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"Don’t prejudge your credit."  "Bad credit, no problem." 

These are slogans you hear car sales advertisements use a lot when they are trying to get you to come in and buy a car.  If you are willing to buy into what these advertisers are telling you, even if your credit tells them you are a bad risk, they can get you that loan to get you into a car because that is just the kind of great guys that they are.  Do you ever see those commercials and wonder, "What’s the catch?"  Well the catch is one that could make you feel pretty badly toward car dealerships.  But is one you should be aware of before you let them set you up with a car dealership loan.

We are not saying that all "bad credit, no problem" offers are scams.  But there is a plan that these people are working on some customers they get that are already struggling with their finances.  And it is a scam that is not only ugly and underhanded, it is downright cruel.  It is designed to rob you of the money you put down on the car and your payments that you can make.  And when you think that these plans are carefully designed to steal that money from people who are already struggling, it can make you a little sick when you see them say, "We can finance you a car even if you have bad credit."  Here is how the scam works.

.    The commercials are designed to reach out to people who really need a vehicle to get out of a financial nightmare they are dealing with.  Because part of that nightmare is their credit has collapsed, they are desperate for someone to help them.  These commercials are there to offer that help when the car dealership is just out to victimize these people even more.
.    The dealership gets you to buy a used car.  They will be sweet and accommodating by assuring you they can finance the car even if your credit tells them you cannot afford the payments for very long.  In fact, they will try to get you to buy a car that costs more than you can afford.  They want you to default on that loan.
.    The victim of the scam must put down a down payment.  Usually they are able to negotiate that down payment but they want something.
.    The contract for the sale stipulates that if you miss one payment, they can repossess the car and keep the down payment and the payments that have been made so far.  You lose your money and they get the car back to sell again working the same scam over and over and over again.

It is a pretty ugly scam.  So beware of bad credit offers from car dealerships and read the terms carefully.  You are better off working with a bank or financial institution that can give you some credit to get you into a car without trying to trick you like some of these "no credit, no problem" offers are trying to do. 

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It could be an especially troublesome thing to go thru, trying for a card when your credit score screams "Unreliable!". The sole sorts of credit cards you are offered, typically come with penalties like a costly annual charge. The banks know that you do not have much of a choice ; with a product like a card for bad credit, they’ll sometimes attempt to get away with charging you really high IRs too. Since a Mastercard today is a genuine basic necessary, you would like to get some sort of card product regardless of if you need to handle terms that aren’t exactly propitious. Before you take the plunge and accept a Visa card that comes with all sorts of punishing terms, you need to take an in depth look at why it is that you so badly desire a Visa card to begin with. If you happen to feel a Mastercard helps you feel happier about yourself, perhaps you must try hard to enhance your credit report for some considerable time before you apply. The incontrovertible fact that you’ve got a subprime credit score shows that you already have a great amount of debt to address. Getting a new Visa card will pretty much certainly lower your credit history further. If you’re getting a card to get a new selection of credit which will only push you further into debt, that’d be a horrible idea. You might think about employing an ATM card instead if all that you need is something to do some shopping on the web with or to get hotel and flight reservations or take out automobile rentals.

If you qualify for checking account, very often, you can qualify for an ATM card too. All that you need to do is to put money in your account up front before you lease that auto, make a hotel reservation, or buy those tickets. If you could open another checking account solely for the use you may get out of your ATM card, it will not be necessary to trouble with the way some companies will put a hold on your card for an amount that is slightly higher than the acquisition cost.

ATM cards are generally free to operate. And anyone that sees you holding one will think you’ve got a Mastercard – nobody will know the difference. A card for blemished credit is possible though , if you’re determined enough ; you might for example, find a member of the family with great credit who’s prepared to cosign. After they cosign, you can get some pretty agreeable terms. But you do wish to ensure that you do not default. Because if you do, they are going to be responsible for it and it’ll likely affect the relationship you have with them.

At the end, if all else fails, you might doubtless get acollateral backed secured card. The charges are high, but you can not totally default on these as you leave a sum of cash in deposit with the bank for what you get to spend.

