Credit Advice

Why is it that I have been told that I owe back my student loans when I didn't complete the schools I was originally attending because they weren't the right schools for me?  Please inform me if I am being scammed, or what the deal is.

zeldalicious, it is not a scam. You took out the loan and used it to pay tuition. What makes you think they would not want the money just because you chose to go to another school?

All student loans must be paid back to the government whether you finished the school you were attending or not. If you go back and re-read your Loan Agreement, you will find that student loans can not be claimed on bankruptcy, nor can they be ignored. By not paying your student loan will cause you to be in default of the loan(s) which  you had previously agreed to pay. Please contact your lender immediately in order to may arrangements to set up a payment plan. You may also be able to consolidate your loan(s) with lower payments that are more affordable to your budget.  If you do not know who your lender is, you may log in to www.nslds.ed.gov and find out whose your lender and the amount you owe.    If your loan(s) go into default, your federal income tax return may be garnished. Plus, not paying your student loan(s) will affect your credit score and  your ability to finding a job in some areas of the country. Good luck.   

From my experience a student loan is the same as a loan as long as it was paid to the school for your classes it does not matter if you finished or not. They were paid out and you are still responsible for them.

Because you agreed to the loans. You have to pay back loans no matter what you used the money for. maybe you should have finished some of those classes.

Yes. You owe your student loans, even if you did not complete the school.

lets suppose i bought clothes of 150$ from macys  isnt it better to pay it off in 2 or 3 payments rather than paying 15 or 20 dollars a month ?!!

The best thing to do would be to pay it ALL off ($150) as soon as you charge it. You don't get any bonus points for keeping balances from month to month, and it helps your credit to use the card and just pay it back as though it were a debit.

You know what I just ran a score simulator.  Before reducing cc debt to zero score was 772.  After reducing to zero score was 772.  Either the simulator is broken or the amount of credit you have doesn't matter.  Personally I'd rather have zero credit card debt and a score of 772 than a cc balance of 6k and a score of 772.

It did the same thing for me , I think kredit k\arma is just front to coax people to get new card and loans ,,, Sorry I even checked it out ...

I have always agreed with this myself.

http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/9-fast-fixes-for-your-credit-scores-weston.aspx

Generally I don't pay too much attention to things from MSN/microsoft but this is accurate and backed up by several other websites about Credit myths and whatnot

It takes time for your score to update it is not done instantly. If you keep the same pattern after 2 to 3 month you will see a change in your score good, bad or indifferent.

I dunno about credit karma being a hoax to get you to sign up for more cards- the whole credit system is a hoax to suck money out of you...  Credit Karma has given me more useful information than every other source I have found combined.

Are you hitting recalculate I thought this was happening to me but I was missing a step in the process.

I think the simulator is borken too becasue I did a scenario where I paid off my credit cards and had on-time credit for 24 months. My score went down 30 plus points. The simulator is bogus. Please fix it.

It takes a minimum of 2 months before the 3 credit agencys update your scores! Patience is the name of the game.

You hit nail the on the head.. so true.

I've used the simulator before and it worked. Now, nothing i do changes the score, it stays the same as my current score. NO MATTER WHAT. I'd say its broken...

I have been researching credit and ways to adjust it for a few months now, mostly because mine is in shambles. On recurring answer I've found is that the higher your credit score is, the smaller the impact of certain activites will be.

try reducing cc debt to between 1-20 percent instead of zero and see if it boosts your score.

This is how they make there money and allow your credit score to be free.You do not have to take the offers.

I agree on the simulator...It does not work correctly.

Congratulations for working hard and staying on top of your debt.  Everyone should just remember no matter what the reason or excuse you have it doesn't matter.  You have to make that payment every month on time.

I only use my credit card now if I need to make reservations online etc  and then I pay it off immediately.  At Christmas when I ordered gifts online......I used my debit card.  No Credit Card bills coming in after Christmas......that's the best present for me.  And when I'm in the store and they're tempting me to get a Kohls, Penneys, etc etc credit card............I just say NO.   Don't get into that habit.........it's a hard one to overcome.

actually , the perfect credit card balance, if there is such a thing, is 7% not 30% and at least below 10% as 30% will still have a negative impact on  your score.

