justineriv

I originally got this card because its best feature was a great balance transfer rate and 0% intro APR rate, which I was very happy about. The cashback program used to be much better; I'm not a big fan of the revolving spending categories because I can't take advantage of earning best cashback on most of my purchases. Besides a mediocre rewards program, customer service at Chase has been great so far. I had a late fee incurred due to payment on a weekend, but after a quick email to Chase, they revoked my fee and apologized to ME for the inconvenience. It's little details like that which make being a Chase customer more satisfactory. Overall, good-enough card. Could probably find a better cashback program if your credit can qualify you for more premium cards. If they brought back the intro APR offer, would make it a much more worthy card.

Cool..... your question was answered on Credit Karma's blog post - http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-scores/this-week%E2%80%99s-top-credit-questions-%E2%80%93-credit-card-conundrums//.

Cool..... your question was answered on Credit Karma's blog post - http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-karma/this-week%E2%80%99s-top-credit-questions-%E2%80%93-confused-about-credit/.

Check it out... this Q&A was posted on Credit Karma's blog post - http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-scores/top-credit-questions-dealing-with-difficult-debt/.

Cool!

Check it out... this Q&A was posted on Credit Karma's blog post - http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-scores/top-credit-questions-dealing-with-difficult-debt/.

Cool!

Cool... Your question was answered on Credit Karma's blog post - http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-scores/top-credit-questions-dealing-with-difficult-debt/.

also, in addition to all of those qualifications, i've heard you need mortgage payment of about 30% your gross income

maybe, as you build your credit, think about a city car share program like ZipCar if its available in your area? Or try mapping out a public transportation route. It's better than paying high interest and being in debt for awhile because of an expensive car loan with exorbitant rate...

I wouldn't suggest a department store credit card... they often have exorbitantly high interest rates that are 20%+. Go with a secured cards, like Public Savings or Orchard Bank.

You can opt for debt settlement to deal with your debt. I would suggest doing it yourself instead of going to a debt settlement company to avoid fees and the potential hassle of involving another party in your personal finances.

With debt settlement, you can call the customer service center of your issuer and try and negotiate to settle your debt for less than the original balance, a portion agreed on by your issuer and yourself. Issuer will only work with consumers who are behind on their payments but still capable of making a large lump sum up front. However, keep in mind that since you are doing it yourself, you will need to have enough funds to pay the settlement amount in full, whereas with a debt settlement company you would be able to do a payment program.

Also, debt settlement will damage your credit score because it will be listed that you settled the amount, your credit score won't take a hit if you can obtain a “Paid in full” letter from your issuer which will list the debt on your credit report as “Paid in full.” That may actually raise your score, because it’ll show that you paid off your debt and freed up credit.

Credit Karma has more info on it if you’re interested: http://blog.creditkarma.com/personal-finance/debt-consolidation-vs-debt-settlement-the-right-debt-relief-plan-for-you/

Good luck!

and pay down your debt!

Just to clarify, when you get married, your credit is not automatically joint or joined together. Only when you share and put both of your names down for a credit line, such as a mortgage or auto loan or credit card you both take out together, is your credit score affected by what your spouse does on that credit line. Even then, their history is not "joined" with yours; only when they act on your shared credit line are both of your credit scores impacted.

You can try doing debt consolidation. One way is through Peer-2-Peer lending, like with Lending Club. Credit Karma Blog has a post that does a run-down of the program, previewed here: http://blog.creditkarma.com/credit-scores/review-debt-consolidation-loans-with-lending-club/.

Let us know what you decide to go with!

The only way to remove yourself as a co-signer on this loan is for your husband to refinance the car under his name alone. This new loan will replace the old loan and you will no longer be liable as a co-signer. But in the meantime, any actions - including default or missed payments - taken on the account by you or your ex-husband will damage both of your credit scores. The debt will remain on your credit report as long as you are a co-signer, so have him refinance the loan as soon as possible to protect your credit score.

In today's economic climate, employers are being extremely selective in weeding through job candidates and are looking for candidates that demonstrate financial responsibility and financial stability. Once reserved for jobs dealing with significant money or government-related work, credit checks are becoming commonplace in the hiring process for every work sector. The rationale it is that an applicant’s financial history and the way they manage your money is a valuable tool in assessing their personal character and job performance. In addition, employers can compare the credit report to the resume to look for any discrepancies.

