Cash Advance – Pros and Cons

Unexpected expenses show up when you are least prepared for them. Because they’re unplanned they might need immediate function. In such situations, a cash advance may be the best alternative. A cash advance is simply a short-term loan that you can use for unplanned expenses.

Items for Which People Often Use a Cash Advance
a Use a cash advance for a variety of expenses such as those incurred during holiday trips.
a Cash advances can be used during an emergency to pay off medical expenses or emergency repairs.
a A cash advance is a ready option for regular expenses such as college fees and other bills.

Advantages of Cash Advances The advantage of a cash advance is its ease of availability. Cash advances are especially attractive during those periods of the month where cash is not enough to meet needs and payday is a long way off. Moreover, people with bad credit face almost no hassles when applying for a cash advance. For example, there is no credit check involved when applying for a cash advance loan.

What You Need to Get a Cash Advance
a The first thing you need for a cash advance is to have a checking account. This will allow you to apply for a cash advance of up to 1000 dollars with ease.
a You also need your last paycheck stub and bank statement prior to the approval of the cash advance funds.
a Make sure you supply the correct information while applying for a cash advance.
a Remember that cash advances are secured on your future paycheck.

Study the Cash Advance Options Available to You
The purpose of a cash advance is to meet short-term money requirements. These loans are not designed to be used for long-term because the fees charged for cash advances are almost always higher than that for a regular loan. Interest rates on cash advance loans vary from company to company, so study the competitors and their rates carefully, and analyze your needs carefully before you decide to take a cash advance.

Does Debt Settlement Affect Your Credit Score?

Does debt settlement affect your credit score is a question being asked by many as we continue to struggle through the financial crisis? Many debt settlement companies claim that they can help you with your finances without damaging your credit score. In most cases this is simply not the case. If you have already missed payments on credit cards and loans then you have already damaged your credit score.

Debt settlement can though have some good effects on your credit score. For instance someone viewing your credit score after your debt settlement will see that several accounts will appear to be paid off. Yes of course debt consolidation creates a new credit account but lenders will consider the other accounts as paid in full. Compare your post debt settlement credit history to how it looked prior and there is no doubt that it will look improved.

It is simply amazing how few actually check their own credit report. Have you? Most do not realise how easy it is to access their own credit report. We live in an age where vast amounts of data are readily available and can be accessed online quickly and easily. The simple facts are that you can view your own credit report online for free as many companies will offer you a free trial.

It is always a good idea to check your credit score at least once per year. Sometimes mistakes can appear on your credit report and these can severely damage your credit worthiness. Mistakes though can be removed but of course you need to know they are there in the first place.

So if you have gone through a debt settlement plan and you want to know exactly how this process has effected your credit score simply view your credit score online yourself to find out.

Detecting high-risk, undesirable or fraudulent tenants before you let your property to them is obviously an important aspect of being a landlord. In the current financial climate it is critical a landlord’s lets their property to a good tenant because of this it even more important to have the tenant’s rental history before handing over the keys.

There are things you can do to ensure that you have the best possible tenants. Having a clear understanding of a tenants credit history can allow a landlord to make an informed decision regarding their suitability for them but more than that, can allow you to have all the information you need should something go wrong, these are called Tenant check, tenant credit check or tenant background checks and are available from various companies.

If a tenant does leave owing money or with items from the property you will presumably turn to their file and the information that is stored here could lead to finding them quickly and discreetly. Finding tenants who have disappeared can be straight forward as long as you have the information you need. The easiest time to obtain this information is when the person requires something from you i.e. the rent of a flat/room/house; at this stage the cards are stacked in your favour. You must use this time to obtain the information that hopefully you will never need. The most important pieces of information are

• Previous addresses
• Credit Score
• Parents address (if future tenant is relatively young)
• Date of birth
• Employment details name of company but also all details of company

This information will help with trying to locate someone if they should leave owing rent. How you get this information is to simply ask for it, on top of this you should also be asking for

• Bank Statements
• References
• Permission to search their credit file
• Bankruptcy & insolvency information

Once you have these things you should be looking to buy a report that confirms and clarifies the information. There are companies who will access this information for you giving a full report; these reports are usually called Tenant Credit Check.

