When you apply for a credit card or loan, lenders typically use what’s called risk-based pricing to determine whether to approve your application and what interest rate to charge.
If your credit score is high, data shows that you’re less likely to default on the new account than someone with a low credit score. As a result, you can usually expect to score a lower interest rate, which will save you money over the life of the loan.
For example, let’s say you apply for a $30,000 auto loan and want to pay it off over five years. If you have excellent credit, you may qualify for a 3.5% annual percentage rate (APR), which will give you a monthly payment of $546. In this case, you’d pay $2,745 in interest over five years.
However, if you have fair credit, you may qualify for a pricier 8% APR. This would increase your monthly payment to $608, and you’d end up paying $6,498 in interest over the life of the loan. In this scenario, having great credit would save you $3,753.
Of course, lenders consider more than just your credit score. They may also look at your debt-to-income ratio—how much of your gross monthly income goes toward debt payments—as well as specific items on your credit reports, such as recent inquiries, delinquent payments and more.
Credit inquiries happen when you or a business accesses your credit report. Let’s say you apply for a car loan, and the lender requests your credit report and score from Experian. The fact that your credit information was used by a particular company is noted on your Experian report with the date, name of the company that requested it and the type of inquiry that was made. Or maybe you get a pre-approved credit card offer in the mail, that is also a credit inquiry.
Before we get into the specifics of the types of inquiries and how they work, it’s important to put them into perspective. Unless you have been shopping heavily for credit—more on that in a moment—inquiries shouldn’t have a significant impact on your credit scores.
New credit, which includes inquiries as well as new credit accounts, makes up just 10% of your FICO score. As a result, a single inquiry is likely to drop your score by less than five points, but only if it’s a hard inquiry and with the limits described below.
While inquiries remain on your credit reports for two years, with the majority of score models used these days only those that occur within the past year count. Older ones are ignored.
The short answer is no. Credit monitoring does not hurt your credit score.
What is the best number of credit cards to have to my name?
Do I have to have a credit card to improve my credit score?
No. You do not need a credit card to improve your credit score. There are many alternative options, such as lines of credit, loans, etc. If your credit score is fairly low, you can even start with a secured line of credit, a cash secured savings loan or a secured credit card. Making your payments every month, on time, to a secure loan or line of credit is going to be just as effective as having a credit card and keeping it in good standing.
There is no one answer to this question. I would suggest that instead of looking at the number of credit cards you have in your name, look at it as a total amount of credit to your name vs. how much credit you’ve used or are likely to use, realistically speaking. The percentage of the credit you have that you’ve used is the number that matters here, and getting another credit card can lower your usage percentage, but there are other things you should consider. Such as the fact that with more credit cards come more minimum payments and more temptation to spend. Whether or not more credit cards will benefit you is going to have to be a judgment call you make based on your own situation.
What is the best method to pay back your debts?
There are several options, but a popular choice is the snowball method. This means that you pay just your minimum payment on all but your smallest debt, onto which you put the biggest payment you can possibly make each month. Once the smallest debt is paid off, take the larger payment you were making on it and apply it to your next smallest debt, on top of the minimum payment to that you were making each month. Once that debt is paid off, go to your next smallest debt, with all the monthly funds you were using on the previous two, plus the minimum. Keep doing this, letting the large payments snowball until you’re paying off your largest debt with huge payments every month.
In general, FICO® scores do not change that much over time. But it’s important to note that your FICO score is calculated each time it’s requested; either by you or a lender. And each time it’s calculated it’s taking into consideration the information that is on your credit report at that time. So, as the information on your credit report changes, your FICO score can also change.
Financial Life Solutions Solutions gives our client’s 24/7 access to their client portal for frequent messages and count down, when your letters will be arriving. If you are unable to log into your portal, we also send out emails as well, to keep you posted on your progress. Not to mention, our customer support department, will call frequently to ensure that we answer all of your questions. This ensures that our responsiveness does not drop, once we have started the process.
If you see no results from our program, you pay nothing. We are RESULTS DRIVEN!
Glad you asked! SWI Credit Repairs are RESULTS DRIVEN! This is why we are that confident! We pride ourselves or giving results, building value, and providing great customer service. Also, we give all of our clients a plan of action and strategy to maintain and build their credit.
You may be required to obtain a credit monitoring service, which may charge a monthly fee. As for SWI Credit Repair,we do not require any monthly fees. We are a company that is based on results. You only pay when you see the results of our work!
The answer is YES! We send you copies of any letters sent on your behalf!
There is no limit!
You will get a dedicated credit specialist that you work with, 1 on 1, through the entire process.
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