Ulster County Real Estate: Improving Your Credit Score

Ulster County Real Estate: Improving Your Credit Score

The best advice I ever received concerning credit is that, “Credit is a great thing as long as you don’t need it.” Now for the average mortal, credit, or some form of credit, is a necessary evil in today’s financial environment. Very few of us can out of pocket afford to purchase a home, automobiles, or nearly all large purchases without utilizing credit. Your financial history, also called a credit score, is reviewed by a lender to determine whether or not to approve a loan. For those individuals who have neglected the care and feeding of their credit score, or have inadvertently forgotten the basic rule of living within your means, all is not lost.

There are a few basic steps that anyone can undertake to improve your credit;

1. First and foremost, get copies of your credit report, and check the reports to ensure that the information contained on the pages is correct. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com, the only authorized online source for a free credit report. The Federal Trade Commission’s, Building a Better Credit Report has information on correcting errors, tips on dealing with debt and avoiding scams and more.
2. Pay your bills on time-pretty self explanatory
3. If you have past due bills, get current!
4. Contact your creditors as soon as you have a problem paying on time. The will as a general rule, work with you and devise a payment arrangement.
5. If you get into serious financial difficulty, avoid the quick fix scam artist, and seek out a legitimate, non profit credit counselor.
6. Keep your balances low.
7. Pay off debt, don’t move it around.
8. Don’t open new accounts; this will alter your debt-to-credit ratio.       
9. Don’t close unused accounts, because zero balances might help your score.

The ability to repair and increase your credit score is well within the ability of each and every individual who wants to be responsible and become proactive and not reactive. What are you waiting for, get going!

In addition, our handy Buyers and Sellers Guides will be helpful in preparing you for the ins and outs of your Ulster County Real Estate transaction.

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