Hello Sophisticated Spenders!
This year I’m participating in The Live Richer Challenge.
This challenge was created by a friend, Tiffany the Budgetnista.
The last few days of the challenge have been awesome.
Last week was all about fixing your credit report.
I remember completing all of these steps back in 2005 when I finally decided to get my credit in check.
1. Get a copy of your credit report. I always use Credit Karma. www.annualcreditreport.com is another trustworthy resource.
2. Verify debt (Day 18 of the Live Richer Challenge). Don’t offer to pay anything until you make sure the statute of limitations has not passed for your debt. Click here to learn more from the challenge including links to find out how to find the statute of limitations for your state and a few templates).
3. Let’s make a deal. Some companies will accept a lower amount if you just call and speak to them. Tell them how much you’d like to pay either in a lump sum or monthly.
4. Prioritize how you’ll pay everything. I recommend the snowball method. You pay off the lowest balance and apply your payment from that old debt to the next lowest balance and so on.
5. Know your rights-stop the calls. Day 19 and 20 of the Live Richer Challenge. They can’t harass you so make sure you know what to say and how to say it!
I highly recommend joining The Live Richer Challenge.
I don’t claim to know everything and I love learning.
You can skim through all of the previous days and focus on the areas that you resonate with you.
How are your resolutions going? Are you participating in this or any other challenges? How’s it going?
I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
2 thoughts on “Fix Your Credit Report Now!”
Let’s say that you make a credit card payment on time but you’re late on your car payment. Did you know that your APR can be increased across each line of credit in your name because of How to fix your credit? Probably not, so imagine your auto or home loan going from 3% up to 29%. It’s called the “universal default clause” and it helps credit card companies against people who “pose a credit risk”, meaning that any creditor can increase your APR even if you didn’t pay them late but paid another creditor late.
Great info Lillian! Thanks for sharing!