Five Credit Card Habits to Adopt in The New Year!

What are your credit card habits? If you are like most people, you probably just use your credit cards to purchase goods and services while paying little attention to the details of your credit card usage. And by doing so, you risk paying too much in interest and fees, and can miss out on value rewards and benefits.

So now is the time to take a fresh look at how you use your credit cards, and adopt these five habits for 2015:

1. Pay the Balance in Full and on Time

There is no single better habit than to avoid interest on your credit cards by paying each month’s statement balance in full. About half of American consumers do so, while the other half tend to carry a balance, at least some of the time. Avoiding interest not only saves you money, but keeping your debt low and making on-time payments can help you work your way toward, or maintain, a high credit score. (If you are not sure what yours is, you can get a free look at your credit score and a summary of your credit report from Credit.com, along with an action plan for improving your credit.)

2. If You Have No Debt, Start Earning Rewards

If do not carry credit card debt, but are also not earning rewards from your credit cards, you might want to reconsider a reward-earning strategy. The most competitive reward credit cards offer valuable points, miles and cash back for spending on those cards. And even among reward credit card users, many have the same cards that they have held for years, and have not switched to more competitive products. Unfortunately, these cardholders are leaving money on the table. Look into whether there are cards that can offer you better rewards and consider making the switch if it makes sense for you.

3. Scrutinize Every Statement

In 2014, so many retailers were hacked that it became difficult to keep track of each one. Thankfully, cardholders’ liability for fraudulent charges is limited. Nevertheless, you have to notice the unauthorized charges and alert the card issuer in order to have the transactions reversed. So it is more important than ever that you look through each statement to find any charge that shouldn’t be there.

4. Make Use of Your Card’s Benefits

Many airline credit card users know that they earn frequent flier miles, and that they might even get a free checked bag, but most fail to look over all of the other benefits offered. In fact, all types of credit cards may come with valuable purchase protection and travel 

insurance policies that few cardholders ever use. That’s too bad, since these policies can extend the manufacturer’s warranty on your new television or computer, compensate you if your luggage is lost, or offer a refund if the price drops on a purchase after it is made.

5. Stop Paying Fees

Credit cards can have many fees, but there is usually a way around them. If you travel outside the United States, you may be paying a 3% foreign transaction fee, but now there are many cards that you can get that don’t charge this fee. You can avoid late fees by setting up automatic payments, or by choosing a card with no late fees. And to avoid annual fees, be sure to simply ask to have them waived, or choose a card that does not have them.

For more information please contact :

John Jenkins @ 916-842-7773

...according to Ann-Marie Murphy It's a Catch-22

It’s a Catch-22. If you have bad credit, you pay more in interest on home loans, auto loans, credit cards and more, making it more challenging to make your payments, get out of debt and improve your credit score.  On the other hand, if you have good credit, you pay less in interest, increasing the likelihood that you can manage your monthly payments, keeping your credit score high and intact.

The truth is, no matter what your credit score is now, you can achieve the “platinum standard” of credit – a score above 800 – and nab yourself the best deals on life’s largest purchases.

As your average 30-something, I’ve been in debt, struggled to pay bills and never had a substantial income to bail me out. But, the one thing I do have (now, anyway) is a credit score of 808. And I’m here to tell you my secrets:

Never miss a payment.

I’ve never had a payment reported as late on my credit report. This is crucial to your credit score. Payment history makes up about a third of your credit rating. If you have a good score and miss just one payment, your credit score can suffer upwards of 110 points.  Besides debt settlement, foreclosure and bankruptcy, a late payment is about the worst thing you can do to your credit score.

Of course, I’m human. I’ve had flaky moments where I forgot about a bill’s due date and made my payment a few days late. While I was slapped with hefty late fees, I did not get the black mark on my credit report. But I may have been lucky.

Technically, a “30-day late” is any payment received one to 30 days after the due date, according to FICO.  However, in many cases, your bank, creditor or lender will give you a grace period of a few days to up to the next due date before reporting your payment as late to the credit bureaus. Find out what your grace period is so you don’t find yourself in a credit crisis.

Bonus: 10 Credit Score Facts and Fictions

Keep your balances low and your limits high.

Another good chunk of your credit score is determined by your credit utilization, or how much credit you use (balances) compared to how much credit is available to you (limits) – the lower, the better. A good rule of thumb is to keep your balances well below 50 percent of your limits. As soon as you hit the 50 percent mark, your score will begin to take incremental hits. On the other hand, the lower you keep your balances below that 50 percent mark, the more your credit score will incrementally benefit.