The report may cost 30 and hopefully will be put away and never be used but should the situation arise where it is needed it will pay for itself many times over. If it does arise then you may need to order a tenant trace.

It is important that you get the first steps right so should you need to trace a tenant through the tenant check you can.

Most tenants are honest and simply want a place to call home; they will pay their rent and not cause any problems for you. There are a few who do not play by the rules and this is your way of saying that you will not stand for it. If you have this information obtaining county court judgements and attachment of earnings is much easier. If you want any chance of getting your money back you need to know where to find the tenant before these measures can be put in place a Tenant Check will help you do just that.

Fix Your Credit Report

You suspect that your credit report is not the best. When you applied for a loan recently, the lender either gave you a cold shoulder or a sky-high interest rate. But what can you do to fix the problem? In this article, we’ll provide some simple actions you can take right now.

Let’s start at the beginning. Your credit report is basically your credit history. The three major credit bureaus write up your report based on information they get about you from companies that gave you credit in the past. Negative information would include late payments on your bills, or worse yet, a foreclosure on a home.

The credit bureaus also generate a score based on the information in your credit report. The credit score, sometimes called a FICO score, ranges from 300 to 850. You want your score to be well above 620; that’s a drawing line for creditors. Below that and you’ll be paying more interest on car loans, home mortgages, and even insurance premiums.

You may be one of the tens of thousands of Americans who took out a sub-prime or adjustable rate mortgage to buy a home in the past few years. Heads up! You may be in for a shock when your interest rate re-sets. It’s possible your new monthly payments will be considerably higher.

These are all good reasons to fix your credit report now. Here’s how:

Action #1: Get a copy of your three credit reports. You have to find out what your lenders already know. You have a right to a free copy of each of your three reports once a year. Go to annualcreditreport.com to get them. This site is sponsored by the credit bureaus themselves. Beware: other sites with slightly different names will try to sell you services you probably don’t need.

Action #2: Review and remove. Carefully review your credit report for inaccurate information, and go through the process to have it removed from your file. You may also contest negative information.

Action #3: Reduce your debt. Try very hard to reduce the amount of total debt you are currently carrying from credit cards and car loans. Save money wherever you can, and apply that extra cash to paying down your debt. Here’s a tip: Don’t entirely pay off your credit card balances, though. Potential new lenders like to see a reasonable balance on your cards; it shows that you can handle debt well.

Action #4: Pay your bills on time. Be very careful to avoid “late-pays” from this point forward. Just one delinquent payment can set back your entire credit repair effort.

When should you start fixing your credit report? Right now! It will take a period of months before your actions start to make an impact on your credit score, so don’t delay. And if you’re thinking about buying a home, allow at least a year to work on your credit report. That will provide enough time to correct mistakes in your report, and establish a good track record for making payments and trimming your debt.

It really is not that difficult to figure out how to repair your credit. The obvious first place to start is with your credit report. If you haven’t already gotten one this year, you can get your free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. Or you could simply go ahead and apply for the loan you are seeking. If you get turned down, your loan officer can give you a copy of your credit report and help you identify the items on your credit report that are causing the denial. Your loan officer may also be a great resource for figuring out how to repair your credit.

Once you have your credit report in hand and you have identified the information on the report that is erroneous and/or inaccurate, you need to start writing your credit dispute letters on those accounts. It would be nice if it were just a simple matter of calling the credit reporting agencies and telling them to remove this inaccurate data from your report, but it is not that easy. Instead, the first step is to find a sample credit repair letter that will get the attention of the credit reporting agency. You can certainly write your own letter. However, that does run you the risk of doing it wrong. Sample credit repair letter templates exist all over the web, and from what I’ve seen of them, there are many that will work great. Just review a few and choose the one that seems the best to you, or one you found on a site you trust.

Next you will need to insert into the credit letters the data from each account you wish to dispute. You get the data from the credit report(s) that you have. If you have to dispute the same thing with three different credit reporting agencies, make sure you make three different versions of the credit dispute letter, each addressed to a different bureau. The data that you need to put into the credit repair letters is just the name of the creditor and the account number. If you have any additional evidence to support why the data on the credit report is erroneous, be sure to include that too. This is not required, but it can help.

