It’s that time of year again. Christmas music, holiday lights, beautifully decorated trees and lots and lots of presents. It’s also the time of year when a lot of consumer’s credit scores drop the most. This could take the entire next year, if not longer, from which to recover. This is especially true if the … Read more
Inquiries can be quite a dilemma! They are surrounded by confusion and questions: How much do they affect your credit score? What inquiries do and don’t affect your scores? What about rate shopping? What’s the difference between a hard and a soft inquiry? Inquiries can be frustrating because they may have an impact on your … Read more
Everyone knows that credit scores can be confusing; how they are calculated, what goes into them, why they change, etc. There are constant inquiries from frustrated loan officers and borrowers not understanding why a score is low when they can find nothing wrong on the credit report. No late payments, or maybe just an old … Read more
How long do items stay on a credit report? A lot of people will answer that question with a simple: “seven years.” In some cases this is true. Overall though, it’s not that simple. Both positive and negative items have a “life span” and those are not all the same. Let’s start with something simple. … Read more
One of the most frequently asked questions we get regarding credit reports is: “When do creditors report to the bureaus?” There is a misconception that creditors report their information at the beginning of every month and that credit reports update at that time as well. But in the world of credit reporting that would make … Read more
A presentation of the Did You Know Series Did you know…The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has an abundance of free publications that you can order to help you with your credit? They offer publications on topics such as: How to Build a Better Credit Report, Understanding Your Credit Scores, How to Deal With Debt, Understanding … Read more
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just make a phone call and say: “I promise to be good, to exercise, to eat right and take all my vitamins if you will just turn back the clock…” then have all the wrinkles and extra pounds just vanish? Maybe we can’t do that with our bodies … Read more
Well, perhaps not…however that’s probably how a loan officer feels when he is sitting in his office with a client, pulls their credit and it is missing one or more scores because that particular bureau is coming back with a deceased status. So he calmly smiles, looks at the client thinking to himself – but … Read more
Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase announced this week that they will make changes to how they report debt that was included in a bankruptcy. The change is set to occur within the next three months. This change comes from lawsuits filed in Federal Bankruptcy court against these two banks along with Citigroup and Synchrony … Read more
It is more crucial than ever for young adults to begin building a positive credit history well in advance of taking out an auto or home loan. Building a foundation of good credit and scores will determine interest rates and overall creditworthiness. To that end, this is a helpful guideline for young adults to understand … Read more