The Credit Card Updater

Denied! Your Credit Card App Turned Down, Now What?

2008-09-20T20:32:00.004-04:00

Hey Everyone,

If you have ever gotten this response from a credit card company as the above title describes, don't let it be the end of the world for you. There will always be another time to apply. Maybe not just right away.

If your FICO credit scores are down the toilet, don't get discouraged. There is always a solution to every problem. In this particular instance, the solution to the problem would be applying for a secured credit card.

If you have filed for bankruptcy or whether you are still in a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you still can apply for a secured credit card. The only issue would be if you are in a chapter 13 bankruptcy, you would need to check with your attorney and the trustee of your particular state to see how much of a credit limit you are allowed to have while in the chapter 13.

Another thing would be the amount of money you can afford to apply towards your secured credit card.

The secured credit card program works like this. You send the bank that offers the secured program an amount such as lets say $300. This money is put into a savings account with that bank and in turn the $300 becomes your credit limit on the secured card. You can always send in more to boost your credit limit up to the max the particular bank allows.

You have to be very careful on which bank you choose to apply for a secured credit card, though. You need to read their terms and conditions because not all banks are equal as far as having the best program to help you out. Some charge and outrageous fee for just signing up for an account and then some charge ridiculous interest rates.

The bank will pay you interest on the money you deposit also. If you handle your account properly, after a period of time, usually a couple of years, the bank might offer to give you an unsecured credit card and send you your savings deposit back plus the interest it earned!

While you are using your secured credit card wisely and paying on time, you will be improving your FICO scores as well. You have to disipline yourself though and be very consciencious with your account so you can improve your scores. If you make a payment late, this will go against you and could jeopardize your account from ever being converted to an unsecured account!

You definately don't want that to happen. I will being researching various banks that offer secured credit card programs and bring you the list next week.

Until then,

Michael

How Many Inquiries Is Too Many?

2008-08-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!

Hope you are all having a great week. I have spent the past few days reading and viewing various blogs and forums about credit and credit cards.

I found one guy who was asking a question about credit cards that I thought I would answer here. He was saying that he had a credit card already and wanted to apply for another one or two and how it would affect his credit score if he applied for more than one offer.

He said he had a credit score of about 700-715 which is actually a decent score. He was asking if he applied for several cards, if I recall correctly was like 10 offers, would this affect his score much.

If he was applying for a mortgage or an auto loan, he could apply for more than one finance company and only be dinged with one inquiry during a fourteen day period. With credit card offers, this rule does not apply!

If he applies for more than one offer or application, he will get dinged for each one he submits. Thus, getting several inquiries on his credit file which will bring down his FICO scores tremendously.

If he really needs another card, he should only apply for the one that has the best offer for his personal budget and circumstances. With a score as high as he has, he should not have a problem applying and getting approved for another card.

If he was to apply for all the offers he was talking about, each inquiry would show up almost instantly on his credit reports. Especially, if he applied online with the various banks or finance companies. This would bring his scores down a lot.

My advice to anyone wanting to do something like that, is not to even attempt it at all. We all want to be improving our FICO scores as much as possible and not bringing them down. Since most banks and other institutions use these scores to evaluate us as to whether we can afford something or not and whether we get approved or not.

If you have any issues or concerns you would like me to address here on my blog, just let me know.

Till next time,

Michael

How Often To Check Your Credit Reports

2008-08-01T16:40:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone!

I had a question asked about how often we need to check our credit reports. I have personally asked a few people this same question and the responses I got was, "I haven't checked lately", "Why do I need to check my credit reports?", "What is my credit report?". These responses blew me away!

For what it is worth to you guys, you need to check your credit reports at least once a year and better yet, twice a year. The purpose for doing so is twofold. One, you can check to see if there is any inaccurate info on them and two, to check to see if your identity has been compromised!

If you find inaccurate info on any of your reports, you will need to dispute it. All the bureau's send you a sheet on how to go about disputing the incorrect info by mail, if you get your reports by mail.

If you get your reports online at http://www.annualcreditreport.com, where you can get them once a year without cost, they have a section on their website to guide you through the process of disputing any inaccurate info you may find.

If you opt to get your reports a second time, you will need to pay for them. The cost is in the forty to fifty dollar range. The best and most accurate place to get your reports is at, www.MyFico.com/12. The reason for the "/12" at the end of the web address is so you will also get what they call "negative reason codes" you will also get all three of your FICO scores along with your three bureau reports.

The negative reason codes will tell you how your accounts have performed since opening and how they effect your FICO score, especially if you have had credit problems in the past.

Whatever you guys do, do not, I repeat, DO NOT fall for those ads on the web for free credit reports. They do not give you accurate and true report information. Don't waste your time on them.

If any of you are looking for new credit card offers, you can go to http://www.trustedcreditcards.us/ to find one that fits your budget and needs. I would only do this after checking your credit scores to make sure your near or above the "700" mark. That way you'll know that you may get the approval you seek.

Any comments or more questions you may have, just post them below.

Have a great week! :)

Michael

Keeping Yourself Out of The Debt Trap

2008-07-23T21:18:00.000-04:00

Hey All!

If you have more than one credit card and finding it harder to keep up with the payments, try this and see if you can get control of your cards again.

If you are wanting to pay off your cards as quickly as possible, pick the card that has the lowest balance and put as much towards the payment as you can each month while making minimum payments on your other cards.

