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minimum payments

Don’t Go Broke With Minimum Payments

Debt /

Paying so-called minimum payments now actually ends up costing you more – a lot more – over the long haul. The math behind some of the calculations that determine your interest rate can be tricky. And I won’t get into all the complex, and sometimes mind-boggling formulas that are used to calculate your Annual Percentage Rate (APR). But suffice to say that for every $1,000 you owe, if you paid a minimum of say 4%, you’d only be paying $40 a month. With just $2,500 in debt on a card with an 18% interest rate, you’d spend 10 years paying it off and you’d pay more than $1,400 in finance charges on top of what you originally spent.

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refinance

I Can’t Refinance My House Without My Husband’s Signature. What Should I Do?

Real Estate / / ,

A bank won’t let a woman refinance her house without her husbands signature. The problem is that the woman and her husband separated after being married for just one year, and the current mortgage is in her name only. What should she do? Click to hear Lynnette’s advice.

I Can’t Refinance My House Without My Husband’s Signature. What Should I Do? Read More »

mortgage underwater

When You Owe More Than A Home Is Worth And Have Bad Credit

Real Estate / /

Q: I am a Single Woman Sharing a Mortgage with my Mother. I Purchased the House From her in 2004 to Prevent Her from Filing Bankruptcy and Losing her Home. We’ve Refinanced Twice and Now the Loan is Twice the Amount of What the House is Worth. My Credit is Not Great. I’m in Debt Minus the Loan on the House of About $15,000. The Bulk of That is a $10,000 Loan I Applied for an got (Surprisingly) While I was Unemployed. Isn’t That Called Predatory Lending. I Would Love to Leave Here and Find My Own Place But I Need to Get My Credit in Order. Some of My Debts are 5 Years Old. I Don’t Want to Pay These If I Really Shouldn’t. What’s the Best Thing to do? Also, Re: the $10,000 Loan, I Know I Should Not Have Applied for the Money But I was Desperate As Our Mortgage Was 3 Months In Arrears and In Danger of Being Foreclosed On. Is There a Way That I Could Get This Debt Removed as it was a Predatory Situation?

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A hand holding a pen is marking "Excellent" on a credit score form, celebrating that coveted first FICO score. Nearby are a calculator, glasses, and a document with financial information.

How Do I Establish My First FICO Score?

Credit Scores / /

Your FICO credit scores – like all credit scores – are based on the underlying data and information that is contained in your credit files with the “Big 3” credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. According to Fair Isaac, the company that created the three-digit FICO scores (which range from 300 to 850 points), in order to have a FICO score generated for you, your credit history must contain at least three things:

How Do I Establish My First FICO Score? Read More »

A man and woman stand back to back, looking away from each other with arms folded, suggesting disagreement or conflict; it's clear their credit has been wrecked.

What to Do if Your Credit Has Been Wrecked by a Family Member

Identity Theft /

Question: I am 24 years old and my credit is not too spectacular. Most of the accounts on my credit reports are things I have done to myself, but the other half (and the most expensive portion of my debt) was done by an immediate family member who knows my social security number and has put cable, electric and telephones in my name and did not pay the bill. I don’t want to get my family member in trouble but I am not sure what to do?

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What’s the Fastest Way to Fix Errors in My Credit Report When I Apply for a Mortgage?

Credit Scores / / ,

Whenever you notice a mistake in your credit report, you should always dispute it – with the credit bureaus or the creditor that reported inaccurate information. Getting an error removed from your credit file usually takes about 30 days to be completed.

What’s the Fastest Way to Fix Errors in My Credit Report When I Apply for a Mortgage? Read More »

Zero Debt The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom 2nd Edition Lynnette Khalfani Cox 2

How to Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt

1 Comment / Credit Cards / /

If you missed my interview on LX New York, I talked about how I paid off over $100,000 in credit card debt:

Zero Debt outlines 30 strategies I used to get out of debt, but here are a few highlights:

1) Put your debts in writing
Many people struggling with credit card debt have absolutely no idea exactly how much they owe. Instead they “guesstimate” about their total bills — and often they’re way off with their numbers. I made this mistake when I was in debt, and it allowed me to stay in denial (and in debt!) for far too long. It wasn’t until I took an honest about my predicament — by list all my bills in black and white, and putting everything in writing — that I got serious about knocking out the debt.

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6 Ways to Help You Maximize Your Credit Score

Credit Scores / /

Anyone living in today’s society knows that it can be a drag to be turned down for credit. It’s no fun when your application for a car loan, a student loan, a mortgage, or even just a credit card is denied.

Learn how to boost your credit standing by knowing the ins and outs of how your score is determined by Fair Isaac Corp., the company that calculates your FICO credit score.

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Graduation caps with yellow tassels are thrown in the air against a clear blue sky, reflecting the culmination of years of effort and wise credit utilization.

How to Lower Your Credit Utilization

Credit Scores / / ,

To raise your credit scores, it’s always best to pay down debt, as opposed to shifting it around. However, for most people trying to boost their credit rating, it’s not always possible to instantly pay off all their credit card debt. So what can you do in that case? You can shift debt around in order to strategically lower your credit card utilization rate.

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credit score

Do I Need My Plus Score or Just My FICO Score?

Credit Scores / / , ,

In addition to your FICO credit scores, you should also get your Experian PLUS score. In recent years, consumers got all three FICO scores – based on their TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian reports. But as of 2009, you can now only get two FICO scores (based on what’s in your Equifax and TransUnion files). You can no longer get an Experian-based FICO score. So what should you do to get a score based on all three credit files? My recommendation is to get your third credit score directly from Experian via its www.creditexpert.com consumer website. This score is known as your Experian PLUS Score.

Do I Need My Plus Score or Just My FICO Score? Read More »

Two keys on a keyring with a blue tag labeled "Ex-husband" against a gradient blue background, perhaps once tied to the mortgage of a shared home.

How Can I Protect Myself and My Credit if My Ex Husband Does Not Pay the Mortgage?

Real Estate / / , ,

Maintaining a good credit rating while going through divorce can be very tricky. On the one hand, even if the two parties who are separating can agree on how assets and liabilities (like that mortgage) are supposed to be split, that does not mean that your creditors are bound to those terms. In fact, whatever deal you work out with your soon-to-be ex-spouse has no bearing whatsoever on your legal responsibility to repay debts for which you and he were both co-signers. In a nutshell, this means that if the two of you co-signed for credit cards, your house, a car note, or anything else, then your creditors can still legally come after either one of you for repayment.

How Can I Protect Myself and My Credit if My Ex Husband Does Not Pay the Mortgage? Read More »

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