After you have written up all the credit dispute letters (if you have a lot to dispute, you should set aside plenty of time to do this), you will need to create an “ID” page. The Identification Page should include very clear photocopies of the following three items: your current driver’s license with your correct address, your social security card, and a utility bill for your current residence. It is very important that all the addresses are the same, and are current. The reason for the ID page is simple. The credit bureaus need to be assured that it is definitely you sending the credit dispute letters. The credit bureaus are always looking for ways to throw out your letter if they can consider it to be frivolous, so be sure you don’t give them any excuse to throw out your letters.

You will include an ID page with every letter. You should be able to find the addresses of the different credit reporting agencies on the credit report that you have. Your letters should be in a business letter format with your name and address as the header and the recipient’s name and address on the left hand side below the header. Also, you should include your social security number underneath your name and signature. Make sure you sign all the letters and get them in the mail promptly.

Credit repair is really not a difficult process. It’s just a matter of finding the time to do it. It is sort of like changing the oil in your car. There is nothing difficult about it and anyone could do it on their own if they had the time and the right tools. Most people don’t really want to mess with it though so they look for a different way to get the job done. It’s exactly the same with credit. But the problem with credit repair companies is that, whereas an oil change costs $29.95, most credit repair companies charge several hundred dollars for their service. If you pay a thousand dollars for credit repair, they should be giving you a gold plated credit report in return. But that is not going to happen. Credit repair companies cannot get anything off your credit report that you couldn’t get off yourself by doing the same thing they would do: sending out those credit dispute letters.

Matthew Wierzbi

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How To Dispute Your Credit Report Information

Errors on your credit report may take a variety of forms from simple spelling errors or no new address reported to fraudulent uses of your credit to obtain financing for purchases. There are two different ways to correct or “dispute” this information; online or in writing.

If you need a credit report visit “An Overview of the Fair Credit Reporting Act” http://www.identitytheftsecrets.com/an_overview_of_the_fair_credit_reporting_act_what.html for information on how to obtain your free credit report and why you are entitled to one.

Here is a step by step process for disputing your credit report information:

It is important that you receive your credit report from all three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax-800-685-1111 www.equifax.com ; Experian-888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742) www.experian.com ; TransUnion-800-916-8800, www.transunion.com: as different credit companies report to different agencies. Not all creditors use only one and the incorrect information may appear in different reports. You may obtain your credit report online for free one time a year, with each additional report costing and additional sum, usually $10.00. If you are obtaining your first free annual credit report it will include all three agencies, you do not need to request one for each. However, you may find it more cost effective to use a credit monitoring system with a yearly fee that gives you all three credit reports in one on a periodic basis which you determine.

Next, review your credit report and mark the incorrect information. You may wish to print your report out to do this – especially if you have several mistakes or errors. Be sure to record the name, address, amount and account number if available in your notes.

Third, write the credit reporting agency a letter indicating that specific information if incorrect.

Fourth, attach to the letter any supporting documentation to dispute the inaccurate information. I recommend that one of your attachments be a copy of your credit report with specific errors circled or noted in some manner. You may wish to number them and then address as each numbered point within your letter, especially if you have several errors or mistakes. For example, there were errors on my credit report that all listed a false address and a variation of my name. I provided proof of my name over the period of several years, proof that the address did not exist and proof regarding my primary address that was listed on one, as it was not my address but a rental property.
NOTE: The most important thing you need to do when attaching documents is to include COPIES. Do not send originals as you may need that information for another report or in the future.

Fifth, write another letter to the credit lender providing the information. Indicate to them that you have filed a dispute with the credit reporting agency (Naming it specifically) and provide a copy of supporting documentation of the dispute to that information provider also.

If you are using a credit monitoring system online you may be able to eliminate many of these steps. In many of the better versions of a credit monitoring system, as you pull up the details of each account it offers you the option to “dispute” the information. You simply click on dispute and it will automatically pull up the account information you are disputing. You then has a small amount of space to indicate why you dispute the information and click submit.

