Dogslurp

Good additional data August16 IF they've had a short sale but nothing indicated that was the case.

Most people aren't aware that a short sale is just a voluntary foreclosure - what used to be known as a Deed in Lieu (of foreclosure). The media has made it trendy to have a short sale but they never warn the people of the dangers and consequences.

The new buzz words are Strategic Foreclosures. That's where you can pay the house payment but choose not to by using the economy as the scapegoat. New guidelines have been announced to make those the toughest hurdle to overcome when the time comes to get another home loan.

While the answer is yes, don't expect to get the lowest rate in town and also expect for them to require a larger than normal downpayment.

My experience has shown a reduction to 50% of the credit limit gives you almost as much positive impact as a 20% balance and 50% will cost you a lot less.

It appears that maximum positive impact hits at someplace between 20-35% balance.

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER WILL ROBINSON! New laws say that the creditors can't leave you will a lot of unused available credit, they are required to lower your credit limits if you don't use the credit. So when you know you have the cash to pay it off or way down, charge up the cards once in a while and promptly pay it back down to 20-50% of the credit limit. That should preserve your high credit limits.

Otherwise you will need to monitor your credit limits and when they lower them call back in and ask for them to be reinstated at the higher levels.

Eternal Vigilence is the cost to get and maintain high credit scores.

Well, eventually your score will fall.

Think of a credit score as the odds for placing a bet. The odds are set based upon past performances. Which simply means the credit score requires some sort of a credit history in order to determine a score.

The more pieces of open credit the easier it is to get and maintain a high credit score.

Of course you could have too many pieces of open credit and in that case your score would rise a little.

Credit scores vary by credit bureau but they also vary depending upon the reason for the pull.

The score is weighted to more accurately fit the willingness of a customer to pay a certain type of loan.

So a generic credit score from creditkarma will differ from a pull for a credit card which will be different than the score for a car loan or a home loan.

I own a mortgage company and I haven't been able to find a way for a person with a score much under 620 to get a loan since the election.

Technically FHA will under certain circumstances but I haven't found any set of circumstances that FHA likes. The best bet is to work on getting your credit scores to 620+. It should only take about 2 months.

Citi is one of those companies that you really shouldn't get credit from anyway so just transfer the balances to other cards and close the Citi.

Why not use Citi? All creditors will eventually make a misteak, most companies are eager to get it corrected - not Citi. They will rake you over the coals for months. But with that said they are sooooo much better than Cap 1 who won't even let you talk to a human other than in a call center in India.

If you are talking a home loan then your 677 will still allow you to refinance. The 720 would just get you a slightly lower rate.

The credit bureau will not hear of the updated info until the creditor reports to the bureau. Most creditors report in 3-4-6 month cycles so it won't happen till then.

Since the credit bureau is a for-profit business they charge for the creditors reporting or pulling info. The creditors don't send in reports continuously due to the expense.

Yes, the JC Penny card does report limits. Mine definitely does. But getting your limits increased and getting it reported to the bureau are 2 different actions. You won't see an increase in the credit score until your available credit is reported to the bureau which could be 3-6 months down the line. Get a copy of the increased credit limit from JC Penny and send that to the bureaus to get it updated sooner.

Actually the simple act of paying off a collection at any amount will hurt your credit. Now the creditor can rereport the collection as paid and it will show as a new event which will hurt your credit score and not help it.

Actually many store credit cards DO report your available credit to the agencies. I've seen more stores report the credit limits than not and if they choose to report to the bureaus then they always report your payment history which could be a plus.

If they don't show your available credit it appears the bureau dings you as if you were at the credit limit so store credit cards definitely can affect your credit both positive and negatively.

Since the credit score formula is a proprietary there is no way to give you an exact amount they affect your credit as it depends upon what else is on your report. If they are the only things on your credit report then they affect you a lot. If you have 43 other active items on your report then they affect you only a litte.

Get some debt ;)

It doesn't have to be revolving debt but until you have a history on some revolving debt your revolving debt credit score will stay low. All that means is that if you try to buy a home or a car you'll be reported with a higher score than when you apply for a credit card.

The credit score is determined the reason for the pull. Plus the fact there are 3 different credit bureaus with slightly different methodologies for calculating score and, the biggie is they probably all have different data.

There area couple of ways to do this. 1) simply go to your creditors and try to get off of the debts he's keeping 2) is have your attorney file a legal separation of debt. It will cost you extra money but it will also keep you from having his credit show on your credit report for as long as he keeps the credit open.

You need to understand that a divorce decree has no legal standing without the agreement of the creditor as well. A divorce decree is a moral obligation not a legal obligation to divide debts. It would have the same validity as me telling you that you don't have to pay your car payment. Until the creditor agrees to a new term you are stuck with the old one.

A short sale is the new PC name for a voluntary foreclosure and as such it will affect you for a long time to come. Odds are you will also be hearing from a collection agency or attorney and they'll also come after you for the deficiency so you'll end up with a judgement against you as well.

Not all states allow them to garnish your wages.

It's one of the few things the Great Obam hasn't screwed with. What I've seen happen is that the creditors keep reporting things long after they legally can and all you have to do to get them removed is to get paper documentation that the debt was included in the bk and send that to the bureaus (all3). They will usually remove it quickly and easily.

You don't need a secured card if you're able to get a regular card, and you should be able too if you've had other good credit. Your score should rise once the creditors begin reporting to the bureau which could take 3-6months. If you stay with no open credit for too long then your scores will begin to drop again.

Rates are determined by several factors. The big 3 are 1) Loan Amount 2) Loan to Value 3) credit score. But there are several other factors as well. The bottom line is that no one can tell you what your rate will be without all the info. Good Morning America said all those low rates you see advertised are for the top 1-2% of the people, most get something above that. The good news is that even when you don't get the lowest rate around you still will have a rate that you'll cherish for years since rates are sooo low now.

I own a mortgage company, you're great! You've got the score and as long as you don't have too much in debt for the income and the home you're buying you'll be good as gold. Unfortunately the best rates come from having a 740+ score, but since rates are at an all time low right now you'll get a rate you'll be telling your grandkids about one day. Right along with the I walked to school in the snow - barefooted - uphill!

Also keep watch to make sure that there's no erroneous credit being reported. They are bad about changing a name, 1 number in the account number or even the branch and rereporting you so that you get 2 or more of the same account. They try to punish you so that you have to pay your old debts.

I did, but it took years. You'll need to keep watch on your credit report and keep the creditors from reporting you as being in a bk AND having late payments and charge offs. Under federal law the BK wipes out the previous debt but somehow they get to keep reporting you. Just make sure they are reporting it accurately and begin to acquire more credit that's being reported to the bureaus. You want to replace the old bad credit with new good credit.

The short answer is that you'll never get it off as long as the debt is open. Quit claiming does nothing to dissolve your responsibility for the debt. If your ex were to refinance and take your name off then and only then would you quit being responsible for the debt.

Her payment history is now your credit history so you'd better hope she makes the payments on time. When you go to buy a home if you can prove she has paid for it for 12 months of more you MIGHT be able to get them not to hold the credit history against you, but regardless you are still responsible for that debt until the creditor releases you and if she lets it go back you could also be responsible for any deficiency judgements.

If you negotiate the interest you owe, that's the same thing as doing a voluntary charge off. So unless you can also negotiate a settlement in writing that says they won't report it as a charge off or settled for less than full amount then you'll only hurt your credit.