SolveYourProblem eLearning Series:
Help Me Improve
My Dreadful Credit Score
(
26 pages )
Credit Score Tips
Tip #43: Save.
One
of the best ways to ensure that your credit rating stays
good is to save money each month. Whether you are able to
save $25 a month or $200 or even more, saving and investing
your savings will prepare you for financial emergencies,
will get you out of overspending, and will allow you to build
investments that can help you in later years.
With
savings at your bank, you don’t have to worry that sudden
illness will make you unable to pay your bills, resulting
in dings on your credit.
Saving
ten percent of your income is a nice, reasonable goal. You
can use your invested savings to make certain that your debts
never get overwhelming. Most employers and banks will even
deduct a certain amount of money from your paycheck or account
each month to be put into investments.
This
can be a very convenient way to save, as you are unlikely
to miss or spend money you have taken out before you can
get your hands on it.
Tip #44: Keep track of your money.
Most
people are surprised by how quickly their money seems to
be spent. This is because impulse spending and small-change
spending really adds up. Small-change spending is small spending
we do without even thinking about it - buying a coffee or
a newspaper we don’t need.
Impulse
spending refers to simply buying things we don’t use or need.
In both cases, we end up spending too much unnecessarily,
and this is a problem in credit repair because you want to
be channeling as much money as you can into savings and debt
repayment so that you can repair your credit.
For
a month, try keeping a daily record of every penny you spend
- including the money you spend on phones, the money you
spend on tips, everything. You will be amazed where your
money goes. Keeping track of your money this way does two
things:
1)
It automatically cuts down on spending. If you have to write
down where you spend your money, you will be much more careful
what you spend your money on.
2)
It allows you to see where you waste your money and take
steps to stop the bad habit. If you notice that you always
buy the newspaper on Saturday but never read it, for example,
you can stop buying the paper on that day. Small savings
can add up over the years and can put you in good financial
shape which will be reflected in your credit risk rating.
Tip #45: Take out one pleasure and
save it up.
-Do
you have cable?
-Do you subscribe to lots of magazines?
-Do you build your DVD collection so fast that you can’t even
watch all the movies you collect?
We
all entertain ourselves with money, but most of us have at
least one or two entertainments that we have either outgrown
or don’t enjoy as much as we once did. Cutting that expense
out and investing the savings can put us well on our way
to saving for retirement or paying off our bills. If you
give up your cable television, for example, you can pay off
your credit cards that much faster, improving your credit
score.
Tip #46: Build assets and capital.
Whether
it is buying a car, a home, or creating an investment portfolio,
having assets can help improve your credit score by allowing
you take out secured credit, or credit in which your assets
are used as collateral.
When
you take out secured credit (such as a mortgage) you enjoy
lower interest rates and easier approval. As you repay your
secured debt, your credit score will improve. Even better,
lenders do look at the types of credit you have. If you have
a mix of secured and unsecured credit, you will enjoy better
risk rating scores as it will indicate that you have the
means to repay your debts.
Building
assets and capital is also a way of building financial stability
which can help protect your credit score. If you have assets
such as savings or investments, then you have a way of generating
income or repaying debts in case of an emergency. You also
have ready money you can use in case of unexpected medical
bills or other problems.
Tip #47: Find more ways to income.
While
you are repairing your credit, you will want to channel as
much money as you can into savings and debt repayment. For
this, having a second income or even just a few hundred dollars
a month more can mean that you get your credit into shape
faster.
Having
a secondary form of income can also keep your credit safe
- if you lose your job, you can use the money you make from
a secondary source to repay your bills until you find another
form of employment.
There
are many ways to get more income:
-You
can ask your employer for a raise.
-You can start to sell something through the Internet or through
a company.
-You can establish your own small business that can be tended
to on the side.
-You can rent out part of your home to make some extra money.
-You can get a part-time or weekend job.
Whatever
you do, finding an alternate source of income can help your
credit immensely.
> Home > Improve
Your Credit Score: Main Page
Related
Channels:
|