This means that applicants with bad credit may have a harder time than an equally-qualified candidate with good credit. Negative marks on a credit report can be an indication of the potential riskiness of hiring a certain applicant. Enormous debts or credit card cancellations could indicate a person living beyond their means or suggest a likelihood of stealing, defaults and evictions may spell financial risk and unreliability, and a serious negative mark like a bankruptcy or foreclosure could question your integrity and ability to manage a job let alone your own money.

Keep your financial resume intact by checking your credit report for errors at AnnualCreditReport.com, paying down debts, and regularly paying bills on-time. A not-so-healthy credit report won’t kill your job prospects; if the employer informs you they will be conducting a credit check (legally, they need your written permission before they hire a third party to do a credit inquiry), you can preemptively explain negative marks on your credit report and assure them you are working on improving your credit.

In a fixed rate mortgage, the interest rate you pay does not change over the life of the loan. This is true of the 40 year, 30 year, and 15 year fixed mortgages. Regardless of market changes, you will have the same interest rate and payment for either 40, 30, or 15 years.

With adjustable rate mortgages, there is an initial period of time where your interest rate will be fixed, and then after that time period, your interest rate will fluctuate based on the specific loan terms in your mortgage. Typically, the shorter the time period the loan is fixed, the lower the rate. Often a 2 Year ARM (where the loan is fixed for the first 2 years, and then adjustable for 28 years after that) will have a lower interest rate than a 5 Year ARM (where the loan is fixed for the first 5 years, and then adjustable for 25 years after that).

There are 3 methods of obtaining a mortgage today. You can go to a retail mortgage lender, a bank/credit union, or a mortgage broker. Each of these can provide you with a mortgage, but it is debatable which will provide you the "lowest cost" mortgage. Each party has its benefits and drawbacks to finding you the best mortgage.


A retail mortgage lender is a company like Countrywide that will be able to underwrite, fund, and service your loan. Retail lenders are becoming scarce as the mortgage crisis has caused many to shut their doors or significantly change their operations. If you are willing to do your own legwork and shop around the various direct lenders, you can save yourself the broker fees and find the best offer these lenders are willing to offer. Credit Karma updates a list of daily mortgage rates from hundreds of national retail mortgage lenders.


A bank or your credit union will usually have the lowest closing costs of the three options. Since you are dealing directly with the bank and assuming you are a current customer, it behooves the bank to keep this money in house which means better deals for you than you can find on the street by going to traditional mortgage companies. Closing costs and rates are typically low, which provides a good deal to the borrower.


The third option is a mortgage broker. The advantage of using a broker is that they have access to wholesale mortgage rates from lenders which are generally lower than the retail branches. They can also shop your mortgage around to several lenders to find the best deal for you. The flip side of this is that the broker is independent and must charge points or receive a yield spread in order to make the deal profitable for them. So while a broker may find you the lowest rate, the closing costs might be the highest. Using a broker is best when you have a financial situation that is outside the normal guidelines.


With all of that being said, each person’s situation is unique and there are benefits and drawbacks with each of these options. In order to cover all your bases, you should certainly consider all 3 of these options to see which will provide the right loan for you.

This is a typical problem especially in this economic environment as more banks close inactive or sub-prime accounts. To answer your question, the credit report and the credit scoring algorithm cannot distinguish who closed the account. It merely shows an account was closed and changes your score accordingly. While this is not fair, it is the realities of the system.

Here are some tips to help that may help you in the future:

1. Find a replacement credit card. As you have now noticed, credit cards are a great way to build your credit score especially if you are always on time and pay the balance in full. The HSBC Classic MasterCard is our favorite secure credit card based on its costs, features, and member feedback.

2. Diversify your credit. When your credit starts to improve, have more than one credit card. The average consumer has 8-9 credit cards. We think 8-9 is too many but 2-3 credit cards from different banks is a great way to lessen the impact of changes at any one issuer.

3. Use your cards. Remember that banks view customers who don’t use their cards as a cost center at best and a liability at worse. Use your card once every few months for gas or at the grocery store as a way to keep the cards active while not overspending.

