If you are planning to get married, it is crucial to know your spouse’s debt can affect your credit. Marriage has a big impact on credit scores, both positively and negatively.
If you’re planning to get married soon, here’s what you need to know about how marriage affects your credit and what steps to take if your future spouse has poor credit.
If your partner has a bad credit score, you need to understand the causes and develop a strategy to improve the credit. It is crucial that you don’t sign a joint agreement when your partner has bad credit because their bad credit can affect your future plans.
Marriage doesn’t directly affect your credit score, but it can impact how lenders view your ability to repay loans due to shared finances and joint accounts. If you and your spouse apply for a joint account, such as a mortgage or car loan, the lender will likely check both of your credit files. A good credit score helps you qualify for better rates or terms, while a poor score may increase the interest rate on your loan.
If you’re married and your spouse has debt, it will not affect your credit score. The only exception is if you co-signed for the account or loan with them (for example, if you co-signed for your spouse’s car loan). In that case, the lender reports both names on their credit report and all payments made by both parties.
Likewise, if you’re dating someone but not married, then any financial obligations they have will not affect your credit score. However, if you sign a joint lease or open a joint bank account together while dating and then break up, any late payments made on those accounts could hurt your individual credit scores.
It’s common for a married couple to have a joint bank account. A joint account allows you and your spouse to pool your income and spending on one card. If you use the card responsibly and pay it off each month, having a joint card helps increase the average age of your accounts and lower the average number of accounts on which you have balances.
Joint accounts make sense in many situations, but they can also cause problems if you don’t understand how they affect your credit scores. Here are some things you should know about how joint accounts affect your credit scores.
A joint account appears on both spouses’ credit reports. Before opening a joint account, make sure that both of you are comfortable with the idea of sharing such an important financial relationship.
FICO and VantageScore rely on your payment history and credit utilization to calculate your credit scores. If you manage a joint account responsibly, both of your scores will go up, but if you mismanage your account, both your credit scores will drop.
How can you effectively manage joint accounts to improve your credit score?
Your credit is not impacted if your spouse has bad credit. However, if you take a loan on a joint account, your credit will either be impacted positively or negatively. If your partner has bad credit, take steps to help them improve their credit scores to get back on track. Good credit helps both of you to get low-interest rates that will help you make financial progress.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States. It is available locally in Huntington Beach, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms, CA.
Can late payments hurt your credit score? Late payments can have a significant impact on your credit rating, but they don’t necessarily have to. You can take steps to minimize the damage missing a payment. Here’s what you need to know about late payments and how they affect your credit.
A late payment occurs when you fail to make payments by the due date, usually reflected as 30 days after the billing cycle ends. If you pay your bill before the 30 days, your bill won’t affect credit score, but you may have to pay a late fee. Your payment history accounts for 35% of your credit score, and a missed payment will affect credit score.
A late payment can have a negative impact on your credit score and your finances. Here are some examples of how late payments can affect you:
If you are late paying your bills, the company may charge you a fee. If you have a credit card, the company might charge interest on the delayed payment.
Your payment history accounts for 35% of your credit scores, and one missed payment can affect your score negatively. Late payments are one of the biggest factors affecting your credit score. They are taken very seriously by lenders, landlords, and other businesses that use credit reports as part of their decision-making process.
If you have a higher credit score, your score will be greatly impacted than someone with a lower credit score. Your score could be lowered by 100 points.
If you pay late often, companies will raise interest rates on your loan or credit card if they feel it will prevent further delinquencies. Late payment could lead to increased costs for the loan or credit card, making it more difficult for you to pay off debt quickly.
Some lenders may lower the available credit on their cards if you make too many late payments, even if the bill is paid in full each month. This means that they may lower your limit from $5,000 available for purchases, for example, to $3,000 available at any given time.
Sometimes a late payment can be inevitable, you may have changed your address, had some emergencies that needed you to redirect your money, or you plainly forgot. The most important thing is to avoid missing payments altogether and so, here are some tips for preventing late payments:
When your payment is 30 days late, you will be charged a late payment fee and sometimes a higher APR. However, your credit won’t be affected negatively if paid before the 30 days are over. If this is your first time, call your creditor and ask if they can waive the fee.
