According to the seemingly-innocent envelope sitting on your kitchen table, you’ve been pre-approved for a new credit card. The bold type, flashy colors, and excited exclamation points lure you into a daze. You are The Chosen One. Obviously, the credit card gods have singled you out as someone worthy of high rewards and low fees, […]
Whether you’re new to the soul-sucking credit realities of adulthood or simply trying to improve a bad credit score, you might want to check out a secured credit card. 1. What is a secured credit card? These specialized cards, great for building credit, require a down payment up-front, usually in the form of a cash […]
The most important thing to remember if you’ve been denied a mortgage is that you still have options. The world is not over, and neither is your quest to find a new home! According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, about 30% of purchasers who apply for a mortgage are turned down, so it’s a fairly […]
If you don’t know about VA home loans, don’t be surprised. Despite being one of the best benefits available to veterans, only 6% of qualified veterans have used a VA home loan in the past six years. Many veterans worry that they don’t qualify for the benefit or that the paperwork will take too much […]
Spring is a great time to buy and sell real estate because everybody else thinks it’s a great time to buy and sell real estate! Warmer weather encourages people to go outside more often and tour more homes, and the impending promise of summer and vacation time tends to make sellers a little friendlier with […]
This post is the second in the series Buying a Car With Bad Credit, discussing how to save money on a loan with a high interest rate. If you do not already have an auto loan, read the first post in the series: Securing an Auto Loan. Subprime buyers, or consumers with low credit scores, […]
This article is the second in the series Buying a Car With Bad Credit, discussing how to avoid losing money on your auto purchase at the dealership. If you do not yet have an auto loan and would like to know how to secure one at a reasonable interest rate, read the first article in […]
This article will be the first in a 3-part series about buying cars with bad credit. Here, we tackle the what you need to do before you buy a car—primarily, that you successfully apply to and are approved for an auto loan at a decent interest rate. Before reading on, however, keep in mind that […]
In 1970, the U.S. government passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act in order to protect consumers from willful or negligent inaccuracies on their credit reports. It seeks to promote the accuracy, transparency, and fairness of credit reporting by granting consumers a set of specific civil rights. The document itself is over 100 pages long, but […]
In the United States, a credit score is a statistical analysis of a person’s credit history used to determine their creditworthiness. It is represented by a numerical value between 300 and 850, with higher values correlating to better creditworthiness. More importantly, it’s how banks, lenders, credit card companies, future employers, and property owners determine whether […]
