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How To Massacre Your Credit Score

By: Peter Kenny

Many consumers know that they have a credit score but they may not know what the score is. As well, many consumers know that there are some actions or inactions that they can take that will help or hurt their score. Again, they know the broad picture, but not the details. Here are some of the things that consumers do that all but massacres their credit score.

First of all, consumers should understand that lenders and creditors are constantly updating the information that is on a person’s credit report. This is one of the most important reasons why consumers must keep an eye out for mistakes or omissions on their reports. Credit reports are not static.

Some actions or inactions that can kill a credit score follow:

Not examining credit reports often enough is one of the most common problems that consumers face. These reports are used to determine your credit score. If there are mistakes, you need to get them corrected. The truth is one in four credit reports contain errors that are serious enough to hurt a consumer’s chances of getting loan.

FICO credit scores are calculated from five categories listed on credit reports: your payment history, amount of money owed, length of credit history, new credit obtained, and types of credit used.

The second thing many consumers do to hurt themselves is to pay late. Late payments are recorded on your report and they usually stay there for seven years. In general, payment history accounts for 35 percent of the credit score.

The third thing that can cause problems is simply having too many credit inquiries. A credit inquiry occurs whenever someone wants to look at your credit file.

Rate shopping for a car loan, a home mortgage, or a credit card can damage your credit if it is not done properly. Lenders you approach ask credit bureaus for a copy of your report for review. This request shows up on the credit report as a hard inquiry, which affects your credit score.

Minimize the potential damage by rate shopping within a short period of time, such as a couple of weeks. According to myfico.com, “Multiple inquiries from auto or mortgage lenders in a short period of time are typically seen as one inquiry and have little impact on your score.”

Believe it or not, closing your old accounts can damage your score because, in essence, doing so may shorten your credit history. Credit history makes up about 15 percent of the score, so you do not want to shorten it unless it is absolutely necessary.

Closing accounts will also affect what is called the credit utilization ratio. This is the amount of credit you are using relative to the amount of available credit you have. Closing an account will cause your ratio to go up because closing the account drops your total available credit while not reducing the amount of credit you are using.

Consumers should be very aware of the amount of debt that they have on the books. Amounts owed will make up nearly 30 percent of the score. The more you owe, the lower your score will be.

Lastly, consumers should be careful about cosigning for another person. If the other person does not pay on time you will most likely see a reduction in your credit score.

Keep track of what is on your credit reports and you will have done a lot to maximize your credit score.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_9059.shtml

Blogging Power To Help With Starting Business

By: Zachary Thompson

Many new business owners underestimate the power of blogging. Blogging is an extremely powerful tool that you can use in conjunction with starting a small home business. Even if your business is not web based, blogging can still help you when starting a small home business. One of the strongest areas to begin a new business is in the wellness industry. This is because there are so many different types of products and types of services that you can offer to consumers around you and on the Internet. Blogging is a wonderful way to get the word out about your new home business and help to promote it.

Let?s first look at the basics of blogging. Blogging is writing a short piece about a specific topic or event. Normally, people place their blog posts in categories that are based on the topics. If you?re not a writer, don?t worry. If you don?t have time to write, don?t worry. There are many blogger ghost writers available that can help you fill your blog with content. There are also some terrific article directories that you can use for your blog content as long as you follow their terms of service. There are many places that host blogs for no charge at all. Blogs are typically written daily or once every few days and are on any topic that you choose.

Blogs have a link area. You can create links to your specific product descriptions and to your web store. If you are operating offline, you can include information about your business such as location, products and even directions. A fan of your blog might be in your area visiting and stop into your store to purchase something because they read your blog weekly. If your new business is on the internet, you will want to use the blog links to link back to your specific products that relate to your blog.

Write about topics that are about your business. However, don?t write a bunch of ads. You can but not many people will visit your blog very much if you do this. They will feel like your blog is spamming them. Also, don?t plaster your blog with a bunch of advertisements. Your blog is your gateway or portal to your money making sites. Using a blog to primarily make money is a mistake that many new business owners make.

If your new small home business is promoting skin care products, there are many topics you can write about. You can write about skin care in general, stages of acne, types of acne, chemical peels, micro-derm abrasion scrubs and other information about the skin. You can even cover the symptoms of skin cancer, harmful effects of UV rays and so forth. Perhaps, you can do a series on nutrition and skin health? There are many, many different topics that you can cover in your blog that will be interesting for people to read and helpful. Consumers are more likely to purchase from someone that is offering them real information and real service as opposed to someone that is bombarding them with advertisements. As people become regulars to your blog, they will naturally click the blog links and visit your new small home business.

People only have time to read a certain amount of material in one sitting and one day. Vary the length of your blog entries. Have some that are useful and helpful but short such as a tip that they can use for your niche. Have some that are humorous. People love to laugh in their stressful days. You can do one category that is nothing but humor so that people that want to relax will come to your blog to see the latest funny thing that you posted. When you use blogging correctly it is a powerful marketing tool for starting a small home business.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_9083.shtml