After filing either your written letter or online dispute the credit reporting agency will investigate the information and determine if your dispute is accurate or not. They also forward all the information you have provided to the credit lender. Usually within approximately 30 days a decision is made as to the accurateness of the information and the credit lender must provide all three major credit reporting agencies with the corrected information. Also when the investigation is complete, you are entitled to the results in writing; a free corrected copy of your credit report; and if you request it a corrected copy of your credit report may be submitted to other credit providers that you may be trying to obtain credit from. For example, you may discover the errors while attempting to purchase a car or home. A corrected copy will be provided to the lender upon your request. If your dispute is denied, resubmit it with additional documentation or contact the credit reporting agency to determine what information would be convincing.

Disputing your credit is not something you need to hire a specialist to do, and many of those “get help repairing your credit report” programs are scams that are used to obtain your information for their own identity theft purposes or just to make money. Remember, negative information on your report that is correct can not be removed, no matter what someone may offer. This is a simple easy process, which involves very little cost to you. The only cost you incur is your postage and copies. For just a few dollars and a little effort you can save yourself money and permanent damages to your credit report. It’s well worth the effort.

Sample letter:

* Date
Your Name
Your Address, City, State, Zip Code
Complaint Department

Name of Company
Address
City, State, Zip Code

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing to dispute the following information in my file. I have circled the items I dispute on the attached copy of the report I received.

This item (identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.) is (inaccurate or incomplete) because (describe what is inaccurate or incomplete and why). I am requesting that the item be removed (or request another specific change) to correct the information.

Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence if applicable and describe any enclosed documentation, such as payment records, court documents) supporting my position. Please reinvestigate this (these) matter(s) and (delete or correct) the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Your name

Enclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)

* Source: Federal Trade Commission

$10,000 Personal Loans for Bad Credit – are They Really Possible?

The reasons for needing a loan are as varied as the people who apply for them. While some people only need a small amount to get them through a short financially distressing time others need significantly larger amounts for larger (and harder to rectify) problems. Many people find themselves in need of up to (or even more than) ten thousand dollars! Maybe the money is needed to start a new business. Maybe you’ve decided to consolidate all of your smaller bills. Whatever your reason for needing a large sum of money, finding a lender to loan you the money is going to be considerably more difficult if your credit is bad.

Of course, the level of difficulty in obtaining a large loan when you have bad credit is extreme. It is extreme, but it is not impossible to find $10,000 personal loans for bad credit.

If your credit is less than perfect and you need a large loan, you have a few options that are available to you. Prepare yourself, however, for a battle because there are two significant problems that you will need to solve if you need this size of a loan. The first problem is that, if your credit is bad, your signature alone is probably not going to be good enough to get you the loan especially if your credit history shows any delinquency in loan repayment. The other problem is that traditional lending institutions are not always willing to loan out large amounts of money to people whose credit history is questionable and whose credit scores are low.

The good news is that, if your scores haven’t yet reached the bottom of the scale, there is still hope that a ten thousand dollar loan is still possible. This is because there are a few lending institutions out there who are set up to accommodate people whose credit is bad. This is usually possible because these independent lending institutions usually decide their own lending criteria and have their own algorithm for figuring out your credit score (which will be different from the algorithm used by the three major credit reporting bureaus). In these cases as long as you don’t have an extraordinary amount of outstanding loans, you should be approved for the larger loans without too many problems.

Be careful when you research your loan options. Each time you apply for a loan a “hit” is placed on your credit report. The more hits you have on your credit report, the more “questionable” you look to lenders. If you have a borderline score the decision about lending you money could go either way. Having too many hits on your report, however, could tip the scales against you. Having too many of these hits on your credit history could make you look desperate to lenders and most financial institutions don’t like loaning money to people who look desperate for funding.

While there are large personal loans for people with bad credit available, finding the one that is right for you might take some time. The best thing that you can do for yourself is to research each opportunity before actually applying for a loan. This will help you decide on which loan you should actually apply for.

Credit Card Theft Hurts Retailers And Credit Card Consumers

Thanks to the zero liability policy offered by most credit card issuers, if your credit card is stolen you’re typically only liable for a very small portion of the unauthorized purchases- if any. Even if a thief charges thousands of dollars on your credit card, a zero liability policy means you don’t pay for it.

You’re not the only one affected by your stolen credit card, though. The retailers who accepted the stolen credit card (not knowing it was stolen, of course) lose price of the merchandise purchased with the credit card, and also considerable amounts of time and effort as they attempt to recover some of their costs.

