Tag Archive | "bad debt"

US Cities: Credit Score Hall of Shame

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


A credit score is a number showing the creditworthiness of a borrower. It represents his or her ability to pay his or her debts. It is a three digit number to provide information in your credit report. It predicts the risk of bad debt on loan you borrowed.

Use of Credit Scores

Use of Credit Scores

Lenders, like banks and credit card companies work with the credit scores of a customer. It is used to evaluate the potential risk caused by lending money to consumers. Its use facilitates the availability of cheaper credit for consumers. To get loan for home rental or to get utilities without a deposit one must keep a good score. Your credit score matters a lot for the denial or approval of loan and also a low or high interest rate. If the credit score is low then interest will be more and vice versa.

FICO credit score

There exist a number of credit-scoring models, but the most useful is the FICO credit score. Around 90 % of the financial institutions are using FICO scores in the U.S while making decision-making process. From the range of 300 to 850 according to FICO scores, the higher the number, the lower will be the risk.

Vantage Score

In 2006, to compete FICO, the three leading credit-reporting agencies joined together to introduced Vantage Score. The Vantage range from 501–990 showing the higher the with the lower risk. Both of Vantage Score and the FICO score are helpful to conclude how much credit to extend to people and can be used in a variety of applications.

Elements Determining Credit Score.

There are few things which are used to determine the credit score of a consumer. These are

  • Payment history: it includes information about the account payment and public records. 35 percent of the Payment history constitutes credit score. Read the full story

Pros and Cons Of Guaranteed Approval Credit Cards

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


The individuals with an adverse credit history can owe cash without credit evaluation with the help of guaranteed approval credit cards. The leading organizer of Master Card in the market, Citigroup has unearthed fact that the proportion of their bad debts have enhanced to 12.14 in August 2009, as against the figure of 10.03% in July 2009

Credit Card in Only Option for Bad Credit

The individuals who have been unable to make payment for their current as well the past debts will most probably discover that with adverse credit, credit card is their only choice.

credit cards

There are two types of guaranteed cards exist in the market, i.e. prepaid and secured credit cards. You may also find couple of non-secured cards with high interest rate and other fees, as compared to the credit limit accessible. The credit card is even accessible to people with adverse credit

Benefits of Guaranteed Approval Credit Cards

o   Sometimes, it becomes quite intricate to extend the cost of borrowing; especially when your monetary position is not very good. Large number of customers stacks money on their prepaid credit card for to make payment for crisis situations.

Read the full story

8 Ways to manage your debt

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Debt’s bad and lasting effects destroy your finances badly and create havoc in them. Not only this, it can also limit your preferences in many other areas of life. Being trapped up in a debt’s web is highly unfortunate. Therefore, to get a rid from it you must know some of the tips. Here are some for your help, if you follow them properly, you can manage out your debts smartly.

Enhances work promotion

To qualify for the credit cards and top interest rate, good credit always help you a lot. It can also helpful in job promotion. Credit scores may also have an impact on the rates of insurance and also affect the ability to rent an apartment.

Financial planning

30% of your credit scores depend on your amount and type of the debt. If you pay a high ratio of available vs. debt owed; your score will apparently get higher.

Wisely using your homes to secure unsecured debt

You must think for several times before spending the equity in your home. There are lots of rapid changes taking place in the housing market and the people who had tapped equity in their homes are finding it to be shrunk or decreased to an immense rate. You must carefully consider the possible risks before using your home to secure unsecured debt.

Debt’s related consequences

Bad debt waiting to happen is co-signing a loan for anyone. You must keep in mind and think properly that can you easily pay this much amount or not.

Read the full story

Debt Collection Techniques

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,


You might find it very annoying for your phone to ring after every little while while you are trying to hide from the company you owe money to. Besides this, you could also be annoyed by the continuous door bell when the postman comes and delivers letters to you from the company whom you have to pay. All over the world, people try to escape such things when they owe money on their credit cards and then try to figure out how the creditor could reach them.

There are various way which a debt collector could adopt which would also be legal. However, there are certain limitations which the collector needs to follow as you as their customer also have some rights. Therefore, here we have some techniques explained through which the collector could get in touch with you.

Contacting through the phone

This might be the most common and the most quickest way of contacting the customers. This is a legal way of contacting customers which the debt collectors might adopt in order to collect the credit card debt. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the debt collector is only allowed to call from 8am till 9pm. During the phone call, the person representing the company is not allowed to harass you through offensive language, racial or ethnic slurs or by raising fingers at your character. Furthermore, they cannot call you again and again repeatedly which would also come under harassment.