As a point of reference, the average credit utilization of a person with an 800+ score is 7 percent, according to FICO. Mine averages out to 2 percent, depending on when I pull my credit, as I ordinarily pay off my balances in full each month.

If you’re doing all that you can to keep your balances low, try your hand at the other side of the equation – your credit limits. This can be tricky, as the recession prompted many creditors to not only deny credit limit increases more often, but actually lower your credit limit based on the credit review they do on you. My advice would be to only ask for a credit limit increase if your credit card is in good standing and you have the income to support the possibility of greater debt.

Bonus: How to Build Credit from No Credit in 6 Easy Steps

Mix it up.

Another ingredient to the 800+ credit score recipe is a good mix of credit – revolving credit (e.g. credit cards), installment credit (e.g. car loans, student loans) and mortgages. I’ve always had a good mix of the first two, but haven’t yet ventured into home loan territory. Now, I would never recommend that you apply for credit you don’t need, but be aware that the ability to manage different types of credit responsibly bodes well for your credit score.

If you only have credit cards and are eager to mix it up, consider talking to your bank about a savings- or CD-secured loan. This is a type of personal loan in which the money in your savings account or CD is used as collateral in case you default on the loan. This loan typically qualifies as an “installment loan,” like car loans and student loans, and may help you break out of the credit card-only slump. If you go this route, make sure your bank will report your payment activity to the credit bureaus, so your timely payments will help your credit score.

Bonus: When to Freeze Your Credit Report and How to Do It

Don’t apply for credit you don’t need, but don’t close accounts either.

With the exception of my college years, I never applied for credit I didn’t need – and still don’t. I have three regular credit cards, two of which I use often. I also have two retail credit cards that I use on occasion (mostly for the perks). One of my credit cards I use only for gas. Not only does this help keep my budget simple, but the little amount I charge on it each month, then pay off in full, will be reported on my credit report as “OK,” thereby strengthening my credit history.

Each time you apply for a credit card or a loan, your credit score takes a small hit. While one or two won’t hurt you that badly, many inquiries – especially in a short period of time – can. That’s why it’s a good idea to only apply for credit you need and try not to succumb to the temptation of “10 percent off your purchase” every time you hit the register at your favorite stores.

If you have any credit card accounts you don’t use, don’t close them! When you close an account, you’re lowering the amount of credit that’s available to you and if you carry balances on any other cards, your credit utilization will go up and your credit score may go down. Instead, you may want to dust off that old card and use it for small purchases that you will pay off in full each month – like me with gasoline. Ultimately, a good credit score is about more than having credit. It’s about having credit and using it responsibly.

A good credit score is like having a coupon book for the biggest purchases you’ll make in your life. The lowest interest rates afforded to those with top credit scores translate to lower monthly payments – in the case of a mortgage, that could mean many hundreds of dollars in savings each month. Given all those hard-earned dollars at stake, why wouldn’t you manage your credit on a regular basis to make sure your score is where it needs to be?

Find out how to join the exclusive 800+ credit score club with tips and tools from www.platinumcredit.info  You’ll get a complete understanding of your credit and tools to utilize that will help you take your credit to the next level. See you at 800!

Carved in stones rules...

Most lenders have carved-in-stone rules about handing out the best terms, and those rules almost always place a major emphasis on your credit score. The best rates are usually offered to those with a credit score of 740 or higher. Rates will still be favorable for those borrowers with a score of 700. But if your score is a 698, those two points could cost you thousands of dollars.

According to MyFICO.com, the consumer website of popular scoring model FICO, the interest rate difference between those two scores is about one-third of a percentage point.

On a $165,000 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, that difference could cost you more than $13,378 in interest charges, assuming a 4.5 percent interest rate with a 700 credit score and a 4.875 percent rate on a 698 score. Fall below a 660 and the rate goes up even more, if you can even get approved for a mortgage at all.

Keep in mind that these are averages. Most lenders today practice tiered pricing, with interest rates rising as scores go down. Each lender chooses its own "break points" between tiers. Lender A may bump up the interest rate if a score falls below 700, while Lender B doesn't charge higher rates until the score is 690 or below. So if you stick with one lender, and that lender's break point is 700, raising your score from 698 to 701 can be vital.

This underscores the importance of not only doing all you can to improve your score, but shopping thoroughly when looking for a mortgage. From the perspective of a mortgage broker, who can choose among a sea of many lenders, there are no sharp break points. Consumers should do what a good broker does -- look for a lender that offers the best rate for a specific score.

