Best Online Credit Check

Following up on last week’s article, “Improving your Credit Rating – part 1”, this week will take you through a few more steps to build up, improve or maintain your credit rating.

1) Order a copy of your credit report

It’s wise to order a copy of your credit report every year in order to monitor any activity and changes.  There are a few reasons why you should do this annually. First, it’s easier to remember how much credit you applied for in one year, as opposed to two or more years. You’ll be more up-to-date on your financial happenings and end up jogging your memory less. Second, it’s also easier to chase up on inaccuracies or errors sooner than later, should you spot one. On that tip, you wouldn’t want any errors to remain on your credit history in case they are detrimental to your credit score.

You can order one free copy of your credit report annually.  There are a number of sites which can be found on the web that can assist.  I’ve listed a few below, but they aren’t all free:

http://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/       http://www.experian.co.uk/      http://www.equifax.co.uk/

Order your credit report at the same time every year, like when you do your taxes, or on your birthday, then you’ll be sure to be consistent and never forget.

2) Learn which credit applications leave soft versus hard footprints

There are two different types of marks that result from inquiries into your credit, or a credit check. Whenever you apply for credit, this leaves a “hard footprint”.  This will show all other lenders exactly when and at what intervals you have applied for credit.  If you’ve applied for a lot of credit in a short period of time, then you could come across as a high-risk customer because you appear desperate for money. You want to limit the number of times that a credit check is run on you in order to avoid the negative effect of such a situation.

In contrast, a soft footprint will not have the negative impact as that of a hard footprint. Soft footprints are left during address verifications or if a credit card company wants to send you a credit offer.

Always ask beforehand if a lenders credit check will leave a mark on your credit history.

3) Don’t apply for credit with a “friend”

This may sound silly, but never apply for credit or co-sign a loan for a friend or acquaintance.  Be sure that you know exactly who you are dealing with because you will be very sorry if they leave you high and dry with a load of debt. Financial transactions that will impact your credit score are not to be taken lightly.

Keep on top of your credit score and be aware how loans and other financial transactions affect your credit. Short term loans with Wonga are one way to improve your credit score slowly. Wonga does a credit check and reports their findings to UK credit agency, Callcredit. Use Wonga responsibly by repaying your online loan on the promise date or early. Wonga offers borrowing advice and budget tools on its website.

Wongawoman
http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/improving-your-credit-rating-part-2-715374.html

Paying your credit card bills on time each month is the best way to repair your overall credit and keep you credit worthy and in good standing with lenders. There are several ways to increase your credit rating so that it will be easier for you to walk in to a bank or apply online for a credit card and receive an approval and a good lending rate.

If you pay most of your credit cards online each month be advised that there is an allotted time that many credit card companies require you to pay days in advance for the payment to post on or before the due date. Failure to make the payment before the due date will result in a late payment and applicable fees and charges will be applied to your credit card balance. The more payments you make late, the harder it will be to repair your credit down the road with that credit card company. Until you are familiar with each company’s policies with paying online, make sure you allow up to a week in advance for your payment to reach the credit card company before you pay each month.

Make sure that when you pay your bills in person you pay them on or before the due date. Failing to do so will result in having to repair your credit further down the road. The effects of not paying your bills on time will have ramifications that will last month’s even years.

Mail in your payment up to ten days before the due date to avoid late fees and to assure that the bill arrives on time and can be processed by the lender in the proper allotted time. One way to repair your credit is by making sure that the payments you mail in are enough to pay the full balance down or at least make sure they include minimum payment amount.

Pay down high end balances every month to ensure that your credit rating stays high. If you are unable to do this, try paying your minimum amount with an amount that is more than the finance charge each month, although this won’t eliminate finance charges it will make it feel like you are paying down your balance a little faster than just making a minimum payment each month and not getting your balance lowered as fast as you would like. By making a short term goal of paying down high end balances each month you will ensure not having to repair your credit down the road and by doing that you will increase your credit rating.

If you happen to miss a payment or the payment gets sent out late, the first thing you should do is to call your lenders for help; this will help to repair your credit. Many times if you are a good standing customer, they will waive the late fee so your balance stays within its limit.

By avoiding having a derogatory mark on your credit report, this will lead to properly repairing your credit so you can have more leverage with lenders.

Joseph Feross
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-to-increase-your-credit-rating-by-paying-your-credit-card-bills-on-time-707139.html

If you have been trying to repair your credit and have had problem credit in the past such as late credit card payments, credit cards that were turned over to a collection agency or even a home foreclosure, these effects may have lead to a derogatory rating on your credit report. Keeping multiple high balances or not paying off your credit card balances off in full at the end of each month can also lead to lowering your credit rating.