If you are more than 30 days late, make the payment before the 60 days are over because the earlier you make a payment, the less the damage to your credit. Write a goodwill letter to your creditor asking them to remove a negative remark in exchange for full payment.
If you are late for more than 90 days, the late payment account will appear on your credit report, and it will stay there for seven years from the day it was reported, but the effects become less impactful with time.
If your late payment was due to a missing bill or some other error on the creditor’s part, then a credit repair company like The Ascent network can help. They have access to many methods for correcting errors on your credit report and improving your credit score, including sending in an amendment to correct the mistake. However, if you made a late payment because you were unable to pay off the balance in full, then a credit repair company cannot help you.
Late payments can sometimes be inevitable. You may have a medical emergency, lose your job, or even forget due to busy work schedules. However, you should remember to make payment within the first 30 days. Your account is not sold off to collections agencies and eventually gets reported to the three major credit bureaus.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
If you are concerned about your credit score, you may be considering using a credit repair company to help you. This may cause you to ask, Will my credit score be impacted by using a credit repair company?
Yes, your credit score can be impacted by using a credit repair company. It is possible that your credit score could be negatively affected. It happens if you use a credit repair company that does not follow the law or doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
But, if you work with a reputable credit repair company making your payments on time, then there’s no negative impact on your credit score.
Credit repair companies are beneficial if you need help cleaning up your credit. While it’s true that using one can impact your score, it doesn’t mean that they won’t improve your situation.
A reputable credit repair company not only optimizes your credit reports and scores. It also helps you understand why your credit scores are low in the first place. With that, you won’t make similar mistakes in the future.
A good credit repair company works with you to identify any mistakes or inaccuracies in your reports and works with the creditors to correct these errors. They also check for other possible issues such as identity theft or fraud that could affect your score and help resolve them.
Credit repair companies help:
Credit repair is a service that helps you repair your credit report and improve your overall financial situation. This process usually involves removing negative information from your credit report, such as late payments or collections accounts.
Once you remove negative information from your credit report, your credit score will improve. Then, it will be much easier for you to find financing for new purchases or even refinance an existing loan. It also gives lenders confidence that they are loaning money to someone who will repay them on time and in full.
Reliable credit repair solution providers first obtain your report from the three major credit bureaus Experian, Transunion, and Experian, and review it. They check for errors and negative items to determine what can be fixed. They will also let you know if they can help improve your credit score.
Reputable credit repair agencies assess your credit report. They determine if they can use dispute resolution or debt settlement to help improve your score.
Dispute resolution involves contacting each of the three major credit bureaus Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They can be asked to remove inaccurate information from your report. If an identity thief takes on credit using your name, you will be prompted to provide supporting documents to dispute the report.
You may need to provide credit repair companies with documents supporting your dispute. As per law, the bureaus need to investigate your case within 30 days of disputing. They will contact the creditors and share your dispute letter with them together with the supporting documents.
If they can’t find the creditor or the creditor fails to validate a credit report, the credit bureaus will be mandated to remove the report.
Debt settlement involves negotiating with creditors directly to pay less than what is owed on your accounts. If the creditor agrees to a payment plan, ensure that you pay on time. It allows you to see your credit score improve. Once the creditor agrees, they can remove the credit account from your credit report.
This is how best to increase your score:
If you have bad scores and no idea what went wrong or how those mistakes occurred, then a credit repair company will be helpful. They work with you to determine what needs fixing and help get everything back on track again.
It helps you qualify for loans or other financial products in the future. However, ensure you only use reputable credit repair companies like The Ascent Network. Any credit repair company that assures you they can remove any negative report from your credit report is a scam. They will only impact your credit score negatively.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States. It’s available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
When people are just starting out building their credit or want to improve their credit score, often the fastest way to get started is by becoming an authorized user on someone else’s credit card. An authorized user is a person who has permission from the primary account holder to use the account. While authorized users don’t have to make payments on most accounts, they can still take advantage of their share of the credit limit.