But that's jumping ahead of ourselves. First things first: You can take steps to improve your credit score. The number of variables that play into an individual score make it impossible to say that one particular action will increase a given score by a certain number of points. But there are some good guidelines.

www.platinumcredit.info

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773 or e-mailing us at johnljenkins820@gmail.com

We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team

Remove Negative Credit Items Permanently From Your Credit Report

Remove Negative Credit Items Permanently

From Your Credit Report

Including: Bankruptcy, Judgments, Foreclosure, Charge-Offs, Collections, Late-Payments, Tax Liens and Repos

Should you decide to take action and enroll into High Credit Score’s blu University to remove all of your Negative Credit Items Permanently We here at High Credit Score, Inc. will Guide You Through Our Process of Restoring Your CREDIT Score to highest level possible so that You Will Qualify For The Lowest Interest Rate Loans, Mortgages and or Credit Cards --- SAVING You Hundreds of Dollars each & every month for the rest of your life!

You’ll have the backing of our entire team of experienced and highly trained “Legal Research & Credit Experts” helping you to use a little known but simple and proven legal strategy to remove all negative items on your credit report that is based on a Federal Law outlined in U.S.C. 15 1681 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act combined with Various Federal Consumer Disclosure Requirements & Multiple Federal Appeals Court Decisions Dealing With All of the above.

WWW.PLATINUMCREDIT.INFO

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773 or e-mailing us at JOHNLJENKINS820@GMAIL.COM

We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team

Government Regulation

The credit bureaus are regulated by the government due to the nature of their business, but it's important to understand they are private companies. They are NOT legally or morally obligated to report anything on anybody. For example, most people know that most negative events remain on a credit report for seven years (ten years for Chapter 7 bankruptcies). Isn't this a legal requirement? No. They could take all bankruptcies off all records tomorrow, if they chose to. They are simply not allowed by law to report these events for MORE than seven years (or ten). They're not forced to report them at all. Of course, it's their business. That's why they do it. But they have a choice and, when forced to verify the data they report, they will choose to take negative events off. To boil it down, credit restoration doesn't eliminate negative credit events. It does make them in effect "invisible" to anyone looking at a credit report.

If the credit reporting agencies can't produce verifiable proof of these events, they're required to remove them. If they violate the law, they can be fined $1,000 per item. Although everybody with a FICO score under 850 can use this Educational Course and service, High Credit Score found the most success in helping individuals has come from clients that have referred others. High Credit Score is now working with law firms and attorneys, mortgage companies and loan officers and many businesses through our affiliates and expanding throughout the United States. The entire country desperately needs credit and financial education and true credit restoration. Building the Credibility of this Country one person at a time.

www.platinumcredit.info

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773 or e-mailing us at johnljenkins820@gmail.com

We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!
The High Credit Score Team

Nobody's Perfect

Nobody is perfect, and good people can have credit problems because of past mistakes, or due to no fault of their own. For example, people who have large medical expenses not covered by insurance, or those who are have been divorced often face problems with their credit.

Thankfully, there are credit cards that are still offered to applicants with fair credit, and having a credit card can help cardholders rebuild their credit scores over time.

The paradox of having credit problems is that you can’t improve your credit score until you are offered a line of credit, and no one will let you open an account unless you have good credit. The way out of that paradox is a product known as a secured card.

Secured cards are credit cards that require cardholders to first submit a security deposit as a condition of opening the account. With many of these products, the amount of the security deposit becomes the account’s credit limit, while others extend cardholders some credit beyond that amount.

The BankAmericard secured Card offers a credit line of $300 to $4,900, depending on the security deposit offered. The WellsFargo Secured card allows cardholders to deposit as much as $10,000.

Either way, cardholders must make monthly payments on their purchases and can incur interest charges when they carry a balance.

The benefit of these cards is that they report payments to all of the major consumer credit bureaus, which helps to improve the credit scores of those who make their payments on time.

To receive a secured credit card, applicants must have discharged any bankruptcies and be able to verify their identity. After that, they are virtually assured of being accepted.

PLATINUMCREDIT.INFO

                                                               

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773 or e-mailing us at JOHNLJENKINS820@GMAIL.COM
We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team

Stop Procrastinating

STOP
Procrastinating

Don't Spend Another Year Struggling Through Your Life with Financial and Credit issues!
2015 is here in 3 months. You can sit back and ENJOY the day with your family & friends knowing that in the New Year you will have Perfect Credit which will SAVE YOU hundreds of dollars each and every month.