Maybe you have had trouble in the past obtaining financing, whether it be for a new home, an automobile or even a new job; chances are you may not be able to get approved for a loan or a line of credit if your credit rating is low. The first thing you need to do to repair your credit is to restore your credit rating and bring it up so that lenders will see that you are working on Improving your spending and purchasing habits and paying your bills on time.

Paying off the high balances on your credit card is a good way to repair your credit. For example, if the balance on your card is $1500.00, if you can pay that debt down as quickly as possible you will be improving your credit rating greatly. Although for many it is difficult to pay off the balances each month, try to set up a financial plan as to where you can pay double or triple what your monthly payment is. If your minimum payment is $50.00 try paying $150. It may not seem like much but you will be paying less interest in the long run, thus improving your credit score. If you can time it right, try paying the balance completely off before the finance charge starts accruing, then go ahead and use the card after you pay it off and repeat the process every month. This will bump your credit rating up by leaps and bounds.

Always make sure to pay your minimum payment on time. If you are unable to pay off your balances each month, you must pay your minimum payments on time before the due date. If you pay your bills online, be careful of the due dates and the posted dates. Many times the credit card company will still charge you a late fee if you make your payment online the day before or the day that the payment is actually due. When a late fee is applied to your account it could cause your balance to rise and that amount will be reported to all major credit bureaus. If you are looking to repair your credit and earn a better score, send your payments in up to two weeks before they are due to ensure adequate posting times.

Another way to repair your credit is by not obtaining any new credit for it least six months at a time. This means no new credit cards or cell phones. This will show lenders you are willing to monitor your own credit.

Repair your credit by transferring high interest cards with high balances to a lower interest card that has a lower APR or no interest for six months, this will instantly improve your credit rating by showing that you paid off or paid down your balances.

Make sure to always pay off collections and any judgments that you may have against you that could appear on your credit report. These will bring your score down by several points no matter how well your other payment obligations are being met. By implementing a few simple steps into your lifestyle you can easily be on the way to financial freedom.

Joseph Feross
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-to-safely-restore-your-credit-rating-707145.html

What is the best free online website to use if I were to check my current credit rating? ? thanks

if you want to check your credit rating for free , check out this site

http://free-credit-rating-check.info

Here you can check your 3-in-1 Report from all three credit reporting agencies and your credit score.

Hope this help,

My bank’s fraud prevention system is useless – every month, I withdraw the same amount of money, pay my credit card, buy pet food online and pay off any items on the catalogue yet every month, it blocks payment on the catalogue until I have confirmed that all the transactions were made by me. It’s an automated call from the fraud prevention service. I can then go back onto the catalogue’s website and make the payment but a few days later, receive a letter from the catalogue mentioning that they noticed I could not make a payment and advice on other ways to pay and who to contact should I be in financial difficulty.

I do not have financial problems and have never missed a payment or had errors in payment until this service was introduced by my bank.

What I want to know is, if the bank blocks my payment to my catalogue, is this noted on my credit report in much the same way as a late payment? Will this affect my credit rating?

I have complained to my bank (two weeks ago) and am yet to hear back from them. I am hoping to start university next Sept as a mature student so don’t want to be penalised for their stupid fraud system!

No it won’t effect your credit. Your credit is hurt when a trade line (credit card company) shows that you are 30, 60, or 90 days late. I would suggest that you continue to contact your bank, if you are waiting for them to get back to you, they won’t. You can also ask them to run a credit check for you, this way it will generate a credit bureau after you request it from the credit reporting agencies. I hope that this helps, good luck to you. It is hard to get and keep good credit.

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If so, where and how?

You can get your free annual credit report from each of the three credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. This is the site mandated by the FTC and the only site that doesn’t require you to sign up for monitoring service. Reports are free, scores are not.

You can get your FICO with your Equifax report for about $8. You can also get your FICO for TransUnion and Equifax at MyFico.com. Consumers can no longer get FICO scores for Experian. TransUnion and Experian sites sell you Vantage (different scale/formula). Don’t waste your money. Creditors use FICO. Third party monitoring services use Fakko scores.

CreditKarma.com offers a free score estimator based on your TransUnion credit report. It’s not FICO. But it’s kinda, sorta like FICO, give or take 50 points or so. Close enough if you are just curious about your score.