An authorized user is someone who is added to a credit card account by the primary cardholder. The primary cardholder is responsible for making payments on the account while you get the authorization to use the credit card.
For example, you have a credit card, and your son, Tom, wants to have his credit card. You can call your bank, ask for an additional card, and tell them that you want Tom as an authorized user. They will send you another credit card, which you can give to him.
Once Tom makes purchases using that card, the information about those purchases will show up in your credit report and in his credit report. That way, both you and Tom are responsible for the debts on that account.
An authorized user gets a credit card tied to the account but won’t make changes to the account. This means they don’t have the authority to add other authorized users or request a credit increase.
Authorized users are often spouses, children, or other family members of the primary cardholder. By adding an authorized user, the primary cardholder enables another person to purchase using the primary cardholder’s account.
Your credit history is built from many different aspects of your financial life, including:
? payments (both on time and late)
? credit limits
? account balances
? length of time the accounts have been open
? types of accounts (credit cards, student loans, mortgages, etc.)
? new lines of credit opened
When another person adds you as an authorized user to their account, you are given access to that card. All of the payment history and credit limits associated with it go onto your report. This helps you:
1. Build your credit in several ways. If the account has a long history of on-time payments and has a high credit limit compared to the balance on the card, it means a low utilization rate.
2. It helps you repair your credit. If you suffered bankruptcy or missed payments, being an authorized user helps you repair your credit as the on-time payments will reflect on your credit account
3. It helps you manage expenses. You only spend money on necessary items, so you don’t go over the limit. Married couples manage bills well when they are authorized users of each other’s cards. Thus, helping them manage their budget and reduce the credit utilization rate.
The cardholder also benefits from having an additional authorized user on their card. The cardholder will have to increase the overall credit limit. They will now be able to spend more than they would with just their accounts. This may reduce their credit utilization ratio, which may increase their FICO score.
Tip: To calculate the utilization rate, divide your total credit card balances by your total credit card limits.
The person who has the credit card is known as the primary cardholder. He can add you to his account by calling the card issuer and giving them your full name, date of birth, and Social Security number.
If the issuer approves you being added. After that, you should receive your credit card. A family member or an employer can add you as an authorized user by logging on to their online account and adding you or contacting the card issuer by phone.
To process this request, the primary cardholder will need:
? your name
? address
? date of birth
? social security number
The person who added you as an authorized user won’t be affected by your credit history. A credit card company looks at the credit of the primary account holder, not the authorized user. As long as the primary cardholder makes an on-time payment, your credit shouldn’t be affected.
The performance of an authorized user is not factored in when calculating the primary cardholder’s score. But just because it won’t hurt you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful.
As much as you want to help others build their credit history or repair their credit, you have to take certain precautionary measures to maintain a good credit history. Below are some of the measures you should consider.
Avoid overspending
No matter who it is, the authorized user can do a lot of damage to the primary account holder if they get carried away with spending on their card. If that happens, it could cause enough added debt for the primary account holder to have trouble making their payments. And if they miss one payment, their score could plunge some points — enough to cause problems for both your credit scores.
Don’t let your authorized users keep too high a balance on their cards
That can hurt both your credit limit utilization rate and your FICO score. For example, if a card has a $5,000 limit and you spend $3,000 and add an authorized user who spends $1,500, you’re already carrying 50% of your limit in debt before you add them to your account. Ensure you only add an authorized user if you can stay on top of your finances.
Keep tabs on spending habits
To curb overspending and for this arrangement to work, it’s important that you keep tabs on the authorized users’ spending habits. Adding an authorized user makes it easy for someone to rack up debt and negatively affect your credit score.
The primary benefit of being an authorized user is that you have a credit card in your name that reports positive payment history to the three major credit bureaus, which helps you build good credit. This is especially valuable if you’re new to credit, are recovering from a poor financial situation, or want to improve your score.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
February 7, 2022
In this economy, it is more important than ever to have a high credit score. A good credit score helps you get approved for a loan, get a better interest rate on a loan, and could even save you money on your car insurance. But if your credit score is not as high as you would like, don’t worry – you can raise your credit score fast!
