Financially Tough

The Credit Score you need to get a home

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:13:27 +0000

There are several credit scores on the market. Actually, there is over 1000 different scoring models. But when you are buying a home there is one that you will need other all the rest. You need to get your FICO score.

Why do you need a FICO score to get a home? The reason why a FICO score is so important in buying a home is its use as a standard in the lending industry. The FICO score has been around for a long time if not the longest and has proven to be one of the most reliable scores on the market. Because of its reliability, it became a standard in mortgages and is used to package and resell mortgages on a secondary market.

As a potential homeowner, it can be said that the better your FICO score, the better change you will get approved. Also, if approved, the FICO score will help determine the interest rate you will pay. This makes having a good or excellent credit score so important.

Before you do apply for a home loan, you should get your FICO score. And to further complicate things, you can also have more than one FICO score. The multiple score are due to fact there are three different credit bureaus tracking your credit. Since the FICO score formula uses information found on your credit and you have three credit reports, you potentially have three FICO score. So it is best to get them all because this will give you time to check for errors and maybe give you the chance to get these errors removed to boost your credit score.

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New Years Resolutions – Improve My Finances

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:12:08 +0000

Maybe your goal for 2012 is to improve your finances. It is one of the top 5 New Years Resolutions in some form or another. But like most New Years Resolution, they are hard to keep. That is why losing weight is always number two or one on the list. People want to lose weight but can only commit for the first few weeks of the year and then they fall off the wagon. And once you fall off, it is hard to get on

My own debt I would compare to yo-yo dieting. I go up in debt and then come down. This is especially true after the holidays. I definitely spent too much. Gifts for nephews and cousins, that will be soon forgotten. But maybe that is not the right attitude. I like giving but not saving to give.

As my debt consistently rises at the end of the year. I find myself committing every year to same old resolution, pay off the debt. But as you learn as a manager, a goal is great you need action steps to actually get to the goal. So what are the action steps to get me there.

Do a monthly budget – This is something that I need and will be essential to figuring out where my money is going. And because I should run my finances like a business. This needs to be done for the year and monthly.
Reduce spending – as it is not always easy to boost earnings, cutting is the next best way to put money in my pocket and towards reducing my debt to credit ratio. Things like my phone bill, utilities, car insurance, and TV have room on them, that can turn into saving. Actually I found insurance company that would charge me $80.00 less per month, this is a nice monthly savings already.
Adjust my taxes – I am no longer single but I have always claimed this way. Every year I would get back a large sum on my taxes. Well, looking at I always liked the idea but really, this is money that government is getting from me interest free. I want this money in my pocket now to pay down debt. If it doesn’t seem to be working I can always change back but stay tuned as I will let you know how it is going.
Find A Second Job – As much as I hate the idea and the job market is rough, I think I will need a second job this year. I want to get ahead and really pay down this debt quickly and a second job will really give my finances a needed boost. Just heard Home Depot is hiring 70,000 workers, maybe that is a starting place.
Discuss My Finances More With My Wife – we hardly talk about money and this has always been an issue. There is no doubt that not talking about money makes us angry. Something so simple but difficult. Money views are different and can be a struggle to find common ground.

The benefits of all of this, far exceeding a better relationship with my wife is a safer financial place. Debt equals worry and it is not needed. Plus, all of this work will give my a boost in my FICO score and set me up to buy a house in the coming year.

Tip Three on How to Improve Your FICO score How much you owe is taken heavily account when figuring...

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Consumers That Have No Credit Card Debt Have Lower Credit Score

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:39:13 +0000

Could this statement actually be true. Could consumers with no credit card debt have lower scores? The idea almost seems counter to the idea of many consumers of being in better off credit wise with no credit card. But the statistics found on credit karma show that is quite the opposite.

What they actually found is that consumers with no credit card debt usually fall into one of two categories.

They don’t have credit card debt because they have poor credit. They have low credit for some reason which prevents them from using credit cards.
They don’t use credit cards at all. This means scoring these individuals is tough because they don’t have a history to base their credit on

So what level of credit debt for the best credit score?

The article recommends having a debt to credit ratio below 35%. But the data shows the individuals with the highest scores had were in the 1% to 10% debt to credit ratios. Staying below 35%, might be the advice but it seems the lower the better.

Credit Card Age Requirement In 2009 the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act...
Consumer are working on their debt to credit ratios and payment history A recent report by TransUnion, one of the three major...

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