.

3. Once you pay off a negative record, it is removed from your credit report - Negative records such as collection accounts, bankruptcies and charge-offs will remain on your credit report for 7-10 years after they are first posted. Paying offrepparttar 110953 account beforerepparttar 110954 end ofrepparttar 110955 set term doesn't remove it from your credit report, but will causerepparttar 110956 account to be marked as "paid." It is still a good idea to pay your debts, it can improve yourcredit score, butrepparttar 110957 major improvement will come whenrepparttar 110958 record expires.

Am I Really A Stroller-Monger?

Written by David Leonhardt


Am I Really A Stroller-Monger? By David Leonhardt

I was reading "A Modern Infant Armada", a humor column in Maclean's Magazine written by a fellow humor columnist. Writing about it now is a bit like a painter painting another painter or a singer singing about another singer (but it not like a cook cooking another cook.).

David Russell (yes, another humor columnist named David) laughs at his neighbor for parking both cars inrepparttar driveway to make room inrepparttar 110947 garage for four strollers for just one child. I laughed with him. Four strollers for just one baby is ridiculous, right?

However, David Russell becomes a parent himself, a condition that afflicts many unsuspecting homo sapiens, and he concludes that a call to his neighbor is warranted: "I need to see if he can help me get a fleet rate."

"Traitor!" I cried out. "Stroller monger!"

"Who's a traitor?" my wife asked as she walked inrepparttar 110948 room. "And just what is a stroller monger."

I resistedrepparttar 110949 obvious answer – that a stroller monger is somebody who mongs strollers. "David Russell. He says that one stroller is enough for any child, but then he decides to buy an entire fleet."

"Say, we could have saved a bundle if we had applied for a fleet rate," my wife mused.

"What? We don't have four strollers."

My wife smiled. It was a sweet smile you could just fall in love with...if you did not know that it meant, "Oh yes we do!"

"We do not."

"My wife took out her counting fingers. "First there isrepparttar 110950 car seat," she said, pressing downrepparttar 110951 first finger. "We snap it intorepparttar 110952 stroller base whenever we go anywhere."

"OK, that's one."

"Then there isrepparttar 110953 SUV," she said, pressing down on a second finger. The "SUV" is a full sized stroller. We bought it when we were still squeezing it on a downtown apartment. With no storage space, it stood inrepparttar 110954 entrance area, blocking our path torepparttar 110955 kitchen and any hope of escaping ifrepparttar 110956 place caught fire. The SUV isrepparttar 110957 Hummer of strollers.

"OK, that is a stroller, I will grant you. But that's just two."

"We also haverepparttar 110958 fold-up stroller," my wife said, pressing down a third finger.

"But she's not even using it yet."

"She will soon and we have it now," my wife pointed out. "Then there isrepparttar 110959 old fold-up stroller we kept as a backup. That makes four."

"You can't count duplicates. That's double counting."

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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