“Dear Steve, My fiance is in about $2,000 debt. I knew he had debt but we’re just now talking about all of this. It’s with three different places. Golds Gym -$861, Dish Network -$479, and Verizon -$789. We were planning on finding our own apartment in less than a year but we need this paid off before we do anything; ... Read More »

It seems more people are contacting me these days who look at suicide as a way out of primarily private student loan debt. I’m sure you have the same visceral reaction as I do and feel everyone needs to be talked off the ledge. But in the hard light of day, considering suicide as a way to deal with student ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, Score was 720 a few years ago than the economy and credit card processors held my companies money! Now my score is in the 400s how do I get it back up So I had a great credit score, the economy tanked and my credit card processor at the time started to hold funds on my business without ... Read More »

You hear all the time how credit history can impact your ability to get a job. In the debt relief world debt settlement and credit counseling companies claim bankruptcy prevents people from getting jobs and that’s why people need to use their services instead. But what is reality and what is the negative impact of alternative interventions like debt settlement ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, Is it illegal for both a creditor and a collector to report the exact same account? I have several old credit cards that show charged off and then a duplicate of that account by a collection agency. Isn’t that double and even triple punishment for the same account? My credit score goes lower whenever the same account is ... Read More »

I have been trying hard over the past years to get out debt. I currently owe the IRS , have student loans, and to make it worse I am back in graduate school accumilating more debt. I have also noticed that my credit score has been decreasing and want to know what to do to make this better. when you ... Read More »

I was just sitting here and noticed that someone searched for “credit scoring is a scam and a fraud.” Kind of an interesting search. Frankly I never thought of it like that. But that reality is that point of view isn’t all that far off. You see the impression people have about a credit score isn’t so much a fraud ... Read More »

Learning how to become an authorized user on a credit card is a strong and quick strategy for building your credit, and building it fast. In fact, I have seen people’s scores jump as much as sixty points just by becoming authorized users. Before discussing the mechanism for becoming a an authorized user on a credit card, let us take ... Read More »

A new Federal Reserve report is out that describes the status of household debt and credit developments in the third quarter of 2011. The report shows the total amount of indebtedness is still mostly contracting. The number of credit card accounts is still down to near decade low levels. Car loans are slightly increasing while new mortgages continue to dwindle. ... Read More »

A recent report from Inc. Magazine says at that at least 60 percent of employers run credit checks on potential job applicants at least some of the time. This is a 17 percent increase from 2006. And given the high unemployment rate, this is particularly concerning. With a much bigger pool of candidates to choose from, employers can narrow the ... Read More »

Are you a victim of the credit scoring scam of the century? If you have a credit card, there’s a 50/50 chance that you are. What Is the Credit Scoring Scam of the Century? About half of credit card companies use a shameful tactic to keep their competitors away from you, and this tactic hurts your ability to build a ... Read More »

Whenever I was in basic training, each recruit, each private was assigned their own roster number. That roster number was our identifier. We had to put it on all our gear. I had to have it strapped across a tape on my Kevlar, which is our helmet. It dictated as far as when we would eat chow and what order ... Read More »

If you have ever heard someone refer to your “score” or your “credit score” they are probably referring to your “FICO Score.” It is called a FICO Score as the way the number is calculated is based on software developed by a company called Fair Issac and Company. Once you have requested a loan, a lender may ask one of ... Read More »

Let’s start with the basics, what a credit score really is. A credit score is NOT a value that identifies who is a better personal finance manager. A credit score IS a number that is calculated to allow lenders to identify which people are the least risky to lend to and who are most likely to produce them the most ... Read More »

“Dear Steve, Working on my credit to raise my score and need some advice and or assistance. i have pulled my credit reports and i have found a lot of discrepencies and things that should have been romoved . there are things that show an amount but no other information. there are items that are 15years old . can you ... Read More »