Thanks to a 2015 settlement agreement between the New York Attorney General and the three credit reporting agencies, some important changes are on the way in regards to credit reporting. An additional agreement between the credit reporting agencies and another 31 state attorney generals ensure that the change will be nationwide. The changes are being … Read more
The amount of consumers that file bankruptcy each year continue to decline since new laws went into effect in 2005 tightening the requirements for a consumer to be able to file. The numbers that still do file, however, are a bit staggering. In 2016 there were 800,000 bankruptcy filings. Statistics show that 60% of bankruptcies … Read more
Revolving balances play an important role in your credit score calculation. The total of your revolving debt makes up about 30% of your credit score. Balances on installment loans don’t have any where near the impact on credit scores as revolving balances do. While having a revolving balance or two can help your credit scores, … Read more
Your loan officer has pulled your credit and your scores are just a little short of where they need to be. He thinks there are possibilities for an improvement so he runs a “What If Simulator” to see what could possibly be done to get the scores a little higher. Most of the time, this … Read more
You’ve sold your home, paid off the car and all your credit cards and even closed most of them. You are completely debt free! This is great…right? Well, not when it comes to your credit score. Believe it or not, being completely debt free can actually hurt your credit scores. While it may feel wonderful … Read more
There is always a lot of talk about everything that IS included in credit scores, like how to make them better and what hurts them. But there is a lot of information that is not part of a credit score that some people have always thought were factored in. Here is what is NOT included … Read more
This is probably the biggest question we get in the credit reporting industry, “how much will (blank) affect my credit score?” You can fill in the blank with inquiry, opening a new account, closing an account, having a late payment, etc. The list goes on and on. The truth is there is not a set … 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
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