The first thing you’ll want to do is to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy of your credit score report from AnnualCreditReport.com. This website is authorized by the government to provide free copies of your credit report once every 12 months.
You can also sign up with a credit monitoring company, like The Ascent Network. Credit monitoring helps you get to know your credit score, gives you tips on how to increase it, and often shows you qualifying loan or credit card offers. Credit monitoring companies also flag suspicious activity and notify you of any unauthorized use of your social security number.
Next, you’ll want to check for errors in your credit report. Check the entire report looking for a name, address, and contact information mistakes. If you find errors, you need to dispute them through the credit report showing the error. The addresses to mail dispute letters to Experian, Equifax, and Transunion are here.
In your dispute letter, ask the credit bureau to remove or correct the inaccurate or incomplete information. Explain clearly what needs to be changed. Make sure you have copies of each letter and send the letter certified mail for tracking that it was received.
The credit bureau has 30 days to respond to your request. Once they complete their investigation, they must give you the results in writing.
Many people think that a closed credit account will automatically be dropped from a credit report. Credit bureaus only remove information from a credit report if it’s outdated, or inaccurate, or if a creditor agrees to remove it.
Some closed credit accounts can hurt your credit. If an account is closed and paid off but has delinquent payments or a charge-off, you can write a goodwill letter to the creditor and ask the account to be removed. Creditors do not have to honor your request, but there have been cases when a company is kind enough to do so after a paid balance.
There is also an option for credit accounts that are closed but have a balance. In these cases, you can send a pay-for-delete letter, which is an offer to pay the balance in full in exchange for removing the account from the credit report. Again, the creditor does not have to comply, but, often, they will consider the exchange for full payment.
The last option is to simply wait. Most items on a person’s credit report drop off after seven years. If a negative account is still on your report after the seven-year mark, you can try to dispute the account and have it removed.
Credit repair companies often have a negative reputation because of fraudulent companies in the past taking advantage of already-struggling consumers. The Ascent Network is different. Ascent is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide clients with access to resources and services designed to assist individuals in improving their creditworthiness and financial position. You can find the Ascent Network Bill of Rights here.
Ascent Network is a member of the SecureTrust Trusted Commerce program. They provide services for credit repair, credit score improvement, debt settlement and negotiation, foreclosure prevention, and educational loan negotiation.
A more positive outlook toward a more financially secure future starts today. Give the Ascent Network a call today at 1-877-871-2400. Ascent Network helps consumers all over the United States and is available locally in Huntington Beach, CA, Coachella Valley, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Indio, and Thousand Palms.
If you are planning to get married, it is crucial to know your spouse’s debt can affect your credit. Marriage has a big impact on credit scores, both positively and negatively. If you’re planning to get married soon, here’s what you need to know about how marriage affects your credit and what steps to take … Continued
Read MoreCan late payments hurt your credit score? Late payments can have a significant impact on your credit rating, but they don’t necessarily have to. You can take steps to minimize the damage missing a payment. Here’s what you need to know about late payments and how they affect your credit. What is a Late Payment? … Continued
Read MoreIf you are concerned about your credit score, you may be considering using a credit repair company to help you. This may cause you to ask, Will my credit score be impacted by using a credit repair company? Yes, your credit score can be impacted by using a credit repair company. It is possible that … Continued
Read MoreWhat is an Authorized User? An authorized user is someone who is added to a credit card account by the primary cardholder. The primary cardholder is responsible for making payments on the account while you get the authorization to use the credit card. For example, you have a credit card, and your son, Tom, wants … Continued
Read MoreFebruary 7, 2022 Get to Know Your Credit The first thing you’ll want to do is to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy of your credit score report from AnnualCreditReport.com. This website is authorized by the government to provide free copies of your credit report once every 12 … Continued
Read MoreWE COMMUNICATE WITH ALL THREE CREDIT BUREAUS FOR YOU:
