Capital One Secured Credit Card to Improve Credit Score - Review
Thu Dec 29, 2011 01:12PM
Capital One Secured Credit Card Benefits
Designed for consumers who want to improve credit score, the Capital One secured credit card offers three major benefits, valuable for anyone who has difficulties obtaining an unsecured credit card:
- it reports your spending activity to main credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and Transunion.
- it allows you to track your credit activities with the free enrollment in CreditInform, which normally costs $8.99 per month.
- based on your payment and credit history, you may also have your credit line increased - often in $100 increments - without putting additional security deposit.
Let's Review Who Needs this Card
The Capital One secured credit card helps improve credit when other means are not readily available. It is also proven to accomplish it quite fast as long as you use the card properly. If your credit score is in low 600s or you
- have been 90 days and more late on a credit card, medical bill, or loan payment in the last 12 months,
- have declared bankruptcy or defaulted on a loan more than once,
- have been declined for a credit card in the last 3 months,
then the secured MasterCard from Capital One can fit into your financial and credit situation.
How to get approved for mortgage - loan approval help
Thu Nov 3, 2011 02:11AM
How to get approved for mortgage - this is the question asked by the millions of perspective home buyers today, in particular the first timers, because this is the outstanding time to purchase a home, but a difficult one to get approved for a home loan. There are three major items which will make or break your mortgage approval - credit, income and assets. Based on them, you can get approved for a mortgage loan on the best possible terms or on not so good terms, or receive credit denial. Here, we offer some help - read on ...
Spouse average FICO credit score is higher?
Fri Sep 16, 2011 10:09AM
Having drastically higher average credit score than that of your spouse sometimes presents a problem. Especially if your incomes are quite different, and you and the spouse are applying for a mortgage together to use both incomes in order to qualify. Both will be on the mortgage application. Normally, the spouse with the higher income is a primary borrower, whereas the spouse with the lower income is a co-borrower.
In ideal scenario, primary borrower has higher income and higher or close to that of the co-borrower average FICO credit score. But that is not often the case, so what happens when the co-borrower spouse has higher credit score?
Why average credit score?
Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:09PM
The one thing I could never understand is the people fixation with average credit scores. Why would you care to know what is the average credit score in your state, in any other or in the entire country? It does not help you in any way, shape or form - yet you can find many sites that show you just that. Does living in the state with higher average score make you feel better? And when it comes to your own situation, for the vast majority of lenders, the most important credit score is the one at the middle.
Getting mortgage after bankruptcy - go FHA
Wed Aug 3, 2011 12:08PM
The turmoil in the real estate shows no signs of abating. Lenders are very selective and getting a mortgage loan is often difficult even for the people with good credit. If you have bankruptcy recorded on the credit report, chance of getting mortgage shortly afterwards is close to zero. Yet it is still possible and I can not emphasize enough, that dealing with a mortgage professional who completely understands FHA loan requirements and qualifications is imperative.
Debt settlement and how it affects credit score
Sun Jul 31, 2011 03:07PM
Q: My credit scores were around 780, but that was before I had two 30 day late payments in 5 months on the credit card with Chase which I am currently settling. I had to take a much lower paying position and don't have other options but to settle. The debt settlement deal is quite good, Chase accepted $3,500 for $12,800 balance. Wells Fargo and Capital One will be next. My main concern is how debt settlement affects credit score? Where would the scores be and how long it would take for them to recover?
A: Before we dive into debt settlement, the obvious point is that two 30 day late payments already lowered the credit scores by probably 170 points, so your score is at 610 to 620 range. With these late payments alone, it would take over 2 years for credit scores to recover may be 50 points or so, because you were late twice on the same credit card, as was mentioned in 30 day and 60 day late payments.
Once you reach debt settlement with Chase and it gets recorded on your credit report as such, and affects the credit score further, dropping it by another 25 to 40 points. The reason is obvious - settling a credit card debt means that the lender agrees to accept less than the amount owed on the account, thus indicating a higher level of risk. Since your credit score had already lost quite a few points, the debt settlement impact would be less severe. Remember, the higher the scores, the lower they fall when derogatory information is reported.
Debt settlement with Citibank
Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:07PM
I met an old friend whom I hadn't seen for quite sometime, at the 4th of July party. After having a few beers, he told me the story of a debt settlement with Citibank. Both, he and his wife got into major credit card debt and struggle mightily for a while. Finally they managed to settle for around 28 cents on a dollar. They wrote a nice debt settlement letter and their credit scores were butchered in the process, but the settlement by itself is quite remarkable and inspiring. With so many folks literally drowning in debt, the strategy they used to settle with Citibank is something to learn from. When it comes to unsecured debt, you should try to settle as long as you can afford it and bankruptcy is not an option.
Can I settle with credit card company with no late payments?
Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:07AM
Q: Pulled credit scores through myFICO, and I have 752 and 779. I have 5 relatively small credit card balances, all under $1,000, and one large one for $17,800. I want to settle with credit card company for around $3,000. If they accept this offer, I would be able to quickly pay off the remaining credit cards. Will a credit card company settle if I have never been late with payments? I do not want to stop paying to preserve my scores. Right now, I am only able to pay the minimum monthly payments, and at this rate it will take forever. At the start of 2010, my salary dropped by $16,000 and I have lived from paycheck to paycheck. And things can get even tougher for me. So here are three questions,
- do I have any chance to settle with credit card company with no late payments?
- should I write a letter, go to the branch, call?
- should I tell them I am considering filing for bankruptcy?
A: I know of a few people settling for less 25% of the outstanding balances with different credit card issuers, but most of them were late on payments. Your offer would be just short of 17%, and could be a good starting point. I would say, a settlement offer closer to $3,600 is more realistic.
You don't want to be late to keep the good credit score intact, but as soon as you settle with a credit card company, you are entering into a debt settlement agreement which is recorded on your credit record, so the scores will drop and quite a bit. Still, may not drop as bad as if you miss a few payments before hand.
Call your creditor and try to settle while you still have no late payments, but it is almost unheard of to successfully negotiate credit card debt settlement without being late. If they refuse, you will have to miss a couple payments within next 4 to 5 months to show financial hardship and hopefully, convince them to settle. As far as mentioning Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you sure can do that.
Credit card limit lowered, credit score goes down
Wed Jun 29, 2011 06:06PM
If you have several credit cards and carry balances on more than one, it is important to stay proactive and pay attention to each card limit. Lowered credit limit on a card with balance increases the credit utilization rate and often makes credit score go down. If two or three issuers have your credit card limits lowered, the scores will likely go down quite significantly.
Gold price will rise in 2011
Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:06AM
The chart looks good and so are underlying reasons that will help gold price rise further. The main drive is the world wide growing demand for gold as an alternative to the paper currencies. According to the World Gold Council recently released quarterly Gold Demand Trends report, the strength of the global gold market is incredible. During the first quarter of 2011, gold demand grew 11% to just over 981 tons, which amounted to $43.7 billion US dollars at end-of-the-quarter prices.
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Recent Entries
- Capital One Secured Credit Card to Improve Credit Score - Review
- How to get approved for mortgage - loan approval help
- Spouse average FICO credit score is higher?
- Why average credit score?
- Getting mortgage after bankruptcy - go FHA
- Debt settlement and how it affects credit score
- Debt settlement with Citibank
- Can I settle with credit card company with no late payments?
- Credit card limit lowered, credit score goes down
- Gold price will rise in 2011