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Contrary to popular imagination, people who go looking for cash advances aren’t really deadbeats. Regular people – businessmen, traders, everyday folks – can find themselves over a barrel from time to time. They could have enough money, only it could be bound up, inaccessible in a hurry. For people with bad credit, cash advance loans can be a lifesaver too. Most cash advances for people in distressed situations are for relatively small sums of money. The rates of interest that they charge can be punishingly high. But since the sums involved are relatively low, high interest rates don’t really bother people as much as they otherwise could.

One of the main factors working against people who try to find a source of cash in a crunch is the whole credit report thing that gums up the works. To people desperate for a break, the way the cash advance system usually works can be a breath of fresh air. You could have good credit, you could have bad credit; cash advance lenders in main, look at your income projection. If you have a job or are in business for yourself, all you need to do is provide proof of income. As far as these loans are concerned, your credit history doesn’t play much of a part.

Even if you do have bad credit, cash advance loans from these lenders do come reasonably easily. But you need to understand that these loans are strictly meant to be short-term ones. Once you start dragging these out, they cease to make any financial sense at all. You can’t just walk in into any business with a storefront that declares that they give out loans though. You need to make sure that your choice of business to go to is properly researched and proven to be legitimate. Not all cash advance services charge you the same kind of interest. The business that deals in cash advances for people with bad credit tends to attract more than its share of shady businessman. This is an area of lending that deals with desperate people. And desperate people are known not to really dig too deeply when someone is offering them alone no one else who will.

Try to see if you can check their references. Ask them for their policies and their credentials. Ask how many clients heyo have had so far and how long they have been in business. If you aren’t sure,  never go with a business that hasn’t been around any less than a couple of years.

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Starting a credit repair business doesn’t require licensing, but it does require a business certificate. Take business classes and give financial advice professionally with tips from a financial consultant in this free video on credit cards and personal finance.

Expert: Carrie Kukuda
Contact: www.wearehdtv.com
Bio: Carrie Kukuda has a business administration degree, and was branch manager of a community bank.
Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

Duration : 0:1:18

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Technorati Tags: bad credit, Credit Cards, credit reports, credit scores, debts, financial advice, financial planning, loans, MONEY, money management, personal finance, personal loans

http://www.creditjusticetoday.com The mission of Credit Justice Services, Inc. is to promote & teach the importance & meaning of credit worthiness. Our commitment is to establish long-term relationships.

Duration : 0:7:42

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Are you drowning in debt and dragging your credit score down at the same time?

By the time you are finished reading this article, you’ll quickly discover that the key to improving your credit scores lies in your ability to reduce your debt.

You see if you find yourself with more debt than you can reasonably handle, the simplest solution is to reduce the amount of debt you are facing.

Don’t get me wrong, this may be a lot easier said than done.  Because the bottom line is you may not have enough money to pay your bills.

Surprisingly enough, there is a solution.

In fact you may not be aware that there are steps you can begin taking RIGHT NOW that can reduce your load. 

I’m telling you, anytime you pay your bills late; it affects your credit report in a negative way.  In addition to that, your credit score suffers a fatal blow that follows you for up to seven years.

Astonishing isn’t it?

Like it or not, the only way to increase your credit score and leave your financial trouble behind is to consider reducing your debt. 

Here’s the first thing you should do is begin prioritizing your debts.  Look closely at your obligations. 

Listen, you need to list your debts in order of importance.  And you know what?  Importance is not determined by who is driving you up the wall with the most calls or letters. 

Importance is decided by what debt will most negatively impact your life the fastest. 

Seriously, put some thought into this.  Consider what the effect will be on you and your family (if you have one) if you skip a payment. 

On top of that…ask yourself how easy it is for the creditor to stop its service or take back it’s property.

I’m sure that by now you can see that the health of your financial future rests on you maintaining a high credit score while reducing your debts. 

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to end your financial suffering?

Technorati Tags: bad credit, credit, credit report, credit reports, credit score, credit scores, increase your credit score

instant approval credit cards

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If your credit score has been impacted by the commercial slump, you have possibly seen your mailbox getting crammed with those offers for ‘bad credit direct acceptance cards ‘ just about everyday.

