copperhead

EDIT - I'm not thrilled with how this turned out. Eventually I want to rewrite this, but for now I'm de-stickying it. Disclaimer - I am not a financial expert, nor do I play one on tv. I'm just someone who has made a couple mistakes and learned from them, and have done tons of research along the way. There have been plenty of people on here asking for how to improve their credit so I figured I would write this up. If anyone wants to add something or correct something reply below, but due to the amount of rumors, hearsay and voodoo attached to how credit works please back it up with links. Everything here is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing, but things change all the time. The way the 3 major credit groups (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) rate credit isn't totally public knowledge but they have shared a lot of it. The point of this write up is for the person who wants to go from having a low to average credit score to being able to buy a house. If you are looking for a business loan I can't help you, please talk to a financial adviser. If you are looking for a car loan talk to a loan officer at a credit union or whatever bank you have a strong history with, as car loans have far lower requirements than a house. Although, I personally would recommend the Dave Ramsey approach to car purchasing; I plan on never having a car loan again. I've been driving a $500 beater for the last ~9 months and I am going to push it as far as I can until I can save up for something better. Assuming you don't have too much debt to get paid off, I would expect to take about two years to allow your score to heal, along with saving up some money for a down payment. This is also due to it taking two years for credit inquiries (applications) to roll off. Large amounts of debt will simply make it take a bit longer, but of course every situation is different. Keep in mind that buying a house is one of, if not the biggest financial decision you can make in your life. You don't want to rush into anything you aren't sure of or won't be happy with down the road. Don't jump at something just because it appears to be a great deal; often times what looks like a great deal at first turns into a disaster later. Understanding Credit Credit is a measure of trust between you, the borrower, and the bank that you borrow from. First off, here is the breakdown of the mystical credit score: Between 700 and 850 – Very good or excellent credit score. Between 680 and 699 – Good credit score. Between 620 and 679 – Average or OK score. Between 580 and 619 – Low credit score. Between 500 and 579 – Poor credit score. Between 300 and 499 – Bad credit score. The goal is to get you above 700, once past there you will get approved for just about anything so long as the income to debt ratio works out, and sometimes even if it doesn't. There are many places to pull your credit report from, most of which will try to sucker you into signing up for a credit monitoring service that you have to pay for monthly. Pass on that. The best way to get your full credit history and credit score is to pull it directly from the Big 3, Equifax Experian and TransUnion. Last I checked they charge about $9-$15 each and its totally worth it. There is also a free government site that will pull your history once a year but does not give you the credit score so to me its not all that helpful. The credit report should list all open lines of credit, loans, and any negatives you may have. Checking this once or twice a year is also a good way to watch for identity theft. Also, you can get a FAKO score (nickname for an imitation FICO score) for free from http://www.creditsesame.com/ and https://www.creditkarma.com/[/url I believe Credit Sesame pulls your info from Transunion and Credit Karma from Equifax. I use them both and they are pretty slick. It looks like their way to make money is through referrals for signing you up for credit cards and mortgages. It's a legit site though, and offers some very valuable information. This, added with the free credit history pull from the government site should give you a complete picture of where you are at. Credit Sesame offers a credit monitoring service that is free and worth using. Neither service will give you your real credit score but its not far off, and it can show you how you are trending. There are many things the Big 3 look at, some examples are debt to income ratio, balance to credit limit ratio, average length of history of open accounts, accounts opened within the last two years, number of inquiries in the last two years, charge offs, late payments, bankruptcy, marriage, divorce, employment, and other things. Credit scores can change daily, but changes usually only post once a month. Here's an image I found that show's roughly what percentages make up your credit score. http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/copperhead035/Business-Credit-Card-Credit-Scores_zpse12c5167.jpg Pic from myfico.com Cleaning up the past The first thing you need to do is wipe away the mistakes you have made. If you have any outstanding debt come up with a plan to make it go away. Pay off or sell cars, pay off all credit cards, any unsecured loans, student loans which never seem to go away, and whatever else you may owe on. If you are looking to buy a home these things WILL bite you in the ass if left unchecked, its simply easier to deal with them before you are locked in for the next 20-30 years. If you can get things paid off within a couple months then go for it but if you are stuck with high interest credit cards or some other high interest payment look into a 0% credit card. I have a Citi Diamond Preferred card and like it, as they occasionally send me checks I can write to myself or anyone else that offer 0% for a year or .99% for a year and a half, and work just like I swiped my card. Generally 0% cards will do balance transfers for 3% which is way better than paying 17% (or more!) APR for a year. Just read the fine print before applying for a card to see what happens after the introductory time runs up. Now, you want to get everything paid off as soon as you can, because you shouldn't try to move on until that happens. Paying everything off will help your debt to income ratio and balance to credit limit ratio so just doing this will help your score. Supposedly leaving a running balance can help your score but I'm of the opinion that paying interest every month hurts you more than the bump might help you, so just pay it all off. Never hand out money for nothing, especially