credit score

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

I have a about $2000 to $3000 of medical bills that I have not been able to pay due to circumstances that I couldn%26#039;t control after having my son last year. How much does that effect your credit score, if any at all? I have heard both ways that it does and does not effect your score. I work full time but I still am just barelly making it paycheck to paycheck so its really hard to get any extra money to pay those bills off. I know that at least $2000 has already appeared on my credit report.

Thanks for your help.

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

Since it has already hit your report, then it has already affected your credit rating. I would suggest you contact your physician%26#039;s business office and see how little they can take in payments monthly. They have nothing to lose in taking something. If they send it to a collection agency, then they are out the fees that the agency will be collecting.

Try to cut some kind of deal with them that will take the bill off of your report. You can afford maybe some kind of payment, and promise them that when your financial circumstances improve, that you will then increase your payments. It%26#039;s win, win for you and them.

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

If the providers have sold the debts to collection agencies, then it will likely appear on your credit reports. If you can work out a payment plan with the providers to keep that from happening, you should do so.

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

sorry but yes...any bill not paid...

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

No, they don%26#039;t, until they%26#039;re sold to collections, then you%26#039;re screwed.

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

I am pretty sure it affects your credit score in some way. If all you can do is send $5.00 a month, go ahead and send it. At least trying to pay something on it every month will look better on your credit report. I suggest looking into taking the Finanical Peace University class by Dave Ramsey. He shows you how to get out of debit and build wealth.

Does medical bills effect your credit score?

any negative accounts will hurt score. Get a written agreement with them on a payment play.

Dave Ramsey is a good show to listen to also for advice

Building your Credit Score?

I would like to know if there are several really good ways to build a credit score.

Also is it better to have a balance and pay it off every month or is it better to have no balance at all.

Thanks

Building your Credit Score?

I have to make decisions everyday on whether to approve or deny people that apply for credit. If I had to give advice to people that are trying to start out building credit, this is the advice that I would give:

1. Open a checking account- While opening the account doesn%26#039;t directly build your credit, it does create a relationship between you and the bank by being an accountholder. Banks love to cater to their preferred customers that have accounts in great standing by offering loans and credit cards. Also, having a checking account not only helps manage your money, but it gives you the most powerful tool in building credit, a checking account to help pay your bills on time. Most banks and credit unions offer online banking with billpay that can make it easy for you to pay your bills on time, which is important in building credit.

2. Open a secured credit card- Secured credit cards are the easiest credit cards to get, mainly becuase a security deposit is placed upfront in order to establish a line of credit in the same amount. For example, if you deposit $250, your credit limit is $250, and so on. The deposit isn%26#039;t used to pay for any of the purchsases on the card unless, it was charged off and sent to collections, so you would have to repay it just like a regular card either in full or minimum monthly payments. The deposit is sometimes linked to a savings account, so it earns interest while you%26#039;re building credit, so the deposit isn%26#039;t sitting there. You can think of this as building credit with a savings account. The more you deposit, the higher your limit, which is good for your score because it creates a cushion between the total debt you owe and the credit you have available. Also, by continuing to add to the deposit, you%26#039;re also creating an emergency fund at the same time. A good way of using the card is by making small purchases ($20/month max) and paying on time every month while adding to the deposit. Usually after a year or so, the card either converts or upgrades to a regular card, and most importantly, the deposit is given back, which you can place in a savings account as an emergency fund.

3. Enroll with PRBC- PRBC is America%26#039;s Alternative Credit Bureau, providing a helpful service to the over 50 million people with limited or no credit history. If you pay your monthly bills on time, PRBC can help you build credit to qualify for a mortgage and better interest rates.On-time payments for the following bills are not reported to the traditional credit bureaus:

Rent

Cable

Phone

Daycare

Insurance

Electric

Natural Gas

Cell Phone

The only time your payments for these bills are reported to the other credit bureaus is if they%26#039;re missing or late.With PRBC, your on-time payments count. You build credit for paying your bills on time, even if you have no credit history. PRBC offers two simple ways to start building credit today.

In closing, just a few more things to keep in mind.

-Don%26#039;t spend more than 30% of your combined available credit on all your cards.

-Only apply for credit when necessary.

-Pay on time

Hope this helps...

Thanks for reading and...

Good luck!

Building your Credit Score?

The only way to keep a good credit score is to have credit, use it wisely, and make your payments on time. It%26#039;s best to have no balance on credit cards--available credit is one of the formula%26#039;s factors and who wants to pay interest, but carrying a balance while making payments on time isn%26#039;t going to kill an otherwise good credit score. Don%26#039;t max out any cards. That%26#039;s not a good idea for a multitude of reasons.

Building your Credit Score?

To build a credit score, pay all your bills on time and in full. This means telephone, electric and similar bills, rent, and credit cards.

If you are asking about a credit card balance, it is best to pay it off in full every month. It is also economically wise, because you avoid interest charges. to have a credit card with no balance cannot hurt you and may help a little. When you apply for more credit, an active card with no balance shows that others are willing to extend credit to you. However, there is not much point in having a credit card you don%26#039;t use. The point is to use it properly. That means do not charge more than 25-30 percent of your credit limit, pay it on time and in full

Building your Credit Score?

your best bet will be getting a credit card, which at the begining will have high interest rates and a fee but this will be the only way to get you going, but once you have use this card for about 6-9 months and you have paid your bills on time and all that good stuff you could apply for a better one and drop the first one, then you could try to get a small car loan or personal loan to give you more credit. that is how I got started credit is hard to get so when you get it take care of it, check out www.fastcreditcardapprovals.com and go under poor or no credit section and it will give you a list of credit cards for you. good luck

How long does it take your credit score to go .?

