Credit Questions

Consumer credit questions answered about specific areas and general areas. Questions about credit, mortgage loans, and other types of consumer related questions answered.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Consumer Credit Questions

Anyone can ask questions by commenting to this post (or one of the others) or you can visit the site forum or email me with questions. I will be adding more catatories of posts as I get more questions so they can be broken down into sections for easier viewing.

I have been answering credit related questions from this site for over 5 years and am just getting around to setting up this blog to essentially keep a record of those questions/answers for others to see.


posted by Ddemko @ 4:56 PM  

16 Comments:

  • At 10:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I'M 19 YRS OLD AND LOOKING INTO BUYING A CAR, I HAVE BAD CREDIT BECAUSE OF SOME OVERDRAFT FEES,I DIDNT PAY FOR 6MO. AND I DONT HAVE A CO-SIGNER, I WAS TOLD I CANT EVEN OPEN A BANK ACCOUNT FOR 7 YRS. PLEASE HELP!!! I'M A FIRST TIME BUYER AND DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THESE THINGS!! IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN STILL BUY A CAR OR SHOULD I LOSE FAITH???

     

  • At 11:01 PM, Blogger Ddemko said…

    Hello,

    Don't know who could have advised you that you could not open a bank account for 7 years, but that is completly erroneous. As far as any bank is concerned, they simply check to see if you owe any banks any money, which they are required to do, they don't check your credit just to open an account. What you need to do is obtain a copy of your credit report and see what exactly you are dealing with before trying to purchase a car. You may be surprised or you may find that you have some negative items on your credit, either way, don't assume that these people actually reported the accounts to the credit bureaus.

    As far as a car is concerned; check your credit first, so you know what you are dealing with. The fact is that if you don't have any other credit on your credit report then it will be difficult to purchase a new car - unless it is very inexpensive and/or you have some cash to put down. They will help first time buyers, but most like to see some credit history for credit card or some other type of credit account.

    If you don't have any credit to speak of, then you will more than likely need to go to a small size car dealer that offers in house financing. Just make sure you buy a car within reason and don't go overboard. You are simply buying with the intent to keep the car for a year or so and then trade it in.

    The keys are to make certain you only get what you need, have the car checked out by a mechanic before buying it, and get a reasonable price. Use caution and use on-line resources such as Kelly blue book to determine the value of the car to ensure you are not overpaying for the car. Most importantly, make sure they have some type of return/repair policy or warranty available unless you are buying a car over 7 years old, then just make sure you have it checked out before buying it.

    By all means, get your credit report and go ahead and try to purchase a car (perhaps used) at a regular car dealership. They may be able to help you and you have nothing to lose. If you have someone that has bought a car before that can go with you, then I suggest that you do that just to have someone there for you.

    Hope that helps.
    D.Demko

     

  • At 1:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hello ddemko...Just a quick question.A few years ago, I was having some financial problems, and it ultimately affected my credit report. I had one credit card charge off, and currently I have 3 companies addressing negative remarks in the collection's section of my credit report. One collection is annotated as account paid, but the other two are annotated as unpaid,and one of them is still reporting on the account as it was updated on 02/05. The other unpaid account has not been updated since 04/03. My question is this...I am aware of the "seven year" rule that is the time frame where you will still see these negative marks reflecting on a credit report, but in my situation will the time frame be more becuase this one collector is still reporting on the collection, and it is still listed as unpaid? If an account is unpaid will it forever remain on my credit report, because if so, I guess I better just go ahead and pay it off. Anyways, any response is appreciated, and thanks for reading my post...

     

  • At 8:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I sign for someone to get a car and sheis not paying so good. It is always a month behind. Is there anyway to get out of being a co signer . This is killing my credit history.

     

  • At 5:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I am filing bankruptcy; I would like to find out how would it affect my wife as an authorized user on credit cards?

