The Credit Practices Rule
If you are one of the millions of Americans who borrows money, buys items on installment credit, or cosigns for another person’s debt, you may want to know about the Federal Trade Commission’s Credit Practices Rule. The Rule, which became effective March l, l985, prohibits many creditors from including certain provisions in consumer credit contracts. It also requires creditors to provide a written notice to consumers before they cosign obligations for others about their potential liability if the other person fails to pay. Finally, it prohibits one method of assessing late charges
Beefing Up Your Credit Score in 5 Easy Steps
We know more than ever about how credit scores are calculated. Learn how to clean up your record, polish it to a new gleam and reap the financial rewards.
So you?ve had a few problems getting the bills paid lately, and you?re wondering what you can do to repair the damage.
You?ve got plenty of company. There are more than 30 million people in the United States with credit blemishes severe enough (score under 620) to make obtaining loans and credit cards with reasonable terms difficult.
Or maybe your credit is OK, but you’d like to make it better. After all, the better your credit, the lower the interest rates you can score on mortgages, car loans and credit cards.
8 Tips for Keeping More of Your Hard Earned Money
Masters degree not required…just a little common sense, a $5.00 calculator and a realistic plan is all you’ll need.
“There’s got to be a better way” resonates with many of us, when contemplating how frustrated we’ve become with our investment decisions. Too many Canadians are spending far too much on credit card debt, accept inflated mortgage rates from financial institutions they’ve been loyal to for years, and just don’t seem to have a realistic financial strategy in place.
With the myriad of savings, mortgage and investment options available today, rethinking your financial plan to make more efficient use of your money can be a daunting task. As a result sometimes the fear of making a costly mistake can lead to inaction, but inaction or procrastination will almost always cost you money in the end. So what is the correct course of action? The following column contains 8 valuable tips, which will provide a framework to help you earn more and save more of your hard earned money.
The Credit Score Facts
Ever wonder how a creditor decides whether to grant you credit? For years, creditors have been using credit scoring systems to determine if you’d be a good risk for credit cards and auto loans. More recently, credit scoring has been used to help creditors evaluate your ability to repay home mortgage loans. Here’s how credit scoring works in helping decide who gets credit — and why.
What is credit scoring?
Credit scoring is a system creditors use to help determine whether to give you credit.
Information about you and your credit experiences, such as your bill-paying history, the number and type of accounts you have, late payments, collection actions, outstanding debt, and the age of your accounts, is collected from your credit application and your credit report. Using a statistical program, creditors compare this information to the credit performance of consumers with similar profiles. A credit scoring system awards points for each factor that helps predict who is most likely to repay a debt. A total number of points — a credit score — helps predict how creditworthy you are, that is, how likely it is that you will repay a loan and make the payments when due.
Because your credit report is an important part of many credit scoring systems, it is very important to make sure it’s accurate before you submit a credit application. An amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the major nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit reports, at your request, once every 12 months.
How to Establish, Use, and Protect Your Credit
Good credit is valuable. Having the ability to borrow funds allows us to buy things we would otherwise have to save for years to afford: homes, cars, a college education. Credit is an important financial tool, but it can also be dangerous, leading people into debt far beyond their ability to repay. That is why learning how to use credit wisely is one of the most valuable financial skills anyone can learn.
Before creditors lend money, they need to be assured that the funds will be repaid. In other words, is the prospective borrower creditworthy? To find out, they ask for various types of information: