Saving Money – Part 2 

By Michelle Black

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you have more bills than money? Money shortages lead to a poor credit rating, marital stress, and the inability to provide the things your family needs.  One of the first things you will want to do if you find yourself in a situation where your budget is unbalanced is look for a way to start saving money. We hope today’s tip will be helpful.

Tip #2: Ask for your bills to be lowered.
Similar to yesterday’s tip regarding asking for your credit card interest rates to be lowered, you can also request for many of your monthly bills to be lowered as well.  Try calling your cable company, explain that you have seen some great offers for satellite TV and that you are considering switching services. However, before switching, you wanted to check with them to see if they could offer you a lower monthly rate. While you are at it, ask for your internet service bill to be lowered as well. I have personally saved money off both of these monthly services just by calling and kindly making the request.

Other monthly bills you may be able to get lowered with a request include your cell phone bill (even if you are currently under contract), your lawn care bill, your newspaper subscription, your insurance bill, etc. By calmly and politely making the request you can save yourself a lot of money. When making the request for your bill to be lowered please keep the following in mind:

1. Always be polite and calm. Getting angry will most likely insure that you do NOT get the bill reduction you need.
2. Explain why you need for the bill to be lowered. For example, “I have seen an offer for a better rate” or “I cannot afford to continue making such high payments and I’m trying to balance my budget.”
3. Ask for a supervisor if necessary. The first customer service agent you speak with likely will not have the authority to lower your bill.
4. Don’t take no for an answer. If the supervisor refuses your request politely explain your reason for needing the bill lowered again and ask “What can you do to help me please?”

Remember to check back with us again for part 3 of our money saving blog series. Saving money can help put you on the path towards a balanced budget and even a healthier credit report! If you need personalized credit or budgeting advice please feel free to give our friendly staff a call at 704-499-9696.

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Where Do Credit Scores Come From?
By Michelle Black, HOPE (Home Ownership Program for Everyone)

Credit scores affect your life in many important ways.  First, anytime you apply for a mortgage, car loan, credit card, or financing of any kind your credit score will be looked at to determine whether you are approved or denied financing.  If you are approved, your credit scores are looked at again to determine what kind of interest rate you will receive.  Credit scores are the #1 factor considered when you apply for a loan.

Since credit scores are the first key to loan approval, let’s talk a little about where these credit scores come from and how they are calculated.  There are 3 major credit bureaus in the United States:  Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian.  Typically, each credit bureau will give you a different score.  The following chart shows the basic makeup of a credit score with any of the 3 major credit bureaus:

Payment History, an individual’s history of paying bills on time, accounts for 35% of your credit score. If a person has a high percentage of late payments on bills then his/her credit score will be lower.  It may sound crazy, but late payments can lower a person’s credit scores more than any other factor including bankruptcy, foreclosure, or repossession!  One late payment can actually drop someone’s credit score 30-100 points (especially if it is the first time a late payment is appearing on the credit report in a while).

Amounts Owed account for 30% of your credit score.  This factor can sometimes be a little confusing.  The credit bureaus will look at the amount of debt being carried by a person and compare it to that person’s available credit limit.  For example, if you have a credit card with a $500 limit and you owe $490 on the card then your credit score will be lowered.  However, keep that same credit card paid off and your credit score will receive a boost!  High credit card balances can significantly lower your credit score, even if you pay your monthly bill on time!

Length of Credit History makes up 15% of our credit score.  The credit bureaus look at the age of a person’s open credit lines to determine how many points will be awarded or taken away from the credit score for this category.  The older the accounts appearing on your credit report, the better.  Opening a new account can potentially lower your credit score even if you have never missed a payment on the account – so proceed with caution when applying for new credit.

New Credit makes up 10% of your credit score.  This refers to how often a person applies for new accounts.  Every time your credit report is pulled to apply for a loan your score is typically lowered 1-3 points and you do not regain those lost points for at least 90 days.  However, a “soft pull” of your credit report (that is an individual requesting a copy of his/her own personal credit report to review the file) does not hurt your credit score at all.  If you have not reviewed your credit report in a while, you are entitled to a free copy every year from www.annualcreditreport.com. Checking your report at least once a year for errors is highly recommended.

Types of Credit Used account for the final 10% of your credit score.  It is important to have the right balance of accounts on your credit report.  Too many accounts can hurt your credit scores, but so can too few accounts.  Also, loans with consumer finance companies (i.e. paycheck advance loans) will hurt your credit scores just by opening the account and should be avoided.

Have specific questions about your credit report? Our caring credit specialists are here to help. Please contact us via email or call 704-499-9696. We would love to hear from you!

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Congratulations to Mrs. Smith, another HOPE client who is very close to her dream of homeownership!  In a mere 7 weeks of membership in the HOPE Program Mrs. Smith has already seen tremendous results!  Here are just a few of the successes she has already experienced as a member of the HOPE Program:

*Middle credit score increased from 542 to 619! (That’s 77 points in 7 weeks – wow!!)
*Over ¾ of the negative items on her credit report have been erased!

