Alicia Guidry asked:


Are you tired of hearing the word ‘No’ when it comes to a car loan? I explicitly wrote How To Buy A Car With Bad Credit specifically so that you could hear the words ‘yes’. Who am I, you ask?

I spent 14 years in the automobile business as a Finance Manager so I believe it’s fair to say that I know a thing or two about getting a loan approved and financed, irregardless of your past credit history.

Remember, regardless of your past credit history, you still need a car, want a car and most of all, you deserve a car. You should also be treated with respect and presented with choices. I’m going to teach you how to get hand-picked selections when financing a bad credit car loan and getting your approval the easy way. I know a few insider tips about Ford Motor Credit and all the other big name lenders that may help you here. First of all, all lenders now purchase deals based on what is called a beacon score, which is the same as your credit score. There are three credit bureaus that make up the package. Each lender will choose whichever credit bureau(s) they prefer when looking at your credit or a combination of bureaus. I highly advise everyone to have all three credit bureaus pulled when checking your credit and to pay for the credit score. If you only look at one bureau, you’re only seeing part of the whole picture. Keep in mind that each credit report will have different information listed on it. Bad credit car financing is an art and there is a skill to it. If your credit score happens to be around 600 or higher, Ford Motor and GMAC will look at your deal with the intention of purchasing it; there are a few exceptions. They are as follows: 1- You cannot have had a previous Ford Motor or GMAC repossession- 2- If you have had a repo with another lender, it needs to be a year or older; if you have had 2 repo’s, forget it and move onto another lender. 3- You can be freshly discharged from a bankruptcy, have a high enough beacon score and qualify for a loan with Ford Motor and GMAC. You just can’t have any negative credit after the bankruptcy was discharged. With the exception of these three things, beacon score will play a large part in your approval. Staying within your financial means is another, so be realistic. If you make $2500 per month and have $1200 going out, don’t walk in all high-and-mighty and tell the Finance Manager that you will only have an Expedition or nothing. You’ll end up with nothing.

In order to effectively use my system, you are going to have to know what your credit looks like and what your credit score actually is. Otherwise, you are working in the dark. Pay for the credit score or it’s just almost useless. With the credit score, you will know whether or not you qualify for a lender such as Ford or GMAC. Also, the higher the score, the lower the interest rate. Got it? With a bad credit loan, the higher the beacon score, the better.

Let me explain websites like cars.com and the like: They collect applications for car loans online. They then have a network of dealerships that PAY them for the leads. These are generally dealerships that have departments that specialize in getting you financed, regardless of your credit. These departments pay for these leads, so most take them very seriously, as they are their bread-and-butter, so to speak. If you have a lower than usual credit score, a current repo or just plain, all-around bad credit, this might be the way to go. If your credit is really, really bad, remember that you are going to need some cash or a paid-for trade in that’s actually worth something. O.K., now for the step-by-step system that I promised. First, take control of your car deal! You need to be in the driver’s seat, if at all possible. Go online and run a copy of a tri-merge, which is all three credit bureaus combined, plus pay for your credit score.

This is the new Federal law that actually entitles you to receive a FREE copy of your credit bureau once per year and with some other exceptions. This is not a credit monitoring site. You have to run each bureau separately; Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Then, you have to pay for the credit score seperately. So as to hold down on confusion, here’s the scoop: Each credit score for each separate bureau will be different. That’s why a Tri-Merge is called what it is called. You can run a specific bureau called a Tri-Merge from one company and you actually get one bureau (it’s actually all three combined but the credit score is also one credit score combined). It’s more expensive and generally runs around $34.00 but it just depends on your preference.

Now, with your credit score in hand and a copy(s) of your credit bureau, look at your credit. Do you have anything strange on there that is not yours? If so, it’s time to fix it. You should review your credit bureau at least every 6 months to a year. Plus, if your identity has been stolen, you will know quickly. P.S. you can also have a warning placed on the bottom of your bureau that simply states “Do not extend any credit on my behalf without contacting me first. Work # (111)222-3333 Home#(222)333-4444 Cell# (333)444-5555.” Call or write the credit bureaus and request that this is done. You can now do this online for free. Do a Google search for all three credit bureaus listed above;Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

In part two, I get into the process of picking out what you want to purchase, how to know your limit, what the payments will be, how to figure your debt-to-income and what NOT to do once at the dealership. I will show you how to accomplish all of this at home on your computer first before you ever step foot on a car lot. I’ll also coach you how to shop the car lot and never have a salesman in sight. Then I give you all the tips and tricks you will need once you have a check in hand to complete the deal and handle the finance office.



Neil

Mark Henry asked:


It may not be possible to provide you with everything you wanted to know about credit repair in this brief article, but here we attempt to give you the do-it-yourself basics and the facts about the many credit repair schemes that are being advertised and should be avoided.

Some companies advertise that they have a credit report repair Software and also they will teach you credit repair secrets, for a fee of course. There is a lot of free information here, if you know where to look. Before you take a credit repair course or sign up for credit report repair, read the facts and the laws relating to credit repair. In this way you may avoid some disappointment and save some money.