I paid my my mortgage late two months in a row. But have been back on track for the last 3. Was hoping my credit score would move back up soon because I noticed from my FICO score it went down quite a bit due to the late mortgage payments. And I have no new credit or anything. Actually paid off 2 credit cards that carried small balance like under $300 for both during that late period.

How long does it take your credit score to go .?

It takes 12 months of on time payments to bring your FICO score back up, which is unfair because it should recover at the same rate that it went down at. Unfortunately, the system does not work that way.

Do not only look at the late mortgage payments but also look to see if any of your other creditors made inquiries during that time as well. A %26quot;hard%26quot; inquiry, i.e. one that shows up on your credit report, reduces your FICO on average 4-7 points per inquiry depending on the creditor requesting the information.

Your FICO score dipped because of the risk assessment made on what you had been late on. If you had been late on the low balance credit cards vs. your mortgage, it would not have dipped the way it did. Credit reporting agencies and the creditors who use their system, rate certain %26quot;credit%26quot; differently. A mortgage is weighted more than the credit cards because of the level of investment involved.

How long does it take your credit score to go .?

probably takes longer to recover than it did to go down, maybe 6-12 months to get it back to where it was

How long does it take your credit score to go .?

around 6 months

How long does it take your credit score to go .?

It is much harder to bring them up than it is to drop them. I know you said late but in my business I see that people say late but what they mean is didn%26#039;t make the payment for 2 months. if that is the case you need to get caught up because even if you are making payments on time now you still are 2 months behind and have rolling lates on your credit. It%26#039;s gonna be a good 6-12 months after you get caught up to get close to where you were before.

You can be up to 15 days late before you start to rack on lates fees and it doesn%26#039;t report to the credit bureau unless you are 30 days late. If you are going to be late just don%26#039;t be 30 days late.

I need some help understanding my credit score?

when you pay things off your credit I know that they stay up there for 7 years, but by paying it off does it really help you?, cause everyone can still see that it%26#039;s up there? and does it help my credit score out any when i pay these things off? HOW DO YOU GET POINTS ON YOUR CREDIT SCORE? THANKS

I need some help understanding my credit score?

Satisfying payment on any credit account will have a positive effect on your credit score. Of course, it won%26#039;t erase the negative effect of a delinquent account. Pay down your debt as aggressively as you can and you%26#039;ll see your credit score improve dramatically over time.

I need some help understanding my credit score?

At http://www.mycreditadvise.com you%26#039;ll find helpful tips and advice on understanding credit scores.

Trying to build good credit history, improve credit score?

I%26#039;m a foreigner and don%26#039;t really have credit history in the US. I have a checking/saving account (for a few years now), cell phone. Have not been delinquent with payments. My credit score is low 500/not existant (depending on what company runs my credit report). How do I get it to go higher?

Trying to build good credit history, improve credit score?

You need a credit card but it will still take you a few years.

Trying to build good credit history, improve credit score?

It sounds like your score is low because you have no credit. You need to build a credit history by getting a credit card or another type of installment credit (maybe buy furniture on installment). From there on, make sure you are making your payments on time, and keep a nice big cushion between your balances on your accounts and your credit limits. If your accounts are always maxed out, this won%26#039;t look good.

It will take a few months for your score to pick up a nice amount and maybe a couple of years for it to be %26quot;really good.%26quot;

Good luck, and remember that your credit rating is easily one of the most important assets you have! Don%26#039;t lend your credit to others (i.e. co-sign others%26#039; loans besides your spouse, take out credit cards for others). Even family members like cousins might be too risky (personal experience) - you know the saying about not lending friends money if you want to keep your friendship.

Trying to build good credit history, improve credit score?

Get a loan on a car or what ever. Pay it off, and your credit rating will improve.

Another way is to get a loan secured by money. This may sound strange, but go to a bank you%26#039;ve researched and open a CD.

A couple of weeks later ask to talk to the loan officer that you spoke to originally when doing your research. Ask for a loan secured by the CD.

If your CD is $5,000, ask for a $3,000 loan for a year, then pay it off in 6 to 8 months. You can use the excused you want to purchase a computer or need it to pay for college classes. Whatever the excuse, don%26#039;t say it is to improve your credit rating or for consumer items.

Usually they will loan on that pretty easy.

Another way is to get a secured credit card. This is a card secured by money. You pay $500 and up that is used to secure the credit limit of the card. Use the card very occasionally, and don%26#039;t carry a balance on it.

After you get that one card, other companies will try to get you one of their unsecured cards. You can get just one, but no more. After that, close the secured credit card and get your money back.

By all means, don%26#039;t have several credit checks done in a short time. This will cause the credit rating from one of the big 3 to go down.

I have a FICO score over 800, but one hit me for 50 points because I had 3 credit checks in a short time. They viewed that as someone who was taking on too much debt or too many credit cards.

Good Luck.

I want to build my credit score. I just got a lump sum of money...how should I pay off debt?

My hubby was in law school for the last three years and we struggled from time to time so our credit score has suffered. We just got a large sum of cash that will pay off all of our unsecured debt (credit cards and stuff)....I don%26#039;t know if it is best to pay off the debt all at once, or make consistent (higher than minimum) monthly payments--which one will build my score??