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Featured Debt Consolidation Articles

All The Debt Consolidation Information You Ever Needed To Know
How does debt consolidation work? Debt consolidation is a simple process that involves combining all non-secured debts, such as credit cards, medical bills and insurance, and tuition bills, into one monthly payment, which is substantially-lower than the ...

Managing Your Finances During a Crisis
All tsunamis, hurricanes and medical atrocities aside, there's more to crisis proofing deadly and financial catastrophes. In the realm of protecting one's family from the devastation of financial dire straits, a simple plan starts with a budget. If only ...

The Differences between Debt Reduction and Credit Card
Using credit cards to consolidate your debts is not as effective as debt reduction. Credit cards often have high rates of interest, and will often lead you into deeper debts. In fact, credit cards are one of the leading causes that debtors seek out debt ...




7 Ways To Protect And Improve Your Credit Rating
 
Your credit score accounts for the amount of interest you have to pay for a loan or a credit card. Increasing your score in just a few points will make a big difference in the interest rate you will pay for a purchase. If your credit score is high enough, you'll have no problem qualifying for a lender's best rates and terms on auto financing, home loans and small business loans. The following are a few tips about how you can protect and improve your credit rating.

1 - Order Your Credit Report. Your credit score is based on your credit report, so you should begin by ordering your reports and reviewing each one for accuracy. You can get your reports from a service such as MyFico.com, or order from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union separately online or by phone.

2 - Check Your Credit Report Information for Inaccuracies. Check the identifying information for name, social security number, birth date and incorrect address. Make certain that old negatives and paid-off debts are deleted. Check for accounts and delinquencies that are not yours, late payments, charge offs, lawsuits, judgments or paid tax liens older than seven years old. Also, paid liens or judgments that are listed as unpaid, duplicate collections, bankruptcies that are older than ten years and any negative information that is not yours.

3 - Always Pay Your Bills on Time. Payment history makes up more than a third of the typical credit score. If you paid bills late in the past, you can improve your credit score by starting to pay your bills on time. Lenders are looking for any sign that you might default, and a late payment is a good indicator that you are in financial difficulty.

4 - Keep Credit Cards Balances Low. Carrying smaller balances is the best way to increase your credit score. The score measures how much of your limit you use on each credit card or other line of credit, and how much of your combined credit limits you are using on all your cards. Within 60 days, paying down credit card balances can increase your credit score by as much as 20 points.

5 - Try Not to Open In-Store Credit Cards. Although your first credit accounts can serve to build and improve your credit history, there comes a point when each subsequent credit application can reduce your score. New credit cards reduce the age of your credit history, and a department store credit card isn't good evidence of credit worthiness. Every time you apply for a retailer's credit card your credit store gets dinged.

6 - Be Conservative When Applying For Credit. Having at least one credit card that's more than 2 years old can help your score by 15 percent. Make sure that your credit report is checked only when necessary. Or, if you are shopping for a home, try to apply for loans within a two-week period. By keeping the loan process within a two-week period, all of the credit report lookups are seen as one single request.

7 - Don't Close Credit Cards or Other Revolving Accounts. Shutting down unused accounts that have outstanding balances without paying off the debt changes your "utilization ratio," which is the amount of your total debt divided by your total available credit. It will reduce the gap between the credit you are using and the total credit available to you, and that can hurt your credit score.

About the author:

G. L. Bycz is the founder and developer of http://www.consolidate-credit-card.net an online source for free tips and information on credit card debt consolidation, refinancing loans, debt management programs and financial planning.



Debt Consolidation News


Debt Consolidation|
汽车导购网, China - 11 hours ago
Regain control of your life with debt management services and financial help from our credit counseling service. Your Guide to Debt Consolidation. ...

Business is booming for debt-consolidation companies as more ...
Bizjournals.com, NC - Nov 17, 2008
“Last month was the biggest month we ever had,” said Craven, president of Debt Settlement USA in Scottsdale. The national company, which operates in 29 ...

Freedom Debt Relief Offers Answers, Clarity for Those Struggling ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Nov 21, 2008
Debt consolidation rolls multiple debts into one loan or into a mortgage. It may or may not bring lower payments. Borrowers using a mortgage to consolidate ...

Athens Township: ATA Prez.: Debt consolidation could eliminate ...
Morning Times, PA - Nov 17, 2008
Debt consolidation has worked well for other municipalities facing similar situations, said Steiner. “That was one of the recommendations we got from our ...

Treasuries Fall, Eroding Biggest Weekly Gain Since 1987 Crash
Bloomberg - Nov 21, 2008
“A bounce or even consolidation against these levels would likely lead to a near-term pause in the fixed-income bull- trend.” Treasuries have returned 9.3 ...