for interest and fees, as that same money can be going into a money market account to make you money, but more on that later. Do not cancel credit cards unless they have high fees or have a limit under $1,000, as low limits hurt your ratios. Having more unutilized lines of credit helps. Never cancel the card you have had the longest. Use old credit cards once a year and pay them off as soon as you get the bill so they don't get canceled from lack of activity. Once you are on the right track for paying off debt, its time to clean up negatives on your credit history. If you have a bankruptcy its two years before anyone will offer you any credit and seven years before it drops off. There is no way around this, so sell everything you can before you make it to this point to try and avoid it. If you have already gone through bankruptcy, then its a waiting game but you may as well do what you can to build back up while waiting. Other negatives can be charge offs which is where you make a deal to pay a lower amount of money to make a debt go away, and defaults which is where you simply stop paying on something. If these show up there should be a phone number listed for whoever put it there - call and simply ask for them to remove it from your credit report. Some might do it, but expect for them to want something in return so be prepared to work with them. If you are serious about fixing your credit then make a deal with them and follow through. The Big 3 also have helpful information on their websites. Building for the future Now that the ugliness is looking better its time to move on to the building phase. Credit inquiries don't show up on your report until the next day so plan for Day 1 - the day that everything turns around. The goal is to apply for a mortgage two years later. On this day you will apply for a couple credit cards, if you NEED a car loan you will also do it this day. This way you maximize what credit you have without hurting the chances of the other loans (since the inquiries won't show up right away). Also, if you are unmarried and planning on marriage either hurry up and go through the legalities at the courthouse and make sure your spouse mirrors everything you are doing, or else hold off until you have the house. Once you are married your credit also becomes married, for better or for worse. The easiest way to build credit fast is by using credit cards and paying them off every month. This way you consistently get a paid notice from the card issuer to the Big 3. Having a card and not using it means no notice gets passed on which doesn't help you. If you are going to be using a card to buy things why not get paid back for doing it? Instead of one card I suggest two or three - one that builds bank reward points such as the Chase Freedom card, one that builds hotel points, and one that offers cash back. This way you are getting 3 paid notices every month instead of one. I would suggest avoiding anything that charges a yearly fee, which many of these cards do so read the fine print. These offers are changing constantly, so be sure to see what the big card companies are offering, such as Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Discover and American Express (Amex). Choose what works best for you, and avoid applying for cards from the same issuer at the same time. You don't want to apply for cards less than 90 days apart so if you got a 0% card earlier to help out with paying things down wait 91 days then apply for some more. You could also plan ahead and do two and two. Once you have them move your spending to the cards, maybe have one for gas, one for groceries and one for utilities, just be sure you can pay them off every month before you start. For example, I just was approved for a Citi Hilton card and an Amex Hilton card within seconds of each other. Just read the fine print - a lot of these offers require you to spend a certain amount of money within a couple months so be sure you can pull that off without getting hurt. I'm not saying these cards are the best for you, just showing examples of whats out there. Keep in mind that American Express isn't accepted everywhere. I am a huge fan of their services, but I have to carry around something with a Visa logo for those times I can't use my Amex, like when I go to my vet. If you aren't instantly approved for your new card, you should immediately call the Reconsideration line. As a last resort if nobody will approve you, Bank of America has a secured credit card to help you rebuild credit. You give them a couple hundred dollars up front as collateral. Savings are the key Now that I've gone over how to build credit, the last part of the equation to buying a house is savings. I am a firm believer that nobody should buy a house without a 20% down payment, and that the banks moving away from that to 0% down loans is a large part of the housing market collapse. Putting this down protects you in the event that you need to bail on the house either because you need to relocate or can no longer afford it for some other reason. Short sales are done when an owner wants to sell and owes more than they can sell for, and banks do not like dealing with them. It also makes you less likely to fall into foreclosure because of lower payments. I understand that pulling off 20% on a two year credit rebuilding plan probably won't happen, but put away every cent you can AFTER paying off debt. Interest rates on debt are higher than interest rates on savings, so paying off debt before building savings makes more financial sense. It really is worth it to hold off on buying if it means putting away enough for a good size down payment. Open a savings account that automatically withdraws from your checking every month. If you are a government/military employee I recommend checking out the Pentagon Financial credit union. I also suggest opening a money market account, so either speak with a financial consultant or open an account with a broker like Scottrade or Sharebuilder. This keeps your money liquid in case you need it for an emergency unlike a CD and it gives you a better interest rate than a traditional savings account, just keep in mind that you will have to pay fees to purchase shares so act accordingly. Hopefully this can help people secure their financial future. Its a shame that high schools don't teach about responsible credit. Just because interest rates are low right now, it doesn't mean that is the right time to buy for you. Make sure you have a strong financial foundation before jumping into the biggest liability of your life.

