If you have recently been denied credit or plan to apply for credit soon, it would be wise to obtain your credit report. You know that it is a document that is the foundation of a decision on whether you will receive credit.

We can obtain copies of our credit report for free, on an annual basis, from the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Go to annualcreditreport.com to obtain these copies. Please request reports from all 3 agencies because they may differ.

The reports will all contain a section with the usual identifying information such as name, address, social security number, etc. The reports will not have information about you personally such as race, assets, salary.

There will be a section related to any credit lines. These credit lines will include loans, mortgages, credit cards, gas and department store cards. It will give the date each credit line was opened, credit limits, payment history (including late payments), balances, overdrawn bank accounts, and unpaid child support.

Credit reporting agencies also receive information from the court system. This section will have a listing of bankruptcies, liens, judgments, divorce.

Any time that you fill out a credit application ( credit card, loan ) there will be a credit inquiry to one of the bureaus. If you inquire for yourself, it will be on the report. These inquiries will remain for 2 years.

If the information on your credit report is positive, this is to your benefit. If the report has negatives, this information will remain for 7 years. A bankruptcy remains for 10 years.

It is our personal responsibility to monitor our own credit profile, have errors changed and work to repair our credit. Definitely request your credit reports from all 3 agencies, find discrepancies and mistakes and get them fixed.

This is a good question if you are starting up a new business venture. You have probably already decided on your business product, but you still have an more important issue to decide. You need to know what type of business entity structure will be the most beneficial and easy for your company. Have you heard of Limited Liability Company, C-Corporation, or S-Corporation? If your answer is yes, but you dont really understand the difference, then read the rest of this article.

You can use a number of business structures when creating your company. Each one comes with different benefits and liabilities. Here’s an overview:

1. What is a Sole Proprietorship? This is a one-person show where the individual person running the business keeps all the profits. However, they also carry all the responsibility and liability. This is definitely the least desirable form of business structure due to the huge personal risk thats involved for the individual business owner. 2. What is a Partnership? In this structure, two or more people are the owners. They usually put similar amounts of money and/or time into the business and are all responsible for running it. They also incur the debt for the business and can be held personally liable if it were to fail or be sued for the debts. 3. What is a Limited Partnership? In a limited partnership there are at least two partners involved, but they dont necessarily have the same level of responsibility – or authority. One or more of the partners will take part in decision making and the others are silent partners. 4. What is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)? This is the best and most flexible business structure and one of the easiest to set up. Its a good entity for both small and large businesses. It provides personal asset protection and offers an easy format for distribution of profits and losses. With this entity structure the liabilities of the company are only taken from business assets, not the personal assets of those who own the LLC. 5. What is a C-Corporation? There are two ways to file as a corporation: C-Corporation or S-Corporation. The C-Corp is the most structured, and rigid form and the business profits are taxed at both the corporate level and the stockholder level. In this entity, there is no limit to the number of stockholders. This structure is taxed as a separate entity, unlike the S-Corp. 6. What is an S-Corp? This is also a corporation, but its limited by the number of stockholders, which is a maximum of 75. One of the advantages of this type of business structure is that the profits are not double taxed like they are in a C-Corp. This structure is a flow through entity. This means the profits or losses flow through to the individual personal tax returns of the stockholders and are taxed on the individual tax returns.

Financial institutions generally view the LLC and corporation structures as higher rated business entities. By choosing one of these structures for your business, you are presenting a more professional image to the financial institutions and they are more likely to offer business credit and trade credit to the business.

There are several ways to start building a credit history. If you are sick of creditors hounding you, or if you find that nobody will extend you a loan because you have never had credit, now is the time to learn credit building tips. First and most importantly, never purchase things you do not need. If you want something, but never put your wants before your needs, this is a recipe for disaster and will get you in debt. If you are seeking ways to build credit and have no previous history, make sure you know how to go about it properly.

Building or Rebuilding Your Credit

If you have or have had, bad credit, you need to get a Do-It-Yourself kit and get to work. Take a trip to your local library and check out books that guide you through the process of credit repair. Most libraries have a copy machine you can use to print out forms that you need to fill out and mail to creditors. There are guides at your library that have the necessary tools for debtors to learn how to write effective letters to creditors.

Letters are a much better way to contact a creditor than by mail. Since most creditors care less about your situation and may even make threats to you. A good reason for writing letters is that having “proof”, is more valuable if you ever find yourself going to court over credit problems. If something is spoken or an agreement has been reached, this will prevent the creditor from reneging or denying this claim.

Any documentation you have pertaining to your credit history should be stored in a secure area. If you send a letter to your creditor, keep copies of the letters sent and store it along with other important information. If you notice there are errors in your bills or credit, reports ensure you have contacted the appropriate agencies and filed a dispute against the charges in a timely manner. If you have credit cards and made a purchase on an item or used a service and this item is defective or the service is sub par, you DO NOT have to pay the charges.

You have to also dispute this information with the store or the person who provided the service. If the store or person refuses to give you an item to replace the defective one, or reimburse you, then you have a right to deny payment. Once you have disputed this charge, you then need to contact your credit card provider and let them know what happened. If you are fortunate enough to have been issued a credit card even with bad credit, use this card to repay your debts and meet the monthly charges each month on time. This can be a solution when everything else fails. If you have to use a credit card to pay your debts, then payoff your cards the following month and use the card to pay the next months bills….

Now you can see what the plan is. Credit cards have interest rates so that even if you pay the monthly minimum payment, the bills on the card will increase.

