Information Center – News and Articles about Credit Cards
Ezpreapproval.com presents the Information Center — a new and improved credit card news service. We will inform you with up-to-date articles on credit cards for good credit, bad or no-credit history. Get information on best credit card deals for student credit cards, cash back credit cards and business credit cards. Learn about the top deals on credit cards with the lowest APR deals and other hot issues.
How to Get Credit for the First Time, with Credit Card Applications
Getting credit for the first time is like looking for a job for the first time. You need the job in order to help you get experience, but without experience you can’t get the job. Similarly, creditors are most likely to give credit to people who already HAVE credit. You need credit to get credit. So how do you get it to begin with?
There are several things you can do to build up credit history to help you with your credit card applications.
First, you need to have a steady job and a reliable income. Your credit card applications will probably be denied otherwise.
You should have both a checking account and a savings account, too. Then, when you’re applying for credit cards, the creditors can see you’re a responsible adult who can mange his money.
Then you need to establish a steady pattern of paying all your bills in a timely fashion. This includes all your utilities, too — phone, gas, electric, water, etc. Without prior credit history, you might have to pay a deposit to get the utilities in your name, but that’s OK.
You should also get a copy of your most recent credit report from all three of the bureaus that handle credit reports (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian). See if they even have a file on you at all. If they do, go over it carefully to make sure the information they have is correct and up-to-date. Some estimates say that as many as 80 percent of credit reports have some errors in them, so look at yours thoroughly.
Having accomplished all this, you can set out to apply for credit cards. You won’t get the credit cards with low APRs or credit cards with no annual fee, at least not at first. You may have to fill out a secured credit card application the first time, just to get things going. You may also need a co-signer. Gasoline credit cards are easier to qualify for, so you might try that, too.
However you do it, by getting a credit card, you now establish some credit history for yourself. You now officially “exist” in the eyes of the credit card companies. Then you just have to make sure only positive things are done with the account.
- Pay your bill on time every month, no matter what. This is imperative. Late payments damage your credit report tremendously.
- Don’t fill out every credit card application you see. Keep your accounts to a minimum. It almost always works out that no matter how much available credit you have, you’ll find a way to fill it. So minimize the amount of available credit you have.
- Keep your balances as low as possible. Pay them off as quickly as you can. Don’t randomly apply online for credit cards, as it’s too tempting to apply for every one you come across. Fill out a credit card application only when you actually need one.
Improving Damaged Credit History
If your credit history does start to look bad, do not panic. You can improve it over time. You can’t eliminate the negative stuff (it goes away automatically in seven years, but not before then), but you can counteract it with positive information. Work on setting goals for yourself, to pay off existing accounts and to keep everything up-to-date and not overdue. Once you’re back on track, you’ll find that it’s the most recent credit activity that weighs heaviest when you fill out a new credit card application.
No comments
Most credit tips say that the sooner you pay off your credit card balance - the less money you will lose on interest. On-time payments will favorably bound back on your credit score and payment history. This kind of advice is what we all are used to hear and read on the Web, in financial magazines, in tips columns. But does this financial behavior model really have a positive effect on your FICO score and credit report?
How can it be questioned, you ask? A perfectly disciplined plastic owner that pays off his or her balance before a lender could say Jack Robinson. Is not it any creditor's dream? No, it is not always so. Let's find out why a lender would want a different behavior model from a borrower and when this kind of paying down debts can weigh heavily against a cardholder.
Read more
There are a number of embarrassing situations that are just a nightmare for cardholder. Feel no wallet in your pocket just before the cash register? See some unauthorized charges in your credit report? Loose you wallet with all your plastics in it? Very soon we are going to have no fear of these things, thanks to amazing technical progress.
Indivos Corp. which majors in computer hardware and software development has been working on an electronic system for making payments over a number of years. The thing about this system is that it enables transactions to be made by scanning customers' fingertips. A number of retailers have already expressed interest in testing the new system.
Read more
Active credit card use is a sign of a society with well-developed market relationships. More and more people get involved in buying goods and services with plastics. Using virtual funds to make real purchases is very convenient. But this extended buying power has led Americans to a dangerous trend. Over 40% of American households, according to the USA Federal Reserve statistics, spend more money than they make.
In the average, every American of these 40% spends $1.2 per every $1 he or she earns. Plastics have changed people's spending habits. These plastic devices allow and encourage people to spend more and more money. Around 18% of all purchases made by Americans involve credit card use. About 24% of the purchases are made with other types of plastics.
Read more
If you are determined to eliminate your credit card debts and you have good credit, getting a balance transfer card is a good idea. You can shift your credit card balances with high interest rate to a card with much lower rate or 0% APR at all. But there is one thing that can reduce your profit from this kind of a deal. It is balance transfer fee.
Most balance transfer cards come with a fee for a transfer. Not long ago you could easily find a plastic for balance transfers with no fee. However, due to the credit card market crisis and economy slowdown, lenders have pulled these deals from the market. And now it is rather hard for a customer to find a balance transfer card that comes with no fee. But there are some ways to negotiate a better balance transfer deal.
Read more