Who do you think pays for the costs of credit card theft? If the cardholder of the stolen credit card is not required to pay for the unauthorized charges; and the thief is rarely caught; and the retailers are out the merchandise that was purchased with the stolen credit card- who pays for all of these financial damages? Consumers. Retailers raise their prices and credit card issuers raise their interest rates and fees to help compensate for credit card theft.

So while the cardholder of the stolen credit card doesn’t pay for the unauthorized purchases; the rest of the consumers who are already paying for their purchases are paying higher fees to compensate for the stolen cards.

Attorney General Larry Long spoke to the South Dakota Retailers Association about loss prevention in Sioux Falls on April 3, 2007. Long says that retailers need a plan for how to catch shoplifters, in order to alleviate some of these escalating costs. The seminar that Long spoke at was sponsored by the South Dakota Retailers Association and aimed to assist retailers for developing strategies to stop theft, fraud and scams.

Statistics provided by The Retailers’ Association indicate an annual inventory loss of over $37 billion nationwide for theft from employees, shoplifting, vendor fraud and administrative errors.

The Vice President of Loss Prevention for the National Retail Federation based in Washington, DC, Joseph LaRocca, said they have developed a system that law enforcement and businesses can use in order to track nationwide theft. It’s a secure online database system created because LaRocca insists that the issues of theft, fraud and scams effect everyone.

Attorney General Long, and the office of the Attorney General are not directly involved in the prosecution of shoplifters and thieves, but the state assists people and businesses who have been targets of such crimes. The local law enforcement handles the prosecution. While the goal is to be advocates of consumers, Long realizes that doesn’t necessarily mean in order to do that we have to be on the opposing side of merchants and retailers.

It’s estimated that only about one out of every eight or nine cases of fraud are reported to the state’s consumer protection office. Scams and fraud are extremely common, and more so than most people fully understand. Long says, “There is not a week that goes by that we don’t have at least one person who says they’ve been a victim of such a scam.”

Under laws in South Dakota, retailers can attempt to recoup lost merchandise and expenses from the thieves. In order to effectively do this, Long believes that retailers must have a plan in place to catch shoplifters.
A plan would require retailers to effectively and properly detain thieves until law enforcement arrives once they are identified as thieves, and as Long suggests, there should be a standard policy in place for handling such activity.

Identity Theft: They Caught Him

His hard earned money? Gone. Creditors on his back everyday. The cops knocking on his door. His family strained to the breaking point. He didn’t do anything wrong but my business partner’s life got turned upside down afew years back. He became a victim of what is now the fastest growing crime in the world. Identity theft.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, since 1999 over 27 million people in the US alone became victims of this epidemic 10 million more last year. Harris InterActive,a marketing research company, reports that between 2002 and 2003 more roughly 19,178 people per day fell victim.

Your identity can be stolen in many ways. For my partner, the thief gained access to his social security number and address then applied for a series of loans in his name. When the bills came due, guess who the creditors and law enforcement held accountable?

He and his family felt the full impact. Identity theft can cripple and even destroy a person’s life. The time loss trying to recover your identity as well as the out of pocket expense U.S.Treasury Secretary John Snow calls identity theft “the greatest threat to consumers and far more insidious and harmful to our national welfare than many people realize.”
The internet doesn’t make it any better with its almost limitless access to information but a great deal of identity theft still comes from the offline world. Wherever it comes from the goal stays the same. To get your personnal information and steal what belongs to you for as long as possible.

In many cases, this can lead to the victim filing for bankruptcy or worse. As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, one man whose identity got stolen recently spent 54 days in jail before authorities realized their mistake.

Yet even when the thief finally gets caught, victims find out all too often the worse part still lies ahead. The recovery of their identity. For my partner, that meant never ending battles with the same credit bureaus that previously gave him good ratings.

They destroyed his credit almost overnight eventhough he did everything they told him to get it restored. The agencies refused to clear his record and instead, started sharing his information with each other. His mortgage rates went thru the roof. He paid more for everything but still got declined. With all of this came the burden and fear of him not knowing if he would ever recover his identity.

Six years later he finally did. He started working with a company that within 90 days restored his credit. His mortgage rate dropped and he went back to paying full price for everything like the rest of us.

