Every year, we start off with goals; get in shape, buy a house, get married, savings goals…the list goes on. Credit rarely makes it on that list. But, credit is so important! Many people don’t realize how many things credit can affect. Trying to rent a new place? They’ll likely check your credit, want to buy a cellphone? They check your credit. Want to get a new car? How about car insurance? The list goes on and on.

You see, credit is one of those things that we all try to do our best at, but sometimes life happens. Things don’t always go as planned. Maybe a medical emergency comes up, you are out of work for a while. Have to care for an ill family member. Things can fall by the wayside in the midst of it all. But that doesn’t mean you should give up!

Sign up for a free credit monitoring service
We are in the information age! There are many free services out there these days that will help you keep an eye on your scores, and monitor any new information that pops up. Credit Karma, credit card company monitoring services (Discover, Capital One..etc..) Experian offers free credit monitoring, Credit Sesame…the list goes on. This is great news for you because you can keep an eye on things without putting a ding in your credit with a hard credit pull. This way- when something pops on your credit report, you can act quickly.

Focus on the proportion of your balance to the limit of any credit cards
The magic number is 30% folks! If you have credit cards, and are trying to improve your credit scores, the ideal action is to keep your credit cards at 30% of the limit or lower. Anything higher can start to bring your scores down. Little trick here- if you are having trouble getting the balance down (because credit cards often charge so darn much interest) then you can call and ask for a credit line increase… be sure if you do this that you’ve cut that card in half and wont be increasing the balance. But, if you are granted the increase, voila! You can quickly pop below the 30% limit and scores should improve.

Dispute erroneous information
Credit is definitely not consumer friendly. It is super easy for things to get posted on your credit report, and can seem really hard for you to get them back off. When there is erroneous information on your report, this can become very daunting. But, remember we are in the age of information! You can now easily Google “Experian dispute” or “Equifax dispute” or “Transunion dispute” and complete a form on their website which takes about 5 minutes, and the credit bureau will have to begin investigating the error. The company who posted this information will have 30 days to respond with evidence to backup what is on the report, or it will have to be removed from your credit.

Need more advice? Feel free to reach out to me anytime. I’m a veteran loan officer with experience helping people who may have been in tough situations get into homes.

Visit me at www.freedommortgage.com/shawna-talley or shoot me an email at shtalley@freedommortgage.com

Yours in Success,
Shawna Talley, Loan Officer
MLO#1200909