Your Credit Questions and Answers

 The banks have excellent records on your account with them.  They track everything to build models to predict customer behavior and to predict your behavior.   Why Banks Track your Account Banks have a lot of data on your account.  They have the information from your credit report when you applied for credit, your application for credit, They also have the internal history of your account or accounts with them.  They know how long after the statement you make your payment.  They see the cycles in your spending.     Banks have statisticians to measure everything and to predict how good of a customer you are.   Should the bank offer you a new mortgage, credit card, zero percent loan, new checking account is all generated from the statistics derived from your credit file with them. Banks Cannot Access your Current Credit History Interesting but Banks do not have access to your current Credit History.  When you apply for credit they can access your credit history at the time of applicatio

 I have acquired a dozen or so credit cards through time.  Many of them I have had for several years.  My Credit Report showsI have never been late with a payment to them.  Check out how I got a late payment removed. I use Autopay to make sure all my cards and other loans are paid every month.  Most of the time I only use one or two of my credit cards.  However I pay Netflix on one, my phone on another, and small bills to keep my important cards active. My HELOC Debacle 790 to 580! I went from a 790 credit score to 580 with only one change in my credit history. I had three HELOCs.  I had three houses that were nearly paid off.   I put HELOCs on them for $100,000 each.  I owed a total of about $70,000 on the three houses.  I had autopay set up on all of the HELOCs. I get a call from myBanker.  He said I needed to come in and sign some papers.  I forgot and he called again a couple weeks later.  I stopped in and he was on vacation.  So I forgot to catch up with him. Four months later I

 I thought I had setup autopay on my Lowes Card.  I charged a couple little items.  I did not check my statement and it went to 60 days late.  I first saw it when I opened my Credit Karma account.  Ouch, I might have said something else, grin. 1.  I paid the missed payment I immediately went to Lowes and paid my account.  The next day I called the Lowes Credit Card phone number from the back of the card.  I very nicely talked to the customer service agent. I took responsibility for missing the payment. 2.  I used the Lowes Card some more I spent a little more money at Lowes on my Lowes card over the next few months and obviously paid on time.  3.  I waited to ask for the Missed Payment Removal After about 6 months I called up Lowe's Credit Card customer service.  I explain to the customer service person that I was looking at new cars and would there be any way they could possibly remove my missed payments. I was extremely nice. This is a necessity when dealing with customer service

  A HELOC is a Home Equity Line of Credit .  Any home or rental property that does not have a loan or mortgage against it can be used to get a HELOC. Normally a HELOC will be in first position on the property. How is a HELOC different from a Mortgage? A mortgage will have a monthly payment that pays down the debt on a ten, fifteen or thirty year schedule.  If you make extra payments on the mortgage you still have to make the scheduled monthly payment. You cannot borrow back the extra payment without getting a new mortgage.   The interest rate on my mortgages is usually locked in for the term of the loan.   The fees to get the mortgage were around $3,000.  There are no annual fees, just the interest on the mortgage. A HELOC will normally have a required monthly or quarterly payment of the interest on the balance owed.  The amount you owe on the HELOC can be changed up or down easily.   Let's say you have a $150,000 HELOC on a property and you only owe $20,000 on the loan.  You can c

 Let me first state I am not a financial advisor, realtor, or accountant.  What I am posting here is my opinion. The Benefits of Rental Real Estate Investing Leverage, Loan Pay Down, Cash Flow, Appreciation, Tax Benefits and Longevity. Leverage Leverage is the ability to borrow money.  If I went to a bank or credit union and wanted to borrow money to purchase or start a small business they would grin and suggest I find a rich uncle to finance it. Borrowing to buy rental or personal residential real estate is different.  There are many programs that will help you buy your first house, duplex, triplex or fourplex.  Sometimes if you plan to live in the property for twelve months you will be able to borrow as much as 95% of the value of the property.  It is usually fairly simple to purchase Rental real estate if you have 25% to put down. Loan Pay down From the very first payment part of the payment will start paying back the loan on the property.  Renter makes the payments after the Down P

 Here are a couple of Credit Card Safety measures that can solve your problems when your wallet or credit cards get stolen. 1.  Write down your Credit Card Bank phone number from the back of your card. 2.  Write down the Credit Card number and expiration date. 3.  Write down the three digit security code.  I add two numbers to the front of the three digits to confuse someone who may find this so they won't be able to use my card. 4.  I only carry two or three credit cards at a time.  I have a dozen or so credit cards however I do not carry all of them.  Most of them are at my office in my safe. Put this note card in a secure place away from your cards and wallet.  I have a small piece of paper with these numbers written on it.  I put clear tape over so the writing doesn't wipe off or get wet.  I put this into the owners manual of my car.  Nobody ever looks at the owners manual that is in my glove box.    You can fold it up and put it in a gum package.  You can put it next to yo

 Here is a simple tip to a  Quick Credit Score increase . Pay your credit cards before the statement date.   This may only add a few points but if your cards show a significant drop it will make a difference.  The amount you owe on the statement date is what the credit history shows and the percentages of available credit usage calculation. Build your Credit Fast Scrape together as much cash as possible and pay down your cards before the statement date .  Pay the most on your cards with the Highest Percentage usage. Overall Available Credit Usage The overall available credit usage is an important number.  However if one of your cards is near 100% of available credit used it will have an oversize impact on your score.  Individual Credit Card  Available Credit Usage   I used an interest free offer on one of my credit cards.  I borrowed 100% of the available credit on that one card.  My overall credit card usage was below 25%.  I had several cards with zero balance.  This one card with 10