If you are waiting for negative marks to fall off your credit report, your credit will not necessarily "restore" immediately - but it will help your credit score over time. Certain bad credit marks, such as charge-offs, delinquent accounts, and tax liens, will remain on your credit report for 7 years and ages out of your credit report after that time. Make sure the item has been accurately wiped from your credit report by ordering your credit report on AnnualCreditReport.com. Verifying your own credit history is the only way to ensure accuracy; just knowing your credit score won’t provide you with that level of detail. Once the item falls off and the rest of your report is in good standing, you will start to see improvement on your credit score.

First, remember that there are three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion). Everyone else is just a reseller of their data. We use TransUnion for all of our credit scores. Between the difference credit bureaus, your score may vary by up to 50 points due to the fact that not all lenders reports to all bureaus.

Second, there are dozens of credit scores in use. All of them are slightly different and they may have difference score ranges. For example, freecreditreport.com uses a difference credit score than privacymatters.com which may be different than the one your lender users. This makes it very difficult to compare scores since there are multiple bureaus and multiple credit scores. But know that a good score from one is usually means a good score from another.

Third, timing of your credit scores matter. In your question, you mentioned that your score was lower than before you bought your home. Remember that a considerable amount has happened since you bought your home. You probably had multiple inquiries on your credit report as part of the mortgage applications and you probably took on $200,000-$500,000 in debt when you closed on the house. Those two things along could have significantly lowered your score. We as consumers also tend to pile on more debt after we buy a new home (furnishings, home improvements, etc). Keep this in mind when evaluating your credit.

We know this gets confusing. Here are a few tips. Don't worry so much about comparing across different scores. There are just too many to track. An excellent credit score on Credit Karma will most likely be an excellent credit score elsewhere so use one consistent score and use that to help you better understand credit.

Credit scores are going to be different between the bureaus, banks, score models, and companies that provide consumer access to credit score and credit reports.

Credit scores are developed on the basis of two things: the consumer data at the credit bureau and the algorithm used to score the data. So, how come your credit scores never match from one provider to another? First, the credit data that comprises the credit report at each of the three credit bureaus -- Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion -- is very likely to be different. Second, the scoring algorithm that is applied to that credit data is also likely to be different. By different, we mean the actual algorithm calculation will be different, such as applying more and/or less weight to different categories. Finally, the credit score range used to scale your credit score may be different.

With all these differences, keep in mind one thing – all credit scores predict a consumer's propensity to repay a loan. If you monitor and trend your credit score at the same provider over time, the changes in your financial health will be revealed in your credit score regardless of what bureau, model, and range you use.

There are dozens of credit scores used by various lenders, credit bureaus, and credit monitoring services. The common thread of all the credit scores is that they are created from your credit report using the same mathematical process. This common thread also makes all credit scores highly correlated meaning they all move in the same ways. Even FICO, which consumers mistakenly believe to be the only credit score, has different versions of credit scores developed for different purposes and lenders.

Credit scores also vary by the credit bureau used, and the time the score was pulled. Different credit bureaus often have slightly different data on each consumer resulting in different credit scores. Time is also an important consideration when comparing credit scores. Over any given 90 day period, more than 60% of credit scores change as additional payment and credit information is report to the credit bureaus. Credit reports can change almost at anytime, and so do credit scores.

With all of these changing variables, understanding credit scores can be quite a difficult task. That is why we created Credit Karma with a single credit score that you can monitor over time. So our advice is to not compare different scores from different sources. The important thing is monitoring how a consistent scores changes with your daily life, e.g. as you apply for credit cards, or pay down debt.

Many debt reduction programs negotiate with the credit card companies on your behalf. However, many credit card companies will not negotiate until you are severely behind on your bills. So some debt companies will suggest not paying your bills until credit card issuers are willing to discuss a settlement. Needless to say this is a very bad approach for your credit score and will affect your score for many years to come.

If you are not behind on your payments and your credit score is high, look for alternatives. Right now interest rates are quite low. If you have a home, you could refinance or apply for a home equity line of credit. Just remember that your home is the collateral should you default so you must be very careful if you go down this path.