Once you accomplish this on the first card, apply what you were paying on the first card and then apply it to the minimum you were paying on the next card with the next lowest balance. What you are doing is speeding up the process of paying off your balances more quickly and getting yourself out of the credit card payment trap.

Apply this process to any subsequent cards you may have until you accomplish your goal of paying off your credit cards. Then use the strategy of only keeping a balance on your cards with only 50% of your credit limit. This improves your credit scores temendously.

Until next time, enjoy the week and I'll see you next week with another tip on credit card control.

Michael

Credit Cards For People With Bad Credit

2008-06-24T20:32:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had an enjoyable week last week. Today I want to address the issue about good folks that have had some credit problems in the past and want to recover from it and get a credit card again. Even if they lost it through bankruptcy or just have had a bad credit history for whatever reason.

The best way to recover and get another credit card is applying to a bank that has a secured card. What this simply means is that you send the bank money and they put it into a special savings account with an application you fill out.

The amounts vary what you can send to them. It usually is as low as $300.00. You can send in more if you have it and this amount will become your "credit card" limit. So if you send them let's say $700.00, they will give you a credit card with a credit limit of $700.00.

Many banks have secured credit card offers, but be careful and read the "fine print" in their disclosure statements. Some banks will charge you a high interest rate if you carry a balance and some will charge a monthly or yearly "membership" fee which can be a large amount also. Don't even apply to these banks.

They are just taking advantage of your poor credit situation. There are banks that do offer a reasonable rate and fee for a secured card and I will be giving those to you next week. Until then, have a safe a pleasurable week!

Michael

Raising Your FICO Credit Scores

2008-06-17T20:48:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone:

This week we will be looking into how to increase your FICO credit scores so you will have a better chance at getting an approval on your credit card application.

One of the items you need to do is not go out and apply for every credit card offer that crosses your table or mail box. If you submit a slew of applications, you will bring down your FICO scores in a hurry at the credit bureaus.

Each time you apply for a credit card or personal loan, that causes an inquiry to be posted to your credit report. This inquiry brings your FICO score down a good chunk. Especially if you submit or apply for many offers.

That is a "no no". What you want to do is find an offer that that appeals to your own personal situation. For instance, you might find a zero percent interest card for balance transfers or just getting a card that pays you back on purchases you make.

Another thing you can do to increase your credit score is to raise your credit limit on a card if you have one already. This doesn't mean that you should use the increase. If you max out the card, that will bring down your score because your credit limit was maximized.

Example: you have a card with a $1000 limit on it and you call the bank to increase your credit limit and they approve you for another $1000 on it, do not use that increase! Only use 1/2 your limit on the card. That way you will only be showing on your credit report that you are only using 50% of your card limit.

You will get "dinged" for an inquiry though. Sorry, that's how the system works, but you will win in the long run.

I've rambled enough for this week, so I will be addressing some issues with folks that have bad credit and how they can get a credit card to start rebuilding their credit.

See you all next week!

Michael

Proper Use of Credit and Credit Cards

2008-06-10T21:08:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone:

This week our topic is the proper use of credit and credit cards. If you are a person that has a fairly decent credit history you still need to pay attention. If your credit just plain sucks, you need to pay special attention, too.

Nobody should carry no more than 3 major bank cards to their name period! If you currently have more than 3, you are setting yourself up for trouble down the road.
To correct your situation now is to pay down and pay off any major card accounts that you have and not to close those accounts. Like I mentioned before, no more than 3 major cards!

You should not have more than 1 or 2 major department store cards either. What you are setting yourself up to accomplish is to improve your FICO credit scores. If you don't know what that is I'll tell you here.

Your FICO credit score is a number between 300 and 850. All three credit bureaus use this number to rate us at how well we use and handle our credit obligations. If you have a credit score that is somewhere below 600, you will be consider by most banks and lenders as a "high risk" person. All that means is that your chances for getting an approval on a personal loan or applying for a credit card will most likely be denied.

Your best chances at getting an approval will be working at raising your credit scores. I will be addressing this issue next week. Until then stay cool!

Michael

Applying Online vs Snail Mail

2008-06-02T11:44:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone:

This week we are going to answer the question that many of you have asked. Is it better to apply for a credit card online or by filling out an application and placing it into the mailbox.

Trusted credit cards offered by major banks are very easy to apply for using your own computer. All major banks use secured settings on their websites, which means that you can apply online without fear of your personal information being stolen.

You just need to make sure that you see the little "lock" icon on their website somewhere.

If you feel more comfortable with filling out an application at home and sending it out by mail, then I would recommend that you do it that way.

We have a website that can help you find the best credit card offers from major banks. This site is at: http://www.trustedcreditcards.us/

If you are looking to apply for a gas credit card, they are at: http://www.trustedcreditcards.us/

If you are looking for a corporate credit card offer or an application for a business credit card, they can be found at: http://www.trustedcreditcards.us/

One of the advantages of applying online is that once you submit the application, you will know within a few moments whether you have been approved or not.

If you are looking to re-establish your credit, have bad credit or just good credit and are looking for a card that offers rewards or 0%APR you can find them at: http://www.trustedcreditcards.us/ also.

The bottom line is that you have to be comfortable with how you handle your credit. Next week we will be discussing the proper use of credit and credit cards and how to avoid over extending yourselves that can get you into trouble.

Until next week,

Michael

PS: Have a topic you want to discuss or question about credit cards in general just post your comments below!