Not Having Credit, Can Be No Problem

You may think you do not need a credit line or a credit card. You may pay all your bills on time each month, in cash. Does this sound like you? Well, you know the obvious answer, but then there is an occasional situation that calls for a what if scenario….In the world of today, we are fast approaching a time period that will require us to have at least one major credit card. If you telephone a business to whom you owe debt, they may first ask you if you would like to pay your account with a credit card. If you apply for a job, apartment, student, home or automobile loan, or any type of credit line, you will most likely face getting a rejection letter in the mail. Many lenders will refuse to extend credit to people who do not have a credit history. For this reason we are expected to establish a credit line while we are in our teenage years, and if we do not lenders grow concerned. A lender can refuse to give you credit based upon many reasons. The best solution for you is building a good credit history by starting up a line of credit now, making timely payments, and pay your debts off in a timely manner. Set yourself up on a budget and stay out of steep debt.

There are two common situations which lead people to consider refinancing their mortgage. One is to save money by taking advantage of lower interest rates. The other is to manage an unwieldy debt repayment situation. If you are currently looking out to refinance your existing mortgage here are some important points you should consider very carefully.

Debt management is a prime reason for refinancing. If you find yourself wrestling around with the same repayment issues every month, then it may be a good idea to get a loan on your mortgage by refinancing it. Use the loan to pay off all your smaller debts. This leaves you with just a single loan repayment every month. Do choose a repayment scheme which you know you can handle easily.

Most people think that the interest they pay on mortgages is unjustifiably high, and seek ways and means to reduce the interest burden. This is intelligent thinking. The point to consider is whether the market rate is showing every intention of reaching for the sky. If it is, and if your present mortgage is based on the variable market rate, then this is a good time to opt out of the present mortgage and refinance the mortgage with a fixed interest plan, where the interest rate is lower than the average market interest rate computed over the duration of the mortgage.

Don’t get carried away with the idea that refinancing is advisable for all situations, or that it will benefit you at all. There are many situations when refinancing can cost you heavily.

Many a time, refinancing companies fail to mention what the actual cost of refinancing is. You may think you have hit upon the perfect plan which will save you at least $10,000 over the next 10 years. Only, you find that you have to pay brokerage fees of $1200, a foreclosure penalty of $8000, and some other fees amounting to $1300 to initiate the refinance! So instead of saving $10,000 you actually end up losing (in a manner of speaking) $500! Even if you don’t end up ‘losing’ money the amount of saving may be so low as to be negligible, in which case the whole refinance exercise is pointless and best avoided.

Refinancing your mortgage is a serious financial decision. Therefore you should perform a due diligence market survey before taking up a refinance option. Find out the various plans and schemes offered by various companies in your locality and online. Carefully weigh the pros and cons of these schemes and tabulate your results for easy analysis.

You may not know it, but refinancing may impose certain penalties on you. The previous financier holding your mortgage may impose a penalty to release the mortgage. This could be heavy if you have not anticipated it. The mortgage broker can exact a fee called origination fees or simply as ‘points’, which could severely affect your savings. Take all these penalties and payments into consideration when computing your expected savings.

Refinancing will be beneficial for you if you are able to save more than you spend on all the fees and penalties involved in refinancing. One very important factor that you must consider is whether there are chances of your moving out before the refinanced mortgage expires. If there are good chances of your moving out soon, then, far from saving you money, the refinance is going to cost you a packet!

Refinancing your mortgage is a good way to save money by opting for a lower interest rate regimen. It is also a good way of consolidating your debts. But that is not be construed as a clean chit for every situation. Refinance has to be debated on a case by case basis according to the particulars of the situation. So what works for Bob may not work for Bill. The most important thing is to perform an exhaustive market survey before going in for refinance. Be very careful in computing the refinancing costs. Ask other people who have taken this route about their experiences and seek their advice. Be wary of hidden charges. These surprise charges may make the difference between saving $10,000 and paying out $500!

There are many ways you can avoid scams when it comes to credit repair. You should always confirm the company is legitimate through the Better Business Bureau, the contract has nothing funny in the fine print, and you are not made impossible promises.

It is unfortunate that people scam someone when they are trying to rebuild their credit but it happens all of the time. This is because when you are coming to a business to help you repair your credit you are vulnerable and some people know this. Unfortunately, scammers know that vulnerability is the best way to take advantage of a person. You are less likely to notice you have been scammed until it is too late. Be sure to research any business before you make a decision on signing a contract.

When you work with a credit repair agency they are supposed to keep you entirely informed throughout the entire process. If you have questions that the agency will not give you a straight forward answer with then you might not want to work with them. You have the right to ask questions. It is your credit you are fixing. Don’t go with any company who doesn’t give you a straight answer and is honest with you. In addition, they should keep you informed throughout the entire process. If they are not you might want to consider going with someone else. Scammers usually make people think that information is confidential and they cannot tell you. There is nothing that you should not be told about your credit.

Always read a contract before you sign it. Thousands of people are scammed every year due to illegitimate businesses scamming people while they want to fix their credit. It is important to be sure that you read all of the fine print. Read every little word on the contract and be sure there is nothing printed that does not look right. If there is have a new contract drawn up without the stipulations you do not agree with. If the business will not draw a contract you agree to then go with someone else. You do not want to be scammed.

The most important thing you can do to work on your credit with a business is to verify the company is legitimate with the Better Business Bureau. Be sure that there are no complaints about the company and be sure they are certified. If you see any red flags it is important to back out. One of the things to keep in mind is that you have 3 business days to back out of a contract to repair your credit. If you sign a contract and change your mind you do have the right to back out. Be sure to exercise this right if you see something inappropriate after you sign the papers.

There are many things to think about so you can avoid scams with credit repairing agencies. You don’t want to sign a contract with a business that is going to charge you thousands of dollars for what is supposed to be a free service. You can repair your credit on your own. Be sure the company you choose has no fees, you are comfortable with them and they don’t ask you to do something that seems illegal. If it seems wrong, it probably is.