Improve Your Credit Score - 4 Effective Ways

Loans (Photo credit: zingbot)Your Credit score is a very important part of every American’s financial life. The Credit score, also known as a FICO score, is what most lenders use as a credit measuring scale. It plays a most significant role when it comes to applying for a loan or refinancing existing mortgage. If you’re planning to make any big purchase like a home or a car you must take care of your credit score and try to improve it as much as possible before applying for the loan.

How to improve your FICO score

Discussed below are some effective tips on how to improve your credit score and become eligible for a loan with favorable loan terms and affordable interest rate.

1. Initiate early – Start repairing and fixing your credit errors way ahead of submitting a loan application. Credit reporting agencies often make mistakes in a consumer’s credit report. You must get copies of your credit report from the 3 leading credit bureaus namely TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, and find out if there are any discrepancies. You may find errors like a missed payment which was actually paid on time or a wrong balance. Dispute the errors with the concerning companies. You may need to furnish supporting documents to get it fixed. Initiate the process as early as possible because it may take a couple of months to get your report fixed. Correcting your credit report would help you improve the FICO score radically.

2. Reduce credit utilization – Credit utilization can be described as the ratio between the credit card balance and credit limit. This is a very significant part of your credit score. Lowering the credit utilization ratio and thus your credit card balance would help you improve your overall credit score remarkably. A 30% ratio would be considered standard. However, don’t close existing credit card accounts hurriedly as it may take some of your credit limit and thus make the ratio ascend. You may ask for a credit limit increase to reduce credit utilization; provided you don’t have a high balance or any red flags. If you have a clean credit history, your creditor is likely to increase your credit limit. But you must use your credit limit judiciously to avoid worsening the situation.

3. Make on time payments – You must pay your bills and make all payments on time to prove your credit worthiness. Even a single missed payment can take 100 points off your credit score. Be careful about your bills, especially medical bills, which may end up in collections. Medical bills often go unpaid and end up in collections. As a result, you may not even know about them until you see it on your report. Therefore, if you don’t get a bill after you've seen a doctor, you must call the concerning authority and ask them about the bill to avoid a missed payment and thus a reduction in credit score.

4. Stay with your current employer, if possible – Job hopping often leaves a bad impression while it comes to your credit profile and credit score. Try to avoid a job change, especially while you’re in anticipation of a mortgage, buy to let mortgages or car loan application. Until your loan is serviced, don’t opt for changing your job and don’t let the lender consider you as a high-risk borrower.

Author’s Bio – Jasmine Jones is the editor chief at Emortgagecalculator.co.uk. She keeps telling her clients to save money and introduce frugality into their life.

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A New Life Full of Debt? How to Cope with Student Loans When Over Fifty

(Photo credit: Occupy* Posters)Student loan payments are an easy way to rack up debt and to feel discouraged about one's financial obligations. New graduates are facing years of hefty premiums to pay off their four years of studying at a local college. 

Even if you over fifty, the prospect of having to pay student loans when you should be enjoying retirement can be daunting. While it is not possible to defer loans, or make them go away, there are some things that you can do to make your life easier. 

The following list will help give you a better idea on how to deal with student loans if you are over fifty.

1) Take Advantage of Grace Periods

Did you just graduate from a program or school? If yes, then take advantage of the grace period you have after graduation to find a job. Even if you already have employment, there are things you can prepare for once the six months are over. 

First, save every extra penny you have. These savings should go back into your loan so that you do not have to worry about scrambling for your first few payments. Also, see if the loan accepts early payments without a penalty. If it does, then pay as much as you can so that you will have a lower obligation once interest starts to accumulate. 

Grace periods are designed to give new students a leverage. This time will allow you to look for work and save money without any faults. Use this period as you see fit in order to make sure you do not fall behind on your first payments. Take full advantage of the grace period because it will not last long.