You are actually not alone many millions of northern Americans have become victim to the whims of this declining economy, ensuing in an once good or decent credit score diminishing down to a poor rating. There are an abundance of reasons ; maybe you’ve been fired, had a decrease in work hours or pay, experienced high-priced health issues or just cannot keep up with curving food costs. Just one or two missed payments can send your credit status way south in a rush. You might think, hopeless times call for desperate measures, which makes you straightforward prey for those smartly written ‘offers ‘ for blemished credit instantaneous authorization mastercards. With the ‘advance pay-day ‘ loans, these sorts of offers should go direct from your mailbox into the round file.

Here’s why. Think about how, a few years gone, the banking industry lured millions on millions of Americans into mortgage loans they could not afford, inspired by brokers and lenders to ‘fudge ‘ on the information on their loan applications, either increasing their real earnings, or convincing them to accept some of the more creative financing packages , for example the ARMs. Today, we see the tragic results : repossessions on these loans are at a high. This is reasonably equivalent in nature to those solicitations for subprime credit, direct approval ‘ cards you now find growing in your mailbox. We’ll take another look at this latest banker’s ploy. The friendly, clever copy of the cover letter is intended to make you think that taking them up on this offer may help you out of an awkward situation.

Nothing could be farther from the actual facts.

When you inspect the footnotes, you can see the APR is ghastly. Should you drop a payment, even by a day, that already large APR immediately goes up and you will be considered a serious fine think $75 or even more! there were many documented cases of banks, getting a prompt payment and then deferring processing the payment for 1 or 2 days, simply so they can raise your APR and evaluate you that serious fine.

Bear in mind that only one event like this could then eat up the remainder of your line of credit! Likely the key-phrase in these supposed offers for bad credit, immediate approval credit cards is ‘instant approval ‘. You already know you have got subprime credit and are despairingly searching for an instant solution. Bonafide ‘instant approval ‘ Visa card offers are approved just for those with a credibly near-pristine credit record. If you have subprime credit, you want to work your way out of it the ‘old fashioned ‘ way. Sharpen your pencil and give your position a good quantity of perusal. Cut all pointless spending. If you have one or two little liabilities, squeeze your financial position and pay them off, one at a time. Attempt to make perhaps the minimum amount on existing credit cards. Check with a non-profit debt consolidation organization to determine if you cannot consolidate your present debt and cut back your total regular payments. The moral to this story? Avoid those bad credit instantaneous authorization cards like the plague! Good luck!

Technorati Tags: bad credit, Credit Cards, instant approval

bad credit

loan for car with bad credit

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If you’ve got bad credit, you probably know it! Now your car has gone south and you’re looking to get a car loan for people with bad credit. Geez. From bad to worse, you might well think. No, don’t throw in the towel yet. Getting a car loan, even with bad credit, is a doable project. You just need to know the rules of this particular financial road.

The saving grace in this scenario, is that even the banks recognize that a car is essential to just about everyone. That being the case, they also know that the last thing you want to lose is your car. This means that you might be late on your payments for anything else, but not that essential vehicle. Whether you want to finance a new or used car, they’ll adjust their sights accordingly. Does your income to debt ratio support the proposed payment on this car loan? If so, you’ve passed test number one. Now, how much money are you bringing to the table? This means the down payment. The larger the down payment, the better  is your chance of obtaining that car loan for people with bad credit. If you’re willing to part with a sizable amount of cash to buy the car, you’re going to make that payment on the car loan before anything else. Who wants to lay out $1000 of their own money, only to have the car repossessed when payments aren’t made on time? It becomes a lose-lose proposition. You lose your cash and your credit rating goes down.

Do you have direct deposit in place for transferring your paycheck to your bank account? Do you have a savings account? Do you belong to a credit union? If you can say yes to any of these, your chance for the car loan for people with bad credit increases exponentially with each ‘yes’ answer.

Even cold-hearted bankers know that there are any number of legitimate reasons you might end up with bad credit. The lender will look over your credit report and it will be apparent, with even a cursory perusal, that the loss of a job or a monster medical bill is all it takes to explain your current bad credit score. The question becomes, given your credit and employment history, and where the credit blips occurred, are you a credit worthy risk? Given that you’re putting a substantial sum down on the proposed car and demonstrate fiscal responsibility with a savings account, direct deposit and/or credit union membership, you start to look better and better as a credit risk.

No, a car loan for people with bad credit isn’t impossible. You just need to understand the rules of this road. Good luck!