And like my partner, all of us risk becoming victims. In San Antonio Texas, television station KENS 5 spoke with a man convicted of identity theft who warned “Don’t take for granted what you have because anybody could take it away – I mean at the snap of a finger.”

He would know. The ways of stealing an identity have turned this crime from nuisance to worldwide crisis.

Free Credit Report – What Is An Employer Looking For In A Credit Report?

If you’ve ever applied for a job or are in the process of looking for a job now you may be wondering why your future potential employer wants a copy of your credit report. Of course you always want to maintain a good credit report and FICO or credit score because there are many ways it can be used for or against you including with potential employers.

A credit report to an employer is just another means of gathering more information about you and gives them background information. They can find various ways on your credit report to verify what you’re reporting on your resume. For example, you may have included past employment information on a credit card or loan application and they want to see if it matches, if you have left something out or have used different dates.

If you’re applying for a job that involves handling money such as bank tellers, financial loan officers or any finance-related business or cash handling businesses such as restaurants or retail operations they’ll want to check you out thoroughly.

Also if you’re thinking about working in any kind of business where you would be handling valuables such as jewelry that could easily be hidden you may go through a more thorough background check including your credit report and credit score.

A prospective employer will look for bankruptcies, although they cannot reject you for this, to see how you’ve handled your money and finances in the past.

They’ll always certainly try to match your past employment history with what you’re reporting on your resume so make sure you get your dates right. You don’t want to be rejected because you forgot what dates you worked for a particular business or company.

Employers will check your credit report for any evictions from past housing. Of course some landlords and property management companies don’t report evictions but a good reason to see what’s on your current credit report for yourself so you know just where you stand.

They’ll also look for any repossessions, foreclosures or reports from collection agencies and verify your social security number.

A big concern they have is theft by employees. To cut down on this they look for bounced checks on your credit report or any other indications you’re not honest.

Your employer does have to get your written permission to take a look at your credit report. So make sure you get a copy of your current report and look it over so you know what’s in it. You can get a free personal, online annual credit report in an instant. Even if you had one a year ago you want to get a free report now. You want to look over your credit history to know where you stand.

To answer the question what is an employer looking for in a credit report this is basically it although there are a few other things. Get you credit report as soon as possible so you’ll be fully informed when you apply for a job and it’ll pay off for you. You don’t want to be turned down on the basis of something in the report that you aren’t aware of or just overlooked.

Problem: “I have a debt with XYZ company that has gone into collections. I got phone calls from a law firm trying to collect from me. I asked for debt validation and all that I received from them was a copy of the latest card statement. This account had earlier been pursued by another collection agency, which gave up midway. Yesterday, I received a summons from court upon which I called the office of XYZ to enquire. The representative who picked up my call said she had no records since the account had gone into collections.

My question is, if they have provided the right documents in response to the validation letter that I sent them? I do intend to pay back the debt but right now have some financial problems. What should I do about the summons? Do I have a case in court?”

-James Barto

Solution: The first most important thing is to not ignore any summons from the court. Reply to the summons within the due date mentioned. If there is anything you want the court to know, you may mention it in your reply. Besides, you will also be given an opportunity to defend yourself in court. So, you may collect as much evidence to prove your point. The final verdict, however, will be given by the judge.

The law firm that tried to collect from you must be the CA that your Original Creditor (OC) sold the debt to. When you send a debt validation letter to a collection agency, they are required to send you:

• Written proof that they hold your debt and that the debt has been sold off to them.
• A statement of the payment history of your account till date. You can find out if there has been any extra fees charged, and if it has been, then how the CA has charged it.
• A copy of your original contract to prove whether or not you still are liable to pay off the debt. The CA may also provide account statements from your original creditor.

If the CA does not validate properly you have the right to provide that evidence in court. Tell the judge that you have not received proper validation for your debt.

If there is time after you send your response to the summons, you may call the CA’s office and try and speak with them regarding your debt. If you intend to pay back the debt then speak with the CA and let them know about your situation. Tell them why you have defaulted on the loan but let them also feel that you sincerely wish to repay the debt. If you can arrange for some money, then try and settle the debt outside court. It may take you some time to convince the CA, but you should at least try. You will find more solutions to your credit related problems in numerous credit forums across the internet.