we are open to suggestions

You may get a small bump for carrying some sort of balance but putting money in the bank instead of paying it to the bank in interest isn't worth the trade off. Pay that shit off every month, don't leave money on the table.

Credit isn't cut and dry. There are tons of factors involved, some are reported when you check your credit and some the credit reporting agencies probably aren't telling us. I've done tons of research on this and here's what I've got to say on it (disclosure - I just today applied for 3 cards at the same time and was instantly approved. One came back with my credit report saying I've got a 744 score even with a list of 3 or 4 negatives). First things first - if you have chargeoffs or defaults or any serious negatives on your report, they need to go away. Pull your credit report with Experian, Equifax and Transunion, I think they charge around $7 each to do it. Don't screw around with freecreditreport.com or anything like that, you want the full picture and you don't want to sign up for credit monitoring through anyone. See what you have hurting you so you can fix it. Call up whoever has the negatives and see what you have to do to clear it, then do it. PM Mensan for suggestions on how to get that stuff cleared off, he should have some tips, as he had a bunch of fraud hurting him. Once that is cleared up you need to build history. When you use credit of any kind, the bank you are making payments to will report to the credit agencies that you paid on time, paid late or missed payment. That's it. If you aren't using your credit (IE $0 balance) then there is nothing to report. They don't give a fuck if you carry a balance month to month, they just make that simple report. This means that yes, you want to charge something every month, but for the scope of building credit it doesn't matter if you buy a candy bar every month then pay back the 55 cents once you get your statement, because that is simply reported as an on time payment. Other factors are: Length of credit history. Figure out what credit card and what bank accounts you have had the longest and don't ever let them close. Banks are closing shit for lack of activity so make sure whatever you've had the longest gets used from time to time. Debt to income ratio. Don't borrow more than you can deal with. Ratio of balance to credit limit. Stay under 50% of your max limit on any card. You want to have as high of a credit limit as possible on cards so you don't have this issue - if you have $500 limit cards or something else pretty low they are hurting you more than they are helping, so ditch them unless they are your oldest account. Applying for a lot of things in a row, regardless of whether they are approved or denied. These inquiries stay on your credit report for two years. This means that you may have to wait two years for enough things to drop off to be able to get a house, depending on how bad they are hurting you. Cliffs - clean up your report, get a points earning credit card and pay it off every month, and play the waiting game. If you want suggestions for what kind of points card to get PM me with what you would like to work towards, cash back, airline miles or hotel points and I'll give you some suggestions.

the short Tahoe like you are looking for doesn't have a third row either. Its VERY close in size to my Jeep. The Tahoe XL is a rebadged Suburban, that's how you get the third row.

