http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/articles.asp Recent articles and information covering a wide variety of credit counseling topics. en-us Copyright 2008 StraightCreditCounseling.com info@StraightCreditCounseling.com (StraightCreditCounseling Editor) admin@StraightCreditCounseling.com (StraightCreditCounseling WebMaster) Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:35:00 GMT CreditCounseling http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/images/straightcreditcounseling.gif http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/articles.asp For years, there has been a constant debate over whether leasing a car versus buying a car is better. Nowadays, added to the question of leasing versus buying is whether leasing or buying improves your credit score. Well, in truth, there is no real difference when it comes to improving your score. But when you lease, you will require a better score to begin with than with a loan. Both basically work the same and require that you make every payment on time and never be late. Making payments on time is what affects your credit scores. And because there is no down payment with a lease and payments are usually lower, leases are often considered to be a higher risk. So, if you want to try and lease, a lot will depend on your credit score. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:29:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_leasing_vs_buying_car.asp credit_articles_leasing_vs_buying_car.asp In this day and age, learning to use a credit card wisely is a very important activity; otherwise you could get buried in credit card debt and not know how to get out from under the debt. Unfortunately, for many people, the desire to have things instantly gets in the way of wise choices, which leads to buying things even when we do not have the money to pay for them. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:29:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_use_credit_card_effectively.asp credit_articles_use_credit_card_effectively.asp Would you know what to do if you opened a department store credit card bill after only using it only a few times for minor purchases and discovered that your most recent statement included hundreds of dollars in charges from a store branch that you never visited? When contacting the store, you discovered that somehow the store messed up by allowing a fraudulent customer to charge items on your account even without showing proper identification. Frightening to say, but the most recent statistics demonstrate that more than 27 million Americans have been victims of identity theft. The thieves use personal information they have collected fraudulently to make purchases on your credit cards, withdraw money from your bank accounts and obtain new credit cards. The damage to your credit can go through the roof and could potentially take months or years to rebuild. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:15:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_identity_theft_and_credit.asp credit_articles_identity_theft_and_credit.asp When debt is looming large and a person feels a great deal of pressure to do something positive about their financial situation, is it better to go the credit-counseling route or is choosing a bankruptcy attorney the best way to go? The answer to that question is not simple one because each, in its own way has merit and can help in different situations. However, because they are very different before making a final decision, it is important to know how each can impact on your situation. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:56:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_counseling_vs_bankruptcy.asp credit_articles_counseling_vs_bankruptcy.asp I do not need to tell you how easy it is to get into financial debt and how hard it is to get out of it, especially in todays economy. Owning a home, a car and having major credit card payments can get anyone in trouble. However, if you find yourself struggling with credit card debt, you may find that debt consolidation is the ideal solution for your situation. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:09:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_debt_consolidation.asp credit_articles_debt_consolidation.asp Knowing your credit score and all the contents in your credit report are very important to your credit history. The reason for their importance is that careful credit report monitoring helps consumers obtain credit at rates that align with their credit history. As everyone knows, your credit history is what determines the cost you will pay to receive a loan. Over time, if you have good credit score, you are rewarded with paying lower interest rates, which can ultimately save you a lot of money. Additionally, monitoring your credit report helps to guard against identity theft. And while a number of consumer credit reporting agencies are available to monitor your credit for a fee, credit monitoring can be costly. But of course, having the credit monitoring service watch your credit and let you know if they notice anything suspicious on your credit report is certainly worth the money. But if you do not want to spend the money to have a credit reporting agency monitor your credit, you can do it yourself and save yourself quite a bit of money. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:49:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_knowing_your_credit_report.asp credit_articles_knowing_your_credit_report.asp Okay, so you have gotten into a little bit of a financial mess and you are having problems paying off your bills. But, do not feel too bad, because you are not alone. In fact, there are more than 30 million people in the US that have problems with their credit report. And even though you may think you will not ever be able to get credit again, that is simply not true. However, since your credit history is so important to your life, mostly because your credit report will determine whether you can apply for a mortgage or a car loan, naturally rebuilding your credit should be at the top of your list. In fact, by following a few simple ideas, you can rebuild your credit in a relatively short amount of time. Therefore, if you are eager to rebuild your credit, you should start with some of the basics so that you can start getting your life back on track. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:04:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_rebuild_your_credit.asp credit_articles_rebuild_your_credit.asp We all want to have a good credit report so that we are able to buy the things we need and want, but so many people have over-used their credit cards and are now finding themselves in a lot of debt. If you find yourself struggling with huge credit card debt, it may be in your best interest to consider working with a Credit Counselor. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:04:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_benefits_hiring_credit_counselor.asp credit_articles_benefits_hiring_credit_counselor.asp Doing what you can to get yourself out of credit debt is an excellent idea, but with so many companies to choose from and identity theft so rampant, how can you know if the credit repair company you are choosing is not fraudulent? Today, many companies offer credit repair counseling, however, it is important to watch out for credit card schemes. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:18:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_credit_repair_schemes.asp credit_articles_credit_repair_schemes.asp With so many people in financial trouble these days and credit card balances through the roof, a lot of people are searching for a credit counselor that can help get them out of debt and trouble. But with so many credit counselors to choose from, how does one go about finding a good credit counselor and what should a person look for to be sure they are reputable? StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:27:04 -0600 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_finding_good_credit_counselors.asp credit_articles_finding_good_credit_counselors.asp With so much talk about subprime mortgage fallout, it is important to understand what this could mean to anyone who either owns a home or is thinking about buying or selling. For those unaware of what subprime mortgage means, it is a mortgage granted to a borrower with less than perfect credit. In general, subprime borrowers have either missed payments on a debt or have been late with payments. When this happens, lenders charge a higher interest rate to make up for any potential losses from customers who may either run into trouble or default. In other words, because the borrower is sub prime, lenders will charge a greater interest rate to make up for the possibility of default on the loan. In contrast, prime borrowers are those whose credit rating is generally above 620 on the FICO scale. The people who do not rate high on the FICO score are considered subprime. In that case, their mortgage rates are anywhere from 2 to 5 % higher than those paying prime rates. StraightCreditCounseling Staff Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:27:04 -0500 http://www.straightcreditcounseling.com/credit_articles_subprime_mortgage_fallout.asp credit_articles_subprime_mortgage_fallout.asp