ryan

Not all TransUnion scores are the same.

Quicken Loans was our original mortgage provider, before our mortgage was sold to Chase.  They made the whole process very easy, and there were no hidden fees - everything was stated up front. We were very happy with the process and would definitely use Quicken Loans again.

The classic cash back card - the rewards are excellent if you can get into the 5% CB range, and are smart about how you use it.  I've read that people who use this card heavily typically get around 1.8%-1.9% CB average over all purchases, and anything next to 2% is pretty awesome.  I have since moved to the Starwood AMEX card, but if I wasn't using that, I'd be using this.

What kinds of benefits have you seen so far?  I've not been convinced to use this over a Chase Freedom or Starwood AMEX yet, but maybe I'm missing something

Regardless of what you think about Chase, this is hands down one of the best rewards cards out there.  If you are complaining about high interest rates, then you should think twice about why you would want to apply for this card in the first place.  This card is for responsible, high credit borrowers who want high rewards.

Does this card have a 3 points per dollar spent @ home depot policy, or something along those lines?  Seems like a no-brainer if you spend tons at home depot.  Just don't carry a balance on it

On multiple different occasions I have missed a payment with Chase, and after contacting their customer support, they have returned the late fees and gave me what's essentially a free pass.  I've also found them to be the easiest company to work with when fraudulent charges appear on your card.

That said, I think these reviews are supposed to be about this card, not necessarily the company.  This card is great - some of the best rewards out there.  If you are smart and you pay on time, you can milk this one for tons of free cash.

I signed up for ING during a rate promotion some years back on a savings account, and while they haven't always had the best rates since, they are generally pretty competitive.  They also have interest checking, which I think is a must.  The only downside, as per any internet bank, is that there are practically no physical branches so you can't get something like a cashier's check from ING.  They do send payments via snail mail or Internet extremely fast, however.

A nice feature that I make frequent use of is the free transfers to or from any bank.  I keep some money in other banks for various reasons (convenience, physical branches, etc) and I use ING to coordinate transfers between them all.  That's extremely valuable.

Something I would like to see from them is reimbursements on ATM fees; I've thought about moving for just that feature, but since I use BoA as well and they have ATMs everywhere, I haven't needed to.

My mortgage was sold from Quicken Loans to Chase right after purchase, and Chase has been easy to work with so far.  I also have Chase credit cards, so it's convenient to have it all up in one online portal.  No complaints here.

Liberty Mutual has been pretty good to me from an auto insurance perspective.  We have two cars on Liberty Mutual policies with stacks of discounts, and haven't seen much in the way of changes to rates.  They have been willing to renegotiate with us when we are in the market for new auto insurance and have always come in with the lowest price for comparable auto insurance.

I did have an incident a few years ago in which I was rear ended, and Liberty Mutual was easy to work with to get my car fixed up.  The whole process was relatively hassle free.

Try secured and "guaranteed approval" cards. This site has lots; click the "Credit Cards" tab at top of page

Build credit - secured credit cards are a good start

Use secured credit cards. Pretty much works like a debit card, so you aren't taking on any more debt but are showing consistent, responsible payment

Contact the credit bureau - they are the only ones who can help you here

Probably 30-90 days after the loans are paid, depending on the size of the loan and how often they are reported. My own student loans only took a month or so, but it was 3 or 4 months before my mortgage showed up

Yes - with a score that low, inquiries for new credit look very bad, especially inquiries for auto loans and other non-essential items.

Whoa - you need to go to www.annualcreditreport.com right now and look at your report. This is potentially a case of identity theft. If you have a lot of inquiries you don't recognize, call the credit bureaus immediately and put freezes on all of your reports.

yes - negotiate with them to remove negative items from your report, in exchange for payment (even partial payment)

Check your report - sounds like they're saying you have some accounts marked as late or delinquent. www.annualcreditreport.com will show you your report for free

No, it does not

Start building your credit by paying your bills on time (with a low score you REALLY need to pay EVERY bill on time), and pick up some secured credit cards to help you along the way.

If you have a lot of debt outstanding, and are in collections, you should contact your creditors and negotiate payments in exchange for removing poor items from your credit report. Creditors are typically happy if they can get any money out of you at all, and will trade items on your report for payment.

Credit scores can be a little unpredictable - for example, for some people their credit score will go up on a bankruptcy because the bankruptcy eliminated much of their debt.

If you have high credit limits and good credit, a few thousand dollars in loans is probably not going to do much in either direction. Is your report not very diverse? Your score could increase due to the diversity of accounts being added.

Regarding what to include, you should definitely include the inquiry you'd receive, as that will likely have an adverse effect on your score. You could simulate paying off your CC as well if you're curious about the outcome.

Keep in mind, too, that the simulator is not necessarily going to 100% reflect what will happen when you actually do these things (even a simulator working on your real report is still a simulator), so the actual outcome may be slightly different.

Applications take more into account than just score - your debt-to-income ratio for example is important but not reflected on your report. Length of employment and other factors may apply as well.

Nope - credit reports are separate. That said, if you make any mistakes (like forgetting to pay a bill), that could show up on your husband's report if your names are both on the account. Otherwise, you're fine - your score can't bring his down.

Adding debt is generally bad. You'd be better off getting your own secured card with no debt on it than being added to someone else's card. I doubt it will hurt your credit score further to have her remove you, but that's just my guess. You could try using the simulator on this website to estimate changes