Dude, make me an offer on the Jeep, its still under 100k and an 06

I'm wondering if Verizon isn't blocking it on their end. Do a nandroid backup and load the pre ota backup and check

Washed my car and the gf's car. I learned that my car's paint isn't actually faded like I had thought - it was just that dirty

I can't say for sure but the one Timkin bearing I got from there was making noise the moment I left the driveway. From what the old farts at work tell me Timkin used to be made here in Columbus but a couple years ago got shipped to China. Although to be fair, I went through several bearings before I got a torque wrench and checked to make sure I was torquing them correctly.

Brb adding lock code to my phone I know my rights, you gon need a warrant for that

http://ksupport.kiausa.com/ConsumerAffairs/PortalJSP/Portal.jsp?t=8%3A53%3A2+15%2F2012+ Consumer Assistance Center 800 - 333 - 4KIA (4542) Seriously - call now before she goes back and give them every detail of what happened. Go over every detail and ask what they think.

call corporate and ask them if they have ever heard of a weak ecm, see what they think of that diagnosis. Then ask why your mom was charged to have her weak ecm replaced, only to have the initial problem come right back.

My OG Evo has great battery life so long as I have decent signal. It has seizures if the signal sucks, or I'm trying to use WiMAX, otherwise if I use it minimally at work I can leave my 8 hour shift with 85%+ battery left. Of course, I'm rooted running Cyanogenmod 7 but I don't have it modified in any way, not running setcpu or anything like that. When I get the Evo LTE I only want to root it for ad blocking, otherwise I'm hoping to leave it stock. From what I've heard Google really got on the manufacturer's about toning down their overlays (like Sense) for ICS because of how bad they screw up the experience.

contractors also have to be able to put out product to their spec and produce in enough volume. Bushmaster can crank out the volume but is just at spec. LMT primarily does mil contract and does it very well. Colt is king. RRA and DPMS don't have that great of a rep. The other top tier companies can't keep up with civilian demand, let alone try to contract.

this plus BCM and Daniel Defense

I have a Doublestar. They are alright, but definitely not top tier. Sounds like you got it for a good price.

What carrier? Right now the HTC One line is the one to beat. I'm hoping to preorder the Sprint version soon, the Evo LTE.

Ar15.com m4carbine.net

When laws are unclear the best course of action is to write whoever is in charge of that area, I don't know if it's a city planner or what. You want to get a clarification IN WRITING before you build something so that they can't come back a year later and say its wrong and make you tear it down.

The shots are not an overnight fix but by the time fall allergy season rolls around you will barely notice if you start with it now.

start with the structure you want. Everything inside can be redone easy enough, but building new structure means potentially having part of your house open to the elements for a while, and it requires the headache of building permits and dealing with the city. Its not worth it when there are so many other houses out there that could start off with the layout you want at the price you want. there may have to be tradeoffs - if the area you want doesn't have the layout you want, then it may be worth it to look elsewhere or do without, but I personally wouldn't want to build onto an existing house, it just doesn't seem like time or money well spent unless I have some sort of deep attachment to the place. As a buyer, hold out for the place that is right, regardless of what your goals are. I regret the house I bought and can't wait to sell it and move on.

Still one in gahanna at 62 and morse

the gf is trying to get into nursing school...

Just be sure to use distilled water so you don't get killed by brain eating bacteria

How in the fuck do you have a weak ECM?