Credit repair is a popular subject. It seems that almost everyone wants learn about credit repair. Books and software programs that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair are being sold on the internet and in retail locations all over the country. There are some questionable credit repair schemes and some companies suggest action which is illegal. Consumers can learn to repair their own credit, but it takes time and patience. The safest bet when hiring someone to do the work for you is to hire a credit repair attorney. In this way, you can be sure that you will achieve results; they know everything there is to know about credit repair. You can also be sure that a credit repair attorney will not advise you to do anything that is illegal. Most of the popular credit repair lawyers do not charge more than the other credit repair companies and some offer money back guarantees.

One of the credit repair schemes investigated by the Federal Trade Commission involved a company that told their customers that they had a special valuable computer disc. This computer disc was supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair, when in fact there was nothing unique about the disc or the services offered by the credit repair company. They charged consumers, before results were achieved. In order to protect consumers from these credit repair schemes, companies are not allowed to charge customers upfront fees. In addition, consumers have three days to cancel any contract that they sign. Of course you may not enjoy the same protection when buying a book or software program that claims to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. So make your purchases carefully and look for money back guarantees.

The do-it-yourself basics for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair include reviewing and correcting the information on your credit reports. In response to a recently enacted law, the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, created a website to allow consumers easier access to their credit reports. Until this law was enacted, the credit bureaus were allowed to charge consumers a fee for a copy of their credit reports. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report once in a twelve month period. You are also entitled to a free copy if you have been denied credit recently, if you are unemployed and plan to apply for a new job within the next three months or if you are on public assistance. The companies pushing credit repair schemes will not tell you where to find the information that you need to repair your credit reports, before you pay them. One way to identify a legitimate credit repair company is to look at what they claim they can do. If they claim to be able to do things for you that you could not do for yourself, with time, patience and know-how, then they are credit repair schemes.

The first place to go for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair is www.annualcreditreport.com. The credit bureaus are allowed to promote other services and products on this site. These are not credit repair schemes, but they are usually credit monitoring services or newsletter subscriptions which may or may not be helpful to you in your current situation. Be sure to spell the website address correctly, this writer has written a number of articles about credit repair and has been advised that she occasionally misspells it. You can link directly to the site from Credit Fix Solutions or the Federal Trade Commission’s official website for consumer credit.

The Federal Trade Commission website is also a good place to visit for everything that you wanted to know about credit repair. Their advice is discouraging to anyone that hopes to attain immediate credit repair, because there is no such thing. But they do provide a sample letter that you can use as a guide if you are planning to dispute information in your credit reports. You can dispute any information on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, misleading, outdated or unverifiable. Unverifiable means that the credit bureau cannot verify the information.

Disputing information on credit reports is the main topic of most books that claim to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair. Credit repair schemes may also focus on disputing negative items on credit reports. In fact the company that claimed to own the special computer disc, simply advised consumers to dispute every negative item on their credit report. It is not illegal to dispute any information on your credit report, but it is illegal for a company to make false claims about their services.

This is probably not everything that you wanted to know about credit repair, but it may be enough to get you started. Before you buy a book or software program, visit your local library. Experts have been writing books that are supposed to contain everything you wanted to know about credit repair for a long time. The only information that may not be accurate, depending on the date the book was written, is information concerning fees charged by credit bureaus for copies of credit reports. But, this article provided you with that information. Remember to avoid the credit repair schemes, take your time and have patience. Good Luck.



Amber

Mike Singh asked:


Have you heard of credit monitoring? It is a service that credit reporting agencies offer to you. The service is quite straightforward. For a fee, they will monitor your credit for you to insure that nothing strange appears or that nothing out of the ordinary reduces your credit score. Is an investment in such a service worthwhile?

How Credit Monitoring Can Benefit You

First of all, credit monitoring does do something that has become necessary with the advent of different types of credit fraud. Any consumer, anywhere that uses credit needs to monitor their credit score and report. It is necessary because at any time a negative item is placed on your credit report it can be very detrimental to your future credit needs. Those who commit such fraud do not necessarily need your social security number or other personal details. It all depends on where they use your credit card information.

It is important to know what’s on that record and it is important to know how it got there. The longer it goes without being disputed, the more ‘real’ it looks in the eyes of the law. In this way, credit monitoring really can benefit you because you will be notified right away when negative activity is reported on your credit report.

How Credit Monitoring Can Rip You Off

It is true that such a service can be helpful, but credit monitoring is very expensive, up to $150 per year in some cases. This money can be used to help reduce credit card debt instead. If you are net savvy, then your credit report is a few keystrokes away. All of the major credit reporting agencies can be found online and can tell you’re what your credit report looks like.

Also, in the United States, as of this year, you are provided a free credit report each year from the credit reporting agencies so that you can monitor your credit history. This free product may not be enough, but it is a start. You should check your report often and know what is on it. Ideally, you should check your report every 3 months. If you are going to be making any large purchases e.g. a new house, a new car you should get your report a couple of months in advance so that you can clear up any negative items in time to get the best deal on your purchase.



Claude