Credit and Credit Scores: A short lesson

[The X-Factor]

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how do you go about getting a CD? whats the minimum (if there is one) that you can deposit it for?

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Its 2000 dollars where I work at. It may be different somewhere else.

[The X-Factor]

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Well you would be better off doing a CD secured loan than an unsecured loan or credit card as far as saving money goes.

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Credit cards cost you nothing if they are paid off in full each month... plus if you get a rewards card you will start earning cashback for your purchases. This CD idea is just plan stupid in my opinion. Why would you pay money to 'build' credit when you you can open a credit card and do it for no charge at all?

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Thats very true but revolving credit and installment credit are two totally different things.

[belgianbeerlover]

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You are entitled to 1 free credit report per year from each agency (obtainable at annualcreditreport.com), therefore, the smart consumer pulls his credit once every 4 months, each time from a different agency.

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Nice. It never occurred to me to do it this way. I was ordering all 3 at the time 1/year. Your way is much better.

[A S U]

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Don't use one of those credit repair clinics. All they do is offer to remove wrong or bad info from your credit report and you can do that yourself.

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Could anyone explain how to do this yourself? Around 98-00 I got myself into some bad credit issues. I was in college and effed it bad. I had 2 CC's, one for like $500 and one for $700. Maxed them both out and never paid them off, they went to collections=My score suxs.

About 4-5 months ago, I got a crappy CC with an annual fee and a pretty high % rate with a line of $600. Then a month later I got a better one with no annual fee but a line of only $300, then about 2 weeks ago I got a Chase card with a great APR and $2100 line, so it appears to me that my credit is vastly improving. But I will always wonder about those 2 old CC's and how to get rid of that crap so I can get a really good score going. Thoughts?

[hawk59]

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The best way to build credit, if you have none, is to get a CD and take out a loan against the CD, paying it off, establishing credit.


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huh?

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You deposit $5000 (arbitrary amount) into a 6 month Certificate of Deposit earning 6%. You go for a secured loan at a lower interest rate (may need a cosigner). You pay off the loan, and earn some small interest in the process, and increase your credit.

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or you can just borrow $10million at a low rate, and put the proceeds into a CD. you would earn huge interest and never need to work.

[Suigin406]

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PokerFox, thanks for sharing.

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yea, this is a nice starters guide for people like me who haven't really bothered looking into this stuff, thx...

[jba]

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You can't get those 30+ late payments off of your credit report like I said.

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this is definitely not true, the creditors have total control over their entries in your report and they have the ability to remove them.

[Dominic]

what about credit consolidation programs? Are they worth it and how do they afect your score?

[ajml]

In the past I know that not paying electricity and cable bills on time did not hurt your credit unless they went to collections. I have heard that this is no longer true. What is the truth to this?

[The X-Factor]

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In the past I know that not paying electricity and cable bills on time did not hurt your credit unless they went to collections. I have heard that this is no longer true. What is the truth to this?

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They have to send you to collections before it shows on your credit report.