I think your your mortgage company is probably right.  Having a 30/70 ratio of used/unused credit brings better return to a credit card company than a 10/90 ratio.  They WANT you to keep a continuous balance as long as you keep making your monthly minimum payments, up to the maximum point where statistically you are not likely to default.  They maximize profit that way.  

I would say it's optimum for you as an *individual* to keep your balances below 10%.  That way you are carrying enough of a balance to keep the credit card companies interested, but not so much that you are paying a whole lot of interest and accruing more debt than you can reasonably pay off in the case of an emergency.

still waiting for that to happen...............I did that and score has not gone up.......... 

Depends, have you settled the collection accounts?  Negative credit history can stay on your record for up to 7 years.  If you have not settled the collections accounts, try do have them settled and make sure you ask to have them remove the account from your credit history after it's settled.

What you'll want to do is write a letter to them (make sure you maintain the copy) and send the letter certified mail.  There are some websites that help you write these letters, do a google search.

Otherwise, the only other thing that will improve your credit score is time.  The longer you keep on time payments; the higher your score will go.

I'm sorry I read that wrong, they were deleted off of your account already, that's a great start.  Having negative history removed will raise your score.

Having a credit card will raise your score.  Be careful in applying, try creditcard.com, they have a feature that matches you with cards you most likely will be acccepted for.

If you do get accepted, make sure you keep that balance low.  Pay it off every month if you can.

Generally credit card companies won't delete the information from your credit report if it goes into collection, even if you settle with them.  Some of those debt consolidation companies don't tell you that, since they collect a fee for handling the consolidation.  

The results would be the same if you hired a personal attorney to negotiate with them for a charge off /paydown plan.  it would be nice if you could actually negotiate a settlement with them directly, but Credit card companies don't like to negotiate with individuals.  At least not when it comes to charging off debt.

Your score will improve gradually as it ages and you make regular payments. In my experience, it improves most after the first 3 years, and after 5 years or so you probably won't notice its effect.   

If you claim  Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it will stay on your credit report for 10 years.  However, by about year 7 or 8 you won't see any appreciable difference in your credit score, and some credit rating bureaus don't even list anymore.

Call  the three bureaus an get all 3 reports.When a debt goes into collections, 9 x out of

10 the account was sold. Which means the original account will appear under a different

lenders name and will also have a different account #.Make sure the accounts were deleted

and not put under another name and account #.

.  

Do not partially settle accounts!   Making payments against delinquent collections can RESET the statue of limitions on the debt.

Having an open CC account for many years will increase your score; one of the factors in the score is the average age of your CC accounts.  Another factor is your ratio of CC balance to maximum balance (lower is better) so if you apply for a CC and stick it in your desk drawer, your rating will probably improve.  The only downside is that they use the average maximum balace as well, so if you have a few $500 maximum balance cards, that will bring your score down.

Get in the habit of using your credit cards. You can pay them off at the end of the month and not accrue interest. Credit card companies or Banks are in the business of making money, they make money off every transaction using your credit card. If you are not using your card they are not making any money and for that reason they will not desire to do business with you. In that case they will close your account and your credit score will suffer as a warning to other credit card issuers that you are not a prefered client. My suggestion for you would be find credit cards that offer rewards, something like capitol one venture. Use it often racking up miles and then paying the bill before the end of the month so you don't pay interest. You will get rewards that can be used for items like Airplane tickets.

nonsense merchants pay monthly fees for cc usages that are deducted as small percentages paid monthly. CC companies do make money every time you use your card regardless if you pay your balance in full or not, silly information and false....please

Lawrence Soriano is correct. If you do not use your cards, then the banks make no money and actually having inactive cards will affect your score poorly too. It is better to use them for small purchases just to keep them active and pay them off immediately