Technorati Tags: bad credit, car loan

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Many consumers are completely stressed out these days because their high interest rate credit card debt and their ever decreasing incomes don’t seem to add up at the end of the month. This leaves many people in the lurch and can push them into ruining their credit scores. It’s not that hard to ruin your credit, even if you have had years and years of spotless or nearly impeccable payment history. All it takes is a couple of 30 day lates to drop your score considerably. If you are like a lot of Americans these days, you have even more to worry about than a couple of 30 day lates. Home foreclosures are at all time record highs across the country and credit scores have plummeted across a wide swath of the American buying public. This has led to tighter credit restrictions by banks and the veritable end of sub-prime lending as we knew it. Even people with great credit are having difficulty getting home loans. Just try it with bad credit and you will find that it just can’t be done.

There are several techniques that you can use to accomplish bad credit credit repair. First though you need to thoroughly understand the process of credit and credit scoring. Lending institutions use your credit score as calculated by the three major credit reporting agencies to give out grades or scores. The credit reporting agencies use something called a FICO score which you may have heard about. FICO stands for Fair Isaac and Company and they invented the current system that is in use today. FICO scores start at 400 and go to over 900 points. A FICO score of over 800 is improbable and 700 to 720 is considered A plus credit by most lending institutions and banks.

You can get a free copy of your credit report by requesting a copy from each of the three credit reporting agencies. By law they have to provide you with a copy when you request it in writing or on their website. You can also get one by registering with www.freecreditreport.com or several other similar sites. Be careful though because they will ask for your credit card and could start debiting for automatic monthly payments after the trial period. You need to call in before the trial period is over in order to cancel the membership if you do not want to be charged. These sites have some great information on them and it is recommended that you read through all of their articles and FAQ pages. These will answer most questions that people have on bad credit credit repair.

Once you receive your free credit report, you need to find the negative items on the report. Sometimes this is not so easy to see and you have to be patient and read through the report carefully. You can then go to the credit reporting agency websites themselves and actually dispute items online. The three major credit reporting agencies are Equifax (www.equifax.com), Transunion (www.transunion.com) and Experian (www.experian.com). In order to perform bad credit credit repair you will need to dispute any negatively reported items that you think were erroneously reported. Once you click off which items you want to dispute on your credit report, the credit reporting agency will place that item “in dispute” and ask the creditor (credit card company) to check their records and make sure the negative item is not an error. Creditors usually have just 30 days to respond to these queries. If they do not respond in time, the credit reporting agencies are required to remove the negative items.

This is probably the quickest way of performing bad credit credit repair that is currently available without hiring an outside third party expert.

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Have you thought about how good it would feel to increase your FICO credit score as quickly as you possibly can?

But before I jump ahead of myself, let’s get one thing perfectly clear…your FICO credit score can only be sold to you from Equifax. 

In essence, the credit scores you receive from other credit reporting agencies have been uniquely created by each individual agency. 

What I am talking about is the scoring models differ from agency to agency.

What does this mean for you?

In short, every agency will give you a DIFFERENT credit score. 

So, make sure you got a copy of your credit score from each agency to know exactly where you stand.

Just in case you are wondering…the three major credit reporting agency are: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

And here’s something else you need to know.  All credit-reporting agencies are required to SEND you a free credit report (upon your request) once a year.

On top of that – if you are denied credit for any reason – you are entitled to a free credit report from the agency that the creditor used.

Chew on this for a minute…your FICO score is the score that the majority of lenders look at before they extend credit to you.

Aside from that, one thing’s for sure…if your credit score is low, getting credit will be a tough nut to crack.

Now, pay close attention to the different scoring models used by credit reporting agencies…

1.    The broad-based next generation credit bureau risk score is called NextGen.
2.    Equifax calls their FICO scoring model the BEACON.
3.    TransUnion’s scoring model is called EMPIRICA.
4.    Experian chooses the Fair Isaac Risk Model.
5.    Credit Card issuers, Car loan lenders, Personal financing lenders, and those offering other installment loans used the Industry Option SM

As you might have guessed now that you’ve come to the end of this article…it is to see how important it is for you to understand your FICO credit score. 

And guess what?  This is only just the beginning.

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