2) Do Not Stress Out

If you have not found employment as soon as you would have liked, then do not stress out. As you are older than most new graduates, the stress can wear on you particularly hard. It is best that you keep up your health, and do the best you can to pay your bills.

Unfortunately, you do not have the luxury of changing careers every couple of years due to your youth. Thus, it is important to find a career or job that you will love doing as soon as possible after graduation. It may take longer than necessary to find the right position for you. 

In the mean time, take on a part time job or the first offer you get in order to make an income while looking. Thanks to your income you will be able to pay your premiums each month. Once you secure an offer from your dream job, then you will be one step ahead of your financial problems.

Whatever happens, do not worry about paying off your student loans. You will get rid of them sooner than you think as long as you pay on time and in full.

Tyler R. is a freelance writer from Washington D.C and contributor to DegreeJungle's best online college rankings. At the moment, Tyler lives in Europe and speaks 3 languages.

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The Cost Savings of Finding a Realtor Through DoorFly.com

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Today is a tough real estate market for much of the country. With home values on the decline still in many parts of America, homeowners are struggling to make dollar and sense out of selling and buying a home. Sellers have less negotiating room when selling their home and home buyers are more uneasy and have less cash flow as prices for gas and other household expenses are soaring. No matter whether a person is buying or selling a home, the situation is more difficult today in many cases than it was just 4 years ago.

Both sellers and buyers today need to find more ways to cut their real estate transaction expenditures wherever they can in order to make the transaction of buying or selling home a viable undertaking. In some parts of the country, sellers end up taking substantial losses in a sale over the amount they purchased their home for, this is especially true for people who bought their home in the last 10 years. Buyers still struggle even with the lower home prices and low mortgage rates. This is of course due to lower household incomes and higher expenses. In fact, many buyers have struggled to save enough money for a down payment, and are just squeaking by when they make a home purchase.

While this is traditionally more of a buyer’s market, and that means the deals are more plentiful for buyers than sellers, buyers do worry as the expenses of purchasing a home can be costly. In addition because the economy is so difficult, saving money is more difficult as well.

However, the good news is, there are ways that home sellers and home buyers can cut their costs and save money. One of the best ways to do this is through reducing their closing costs of the home they are selling or the home they are purchasing. One of the primary resources to do this is by reducing the fees and commission costs for the sale of the home. DoorFly.com helps buyers and sellers handle the expenses more readily with a rebate or reduced fee structure that is reflected at the closing. With DoorFly.com sellers and buyers can find a qualified realtor in their area and get discounted rates or rebates that can help. Finding a good realtor takes a little extra effort as does saving money. But during these difficult times, the time spent is worth the effort. Saving money for buyers and sellers and finding a qualified realtor that will help make the transaction worth the effort is a significant support for most people in this difficult real estate market.

Buyers and sellers know with DoorFly.com they will be able to shop for a great deal and a great realtor to help them get the very best during their real estate transaction. With DoorFly.com the discount rates and rebates offered can provide hundreds of dollars back to buyers and sellers, which can make quite a difference in the bottom line numbers and make the whole process an easier financial undertaking.

Author’s Bio: Maria Young has the talent of writing excellent contents which made her so famous among her readers. If you want to increase your knowledge about the agents of home buyers and sellers then please visit Doorfly.com

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Find the Best Value for the Money When Shopping for a Car

Ford Fiesta (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The value of a new car can fall quite quickly, which is why it's important to look for designs that will age well and retain their initial value. Although flashy, sleek cars are fun to purchase and drive, those that are most likely to mature and stay in high demand over the years are better value. The following are a few features to look for in a new car when you want to get the most out of your investment. 

Resale Value

One thing to think about is how easy it will be to resell your vehicle. For example, the Ford Fiesta is consistently ranked the most popular car amongst British consumers. When you look at a Ford Fiesta review, you'll usually see mention of this fact, along with the fact that it is moderately priced to begin with. Minis are another enduringly popular car, and they hold 54% of their value after three years. Keep this in mind when you are researching your options, because cars that are popular with consumers in your area will be easier to sell. 

Fuel Economy

Fuel efficiency is a factor that is consistently improving all the time. Choosing a car that offers 30 mpg or better is a good way to save money overall, because you will sink less into the cost of fuel over time. Although hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius offer excellent mileage, there is a wide range of vehicles that meet this need, of all shapes and sizes. The Smart car offers excellent fuel efficiency, as does the Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

By looking at the cost of running a car as well as what its resale value will look like over time, you can choose the best value for your money.

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College Student Car Insurance Tips

(Photo credit: West Midlands Police)

Car insurance for the family has always been a considerable expense so finding the cheapest car insurance possible is a family priority. We have have 3 college students getting close to finishing their degrees. They all use their cars to travel to and from school. Thankfully all of them attend colleges within the state. If you have children attending college out of state there are certain things to keep in mind.

Insurance laws are different from one state to another. If your child is going out of state and taking a car with them you’ll need to get coverage for that vehicle in the state they are living. The rates may be drastically more or less depending on the type of vehicle and the size of the city they will be living. You can’t do much about your child’s age and gender, the two other important rating factors. It’s important to compare rates to make sure you’re able to find affordable car insurance.

Depending if the car is registered in your name or your child's name can make a difference. Insurance companies often have better rates if there is more than one responsible driver. Since you’ll also need to be listed on the policy it can become more affordable car insurance. This will list you as an additional, responsible driver with better classifications than teen drivers. However, this adds additional liability on you. If your child is at-fault for a serious accident so you’ll want to make sure your liability limits are adequate.

If the car is titled in your child’s name only then the auto insurance policy will need to be in their name. Young drivers car insurance, when the young driver is the only person on the auto insurance policy, will have higher rates. If this is your situation, I would recommend an older car that won’t need to have comprehensive or collision insurance coverage. These coverage options cover the vehicle for any damage. If he backs into a light pole then your son can drive a dinged car. The insurance policy won’t pay for those repairs. But, if he hits someone else you want to make sure there’s enough liability coverage to protect him from lawsuits.

Thanks to autoinsurancequotes.net for this guest post.

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How to Minimize Binary Trading Risk Using Hedging

Binary Options trading is currently the latest trend in the trading industry. It is a very easy way of making quick bucks and is full of risks and surprises. Binary trading follows an all or nothing approach towards trading and this is the main reason why you need to hedge your investments.

Hedging is nothing but protecting your earnings by reducing the risk to as low a level as possible. 

Hedging is applied not only to binary options like call and put but also to future contracts and short selling. Hedging ensures that the profit you have right now is locked and has no chances of evaporating.

You might be aware that binary options trading is primarily short term in nature and usually lasts from an hour to a day, at the most. 



The market fluctuations are small and intermittent and you might gain profits even before your hour expires. You have the option of either holding the share or you can sell it. 

You would hold the shares if you think that the prices might further rise and you would sell it if you think that this is the highest your share will reach.

As far as hedging the profits is concerned, you have the following two options -

1. Full Hedging – Full Hedging means that you hedge your entire holding. This implies that you will sell all your shares by the end of the hour and collect all the profits. This would bring your overall risk element down as your full position is hedged against any adverse time the market might fall into. Most expert traders and binary option brokers go for this if they are willing to be on the safer side.

2. Partial Hedging – Partial Hedging is a much more risky way of hedging but is safer when you compare it to the risk you would have had you not taken any hedging at all. In this, you sell part of your holdings and hold the rest. If the market is going in the general direction of your expectations, then this would be a prudent move as you get some profits right now and might earn more if your estimates are correct.

Once you get familiarized with the concept of hedging, you would be able to maximize your profits with minimum risks. It would ensure that you have the safest holdings and would also reduce the element of uncertainty to a large extent.