Read the full story

How to Select a Good Debt Consolidation Firm?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Settling with huge debts is a big and a difficult task. Getting rid of debts in a proper way is possible with a debt consolidation firm, but selecting one good debt consolidation firm for yourself is a bigger task. Selection of good debt consolidation firm is necessary, because a debt consolidation firm is one that supports you to get rid of your bad credit and huge debts. A good company does this merely, but a bad one or an unknown one, makes your financial condition even worse.Debt Consolidation Firm

Tips for Selecting A Good Debt Consolidation Firm:

Here a few tips to make your decision easier for selecting a good consolidation firm for yourself.  All you need in a good debt consolidation firm is the match of the figure of the debts you need to pay and the amount of the payment you will to pay at the end of month. Following are the tips that are briefly described:

1) Before selecting a good debt consolidation firm you need to make a lot of searches on debt consolidation firms and know which company’s offers match your criteria the most. Officially the good debt consolidation firms are recognized by the major agencies like AICCCA (Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies) and NFCC (National Foundation for Credit Counseling Agencies). This will make your search focused and you will categorize your search.

Read the full story

How To Differentiate Between Interest Determining Methods?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


If you find yourself deep in thought before going to get a car loan approval, this is not an uncommon situation at all. After all, a car loan is all about getting best interest rates and manageable payment plans. But at the eleventh hour you might just be concerned about one thing: Interest Rate.

Interest Rate

Yes, indeed, it is true. People getting car loan are usually most concerned about the interest rates they may get. ‘Interest’, essentially, is the extra amount of money you will be paying to your lender at the end of the day, in addition to the amount of loan. So what determines this amount of money?

Other than the terms provided by your lender, interest that you pay primarily depends upon the way your interest is calculated. There are three common ways lenders go about this: they may calculate the interest amount by using either the method of Simple Interest, Compound Interest or Rule of 78.

An insight into the mechanisms of the calculations under these three methods would give you some advantage when you are selecting a particular loan out of the many choices that you have.

Interest Calculated by ‘Simple Interest’ Method:

Just as the name suggest, this method is the simplest among all. It is not only simple as with the respect of its calculation but also with the respect of the amount of interest it determines.

Read the full story

Manage Your Debt Correctly

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Debt can be a Good Debt as well as a Bad Debt, the way you manage your debt is what it actually matters. Definitely, Debt is “Money Borrowed”, and usually you borrow money to fulfill some of your needs. You get loan for  home, business, car or any other need, but in every case, all you have to do is to manage your debt correctly.

Debt Management

Some how we can say, Debt may not be worst it is you who make it worst. At times, a debt is a matter of survival for you. Like with debt amount, you can accomplish your goal, whatever it may be. so how come you can say Debt is Bad? No! Debt is never bad, provided you take it only when you really need it, and once you take it, you manage it at your best. It is actually the management of everything, that makes it bad or good. If you manage your debt carefully and correctly, Debt is indeed good for you. But if you are unable to manage your debt, the way you should have to, then indeed, Debt becomes worse for you, can even put you under more debt.

Read the full story

9 Tips for Using Business Credit Cards

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Nowadays credit cards are mostly preferred  by the small business owners that are in search for short-term loans.

business-credit-card-5

Unluckily, during these days the tightening credit environment has also led to tighter terms for business credit cards, and the standards for approval for new credit cards have become more tough.

If you’re a small business owner, then what are those ways by which you can take advantage of the benefits of credit cards and at the same time avoid their pitfalls?

Tips for using Business Credit Cards

Below I have given nine tips to use business credit cards in a tight economy.

Read the full story

What is Bad Debt?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


A wide variety of definitions can be covered by bad debt. The most common meaning of bad debt is that money owed which is unlikely to be recovered. A company may write off this form of bad debt or this bad debt may ultimately lead a person to such a stage where he can not get anymore credit.

bad-debt

Bad debt allowance

Many companies posses a bad debt allowance, as it is unlikely that all bad debt will be recovered by the company. Companies just make an estimate of the bad debt that they may incur within a current time period. This estimate that is made by the company is based on past records and these past records are used in the process to estimate overall earnings.

Banks gains benefits to have customers that end up with Bad debt

Major banks looks in a strange way towards a bad debt. A bank is able to make a profit of 10 billion US dollars (USD) while stating that they have 4 billion USD in bad debt. Most of a profit that is enjoyed by the bank is made from the interest on loans, credit cards and bank charges from their customers.

Read the full story

Fight Debt By Lowering Expenses

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Today, almost everyone is looking for ways to pay off debt. Whether it is paying for a home with a mortgage, getting a car with an auto loan, or going through school, we encounter debt on every step of our life.

fight debt

Debt has become a part of life for Americans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing.

Good debt and bad debt

It is possible to split debt into two categories: good debt and bad debt. However, no matter what value it brings towards securing a good future, it’s extremely important to remove debt from your life in general.

Read the full story