The Best Gift You Can Give Yourself is the Knowledge and Education.

and knowing that:

You Will Never Get Turned Down for a LOW INTEREST LOAN or Credit Card Ever Again.
You Will Qualify for a ZERO Interest - No Down Payment Loan or 1-2%  New Car Loan
 instead of having to pay 12% - 22% or more.
Give Yourself a Fresh Start in 2015

It is GUARANTEED to Get Rid Of so Many of Your Problems in the New Year.
www.platinumcredit.info

                                                               

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at916-842-7773 or e-mailing us at johnljenkins820@gmail.com

We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team

The Past...Has Changed...Now the New...Criteria has arrived...

There was a time when a credit report was strictly used to estimate the likelihood of repayment in the event that you applied for a loan. But in recent years, companies have begun to find surprising uses for your credit score.

Today, credit scores are becoming an increasingly important part of modern life and maintaining a high score can be vital to your finances.

1. Automobile and home insurance companies are now checking applicants’ credit scores to gauge the level of risk that they represent. Their data has shown that those with low credit scores represent a greater risk of filing a claim than those with higher scores.

While it may not seem fair that your credit history is used to judge your risk as a driver or a homeowner, this practice is legal. Therefore, maintaining excellent credit can save you hundreds of dollars a year in insurance premiums.

2.While applicants’ credit scores are not accessed directly by employers, the law allows credit reports to be checked.

“About 13% of employers check credit reports for all candidates, and 47% check for those applying to selected positions,” MSN Money reports.According MSN Money, “About 13% of employers check credit reports for all candidates, and 47% check for those applying to selected positions, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.”

Typically, employers will focus on positions that involve security or responsibility over money, but not always. Federal law allows credit checks for pre-employment screenings, although it must be first approved by the applicant. Since applicants who refuse consent probably won’t get hired, many consider these checks to mandatory in effect.

3. Phone and power companies have for some time accessed customer’s --credit reports. Those with poor credit were often made to place a deposit before they could receive service.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, “The utility company generally can require you to make a deposit or obtain a letter of guarantee if you are a new customer and all new customers are required to pay a deposit, or if you have a bad utility credit history.”

By maintaining good credit, you can avoid the need to make deposits when you order new services.

4.Landlords frequently check credit reports before renting a home or an apartment.And while tenants are unlikely to pay higher rents if they have a low score, they are less likely to be approved to rent in the first place.

5. Although many people will use their credit card to borrow money, there are a sizeable number who will pay their balances in full every month to avoid interest. In fact, there is a specific product designed for these people called a charge card.

Charge card users may not consider themselves to be borrowing money, yet they will need to have an excellent credit score to receive one.

For some people, it may be tempting to give up on maintaining a high credit score. In fact, some feel that they don’t care about their credit history since they have no plans to borrow money.

But for better or worse, your credit history is still very important for reasons that may have little to do with borrowing.

www.platinumcredit.info

                                                               

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773or e-mailing us at johnljenkins820@gmail.com
We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team

Commonly used credit scoring model.

The most commonly used credit scoring model is the FICO score.
The FICO score ranges from 300 to 850.
The higher your score, the "safer" you are considered in terms of lending.
In general, you will find that credit score ranges are as follows:

* 760 and above = Excellent
* 700 - 759 = Great
* 660 - 699 = Good
* 620 - 659 = Average
* 580 - 619 = Poor
* Below 579 = Very Poor

As you can see, if your score dips below 580, you will have a great deal
of trouble even qualifying for a loan. If you have a FICO credit score of
less than 580, you might need someone with good credit to co-sign on
your auto loan.

If you are applying for a credit card, you might need to get a secured
credit card, or find a co-signer. With such a low score, lenders are reluctant
to take a chance on you.

*** FICO reports that those who have a credit score of
between 550 and 599 have a delinquency rate of 51%.

Here's what an auto loan of $15,000 will cost you.

1) If you have a Credit score = 720

Loan amount = $15,000
Interest rate = 2.5%
48 month loan = $328.71 / monthly payment

2) If you only have a credit score of only = 550

Loan amount = $15,000
Interest rate = 9.9%
48 month loan = $379.72  / monthly payment

Your low credit score will cost you $51.01 more each month .

With a low FICO credit score of 550 you will pay $ 51.01 more
each month.

www.platinumcredit.info

Find out more about High Credit Score’s great programs and promotions by contacting our customer support department at 916-842-7773or e-mailing us at johnljenkins820@gmail.com
We look forward to working with you and wish you much success as an Independent High Credit Score Affiliate! Together we will MANIFEST EXCELLENCE!

The High Credit Score Team