     

  • At 7:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have about $11,000 of total debt including an SUV payment, several small bank loans and a few loans that I am paying off through credit management. I've been struggling to get out of debt and have not taken on any new debt since I began this long struggle almost $15,000 ago, when I was nearly $30,000 in debt. I have several late payments and recently have had a few medical bills that have been sent to collections, so these things combined with my debt are giving me Poor - Fair credit rating. I do not have any credit cards now except for a bank/debit card, but I also do not own any real estate (which I understand can often help your credit?). I have about $25,000 in a 401(k) plan and am considering taking out a loan (not a withdrawal) to pay off the final, remaining $10,000 that I owe which would decrease my monthly payments from $1,500 to $300 over the next three years. My problem is that when I ran this "payoff and close" senario through my "What If Simulator" on my credit monitoring website, it actually DECREASED my credit score by 10 points. I don't understand why it wouldn't improve my credit score to have $0 balances and closed accounts? Can you explain? (I'm sorry this is so long!)

     

  • At 8:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have a high balance credit card and the company raised my interest rate to 29.49% recently. A friend of mine said that I can close this account so they can't charge me anymore interest and I can just start paying on the pricipal. I have no idea if this is an option and if it is, will it go on my credit report as a negative mark? Please help me!!

     

  • At 8:06 AM, Blogger Dave said…

    HI. Similar to the last comment, I have a high balance on a credit card, and they want to raise my interest rate. They have given me the option of closing the account and keeping the current rate as I pay off the balance. My question is the same also: will closing this account and continuing to pay down the balance adversley affect my rating? Or should I just accept the new rate and keep the account open as I pay it down? Thanks!

     

  • At 5:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    If i transfer a credit card balance to another card, does this affect my credit in any way?

     

  • At 10:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I don't know which way to turn. Due to the loss of a good paying job, I moved to a small town and my income is now only 1/4 of what I was earning. I let my car go back because they would not refinance it and I could not make the payments. I owe $5,000 on the difference between the auction price and the loan. If they sue me, can they put a judgment on my mother's homestead which is in her name, my name and my sister's name? Also, my name is on my mother's bank accounts because she is elderly. It is not my money. Can they garnish my mother's accounts? Help! I need an answer soon. I live in Texas.

     

  • At 11:57 AM, Blogger anonymous said…

    Just recently I checked my credit report and found out that an old child care company took me to collections for about $100. I had no clue that I suposidly owed them money, so i asked them what it was from and they said It was from a missed payment in Jan. so I dug up my recipts, found January's and showed them. now they changed their story to it being from a missed payment in April/03! well i did pay for that month and I showe them my statement, but they wont budge! they refuse to take it off my credit so should I take them to court?? or how can I fight this?!
    Please help! thanks a bunch

     

  • At 11:57 AM, Blogger anonymous said…

    Just recently I checked my credit report and found out that an old child care company took me to collections for about $100. I had no clue that I suposidly owed them money, so i asked them what it was from and they said It was from a missed payment in Jan. so I dug up my recipts, found January's and showed them. now they changed their story to it being from a missed payment in April/03! well i did pay for that month and I showe them my statement, but they wont budge! they refuse to take it off my credit so should I take them to court?? or how can I fight this?!
    Please help! thanks a bunch

     

  • At 12:03 PM, Blogger anonymous said…

    How can you find out EXACTLY how long each item will stay on your credit? For example if you have something in collections what is the time span it stays on? Does it start when you pay it all off, or when you make your first payment?
    Does it differ from the dollar value ie. $3000 - $100? will the $100 dollar one come off sooner?
    And last of all, is there anyway you can shorten then length of time by say writing the company a goodwill letter?
    Thank you for your time!

     

  • At 6:39 AM, Anonymous Cynthia said…

    I've established good credit for many years by paying off my credit card balances in full every month. However, I've always paid cash for big items like furniture and cars. I was told that I could improve my credit rating by taking out an auto loan and paying it on time. I was just approved for a $13,000 loan for 36 months. My question is, if I pay off this loan early (I would like to pay it off in 12 months), will this be better, worse, or make no difference for my overall credit rating when compared to paying off the loan over the full 36 months. Thank you.

     

  • At 6:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hello, I was just wondering if late Utility Bills (water, electric, gas, cable, etc.) can effect your credit score/report?

     

  • At 4:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I had an credit card account opened in 1999 in charged off in 2003. I found out that they sold it to another company that is also reporting the debt as bad AND continues to add on interest. I would like to know one can one have the same debt reported twice on the same credit report and two can this second company add on interest even though they say they are a collection agency.

     

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