With only 21 points to go before achieving a “loan ready” credit score, we cannot wait to see Mrs. Smith successfully complete the HOPE Program with a healthy credit report that she can be proud of.  Wouldn’t it be nice to never be turned down for a loan again due to credit issues?  This will soon be a reality for Mrs. Smith and it can be your reality too!  Stop letting bad credit control your life! You can begin to take control of your credit situation today.  Check out our recent blog, 5 Ways to Give Your Credit a Kick in the Pants!, containing tips on how to improve your credit scores and you could find yourself with a success story like Mrs. Smith before you know it!

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We are happy to announce another HOPE graduate this week and would like to share a little bit of her success story with you! Ana joined the HOPE Program after she had tried and failed to get some incorrect information removed from her credit report.  She had 6 tax liens reporting on her credit when she first became a member of our program for a grand total of $25,771!  Unfortunately, even though these tax liens were reported to the credit bureaus in error (Ana did not actually owe any money on back tax liens) she still was not able to get them removed from her report.  She had even hired a tax attorney to help her with the situation, but no results were made after over 6 months!  Ouch!

Don’t worry though, this story has a happy ending. Ana’s situation began to change once HOPE Credit Experts got involved!  As of this week Ana has achieved a completely clean credit report with the help of our HOPE staff! All 6 incorrect tax liens have been erased from her credit report and all $25,771 in erroneous debt is gone as well!  Ana has now been pre-approved for a mortgage, is currently in the process of picking out her dream home (how fun!!), and is planning to close on her new home next month.  We would like to issue a great, big “congratulations” to both Ana and our hard working HOPE staff for refusing to give up and therefore making this wonderful success story a reality!

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Combat Identity Fraud Effectively!
By Michelle Black

We have spent a lot of time over the last month discussing ways that you can protect yourself from one of the nation’s fastest growing crimes – identity theft.  If you have not yet had the opportunity to read our 10 part blog series, Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft, we would love to invite you to do so. Simply check out our June blog archives to get started.  Remember, if you educate yourself on the tactics used by ID thieves then it will be much, much harder for any identity thief to take advantage of you.  Here’s a quick summary of the 10 best ways to protect yourself from identity theft:

1. Check your credit report for fraud!
It’s important to check your credit at least twice per year.  Nearly 90% of current credit files contain mistakes, fraud, or errors!  (Click on the link above for additional details.)

2.  Make copies of your credit cards!
This will enable you to act quickly in the event that your credit card is lost or stolen. (Click on the link above for additional details.)

3.  Shred, burn, or otherwise destroy “thief prone” documents.
Keep “dumpster divers” from stealing sensitive information right out of your trash can! Check out the full article (by clicking the link above) for full details on which kinds of documents you should always destroy in order to protect yourself.

4. Don’t give personal information on the phone unless YOU initiated the call. Beware, beware, beware of telephone scam artists who will try any tactic necessary to steal your personal information right over the phone. (Click on the link above for additional details.)

5.  Never leave personal information in your car.
It’s all too easy for an identity thief to break into your car and steal sensitive personal information.  Once your ID is stolen it can become a nightmare to regain your good name so always follow this important step to protect yourself.  (Click on the link above for additional details.)

6.  Don’t fall for phishing scams!
Never reply to an email or instant message with your personal information. Remember, identity thieves are getting more and more creative, so even if the email looks like it originated from your bank or another personal creditor you should never reply to it or click on a link to provide any personal information, user name, or password.   (Click on the link above for additional details.)

7. Don’t put checks in your mailbox.
Mail theft is a common form of identity fraud.  It is easy for a crook to steal your check and use acid wash to change the name of the recipient. It is always safer to drop your checks off at the post office for mailing or to pay bills online via a secure website.  (Click on the link above for additional details.)

8.  Don’t carry unnecessary personal documents in your wallet or purse!
Extra credit cards, birth certificates, marriage licenses, and even social security cards should not be kept in your wallet or purse. In the event that your wallet/purse is lost or stolen you make it much easier for an identity thief to cause severe damage to your credit if this information is easily accessible.  (Click on the link above for additional details.)

9.  Monitor your statements every month.
A great way to prevent serious identity fraud is to monitor your statements closely. Early detection of fraudulent activity can often protect your credit report and help you to avoid paying for any charges you did not authorize.  (Click on the link above for additional details.)

10. Take your name off promotional lists.
The fewer promotional offers you receive in the mail the harder it is for an identity thief to steal an offer and apply for it in your name.  Plus, removing yourself from these lists will help to reduce the amount of pesky junk mail you receive – bonus! Check out the link above for detailed instructions on having your name removed from these lists.

Please feel free to share today’s article with your online friends and family by clicking our easy to use “share” buttons below.  We would love for you to join HOPE in the fight against identity fraud! And remember, if you or a loved one has already been a victim of identity fraud there is still hope for you.  Just give our caring credit experts a call at 704-499-9696 for more information on how the HOPE Program has been helping victims of identity fraud (and countless other credit issues) for 11+ years.  We would love to give you our professional advice and see if the HOPE Program can be of any assistance to you.

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