Ricky Lim asked:




Before applying for a secured credit card, it is good to be familiar with the different types of cards that are available to make sure that you get the one that will suit your needs. Some of the most common types include the Standard Credit Cards; this one allows a customer to have a revolving balance up to a certain limit.

In this case, funds are deducted once a purchase has been done and once it is repaid the funds are made available once again. In case a customer has not cleared the balance by the end of the month, and then a finance charge is raised. These types have a minimum payment period that must be met by a certain due date that has been set if not, a fine is charged. Insensitivity and benefit that go beyond that of normal cards are offered by premium credit cards.

It includes Gold and platinum which offer reward points, cash backs etc. They come with minimum requirements and also they have a higher fee than the rest. The common factor between standard and premium is that they both offer zero percent interest cards, student card and many more. Charge cards on the other hand do not have limit.

This means that, at the end of every month a customer is supposed to have cleared the full balance. Failure to which affine is charged or the card is subjected to cancellation depending on the card agreement. There is nothing like minimum payment or finance charge when it comes to charge cards since the balance is supposed to be paid in full.

The other type is the Limited Purpose Card. This type of card can only be use on certain areas. An example of where payments can be settled using limited purpose cards is in terms of store and gas card. This is because it can only be used like credit cards with minimal payment and financial charges. The only card so far that needs the owner to first of all, load money on it before using it is the Prepaid Credit Card.

After purchase funds are withdrawn directly and it doe not matter how much there is because one purchases according to what one has.

Jessie

Robert Alan asked:




In the days before computers, you use to have to apply for credit cards in person at banks and retail establishments or by snail mail. Today, the Internet opens many doors for people, including applying for an instant approval credit card online. Even if computers are intimidating, you will find it fast and easy to apply online. Online applications are relatively simple, easy to use and require little information.

Computer-Friendly

You don’t have to be a computer guru to take advantage of the instant credit card approval process. As long you know the basics about using the Internet, you are well equipped to getting approved.

Whether you find an instant credit card approval using the major search engines or you receive a mail offer through email or postal services, you must first get to the instant approval credit cards web site. Once there, most card companies keep it simple, guiding you through the entire process, which is unbelievably short. In fact, you may find areas on the Internet that provide an easy way for you to compare similar card offers. Use this function to your advantage, ensuring that you get the best instant approval credit cards available before applying.

Easy To Complete

Once you’ve narrowed down and selected one out of hundreds of instant approval credit cards, the rest is easy. You’ll only need to supply basic information – your name, address, phone number and place of employment and social security number. You might also be asked for a previous address if you’ve lived at your present home for a short time. Sometimes, the instant credit card approval will ask for the number of years you worked, as well as your gross monthly household income. And lastly, your social security number is required in order for the credit card company or bank to check your credit report. Credit card issuers base their approval on your credit report and FICO score.

Before pushing the “submit” button, be sure to read all terms and conditions of the card. You wouldn’t want to unnecessarily have an inquiry on your credit report, as this can lower your FICO score and inhibit you if you decide to apply for other instant approval credit cards.

Approvals Made Fast

If you’ve completed all required information and have good credit, then there’s not much left for you to do. You can expect instant credit card approval. Notification will be processed within 30 seconds or a couple of minutes either through the web site or sent to you via email.

If you don’t have good credit or you’re not sure where you stand, then applying for an instant approval credit card online may not be as simple. Your application could be rejected. If this is the case, then speak to a credit card representative to find out why. They may be able to offer assistance that could lead to you getting instant credit card approval after all. It doesn’t hurt to ask. Often times they may just want you to provide additional information. Although the instant credit card approval process has been slowed a bit, if approved, you will still get a card much faster than the traditional method.

Instant Credit

Now that you’ve been approved, your new instant credit cards will be in the mail delivered to your home in a matter of days. Depending on where you received your approval, you may also get instant access to your credit line. Some credit card issues provide you with your credit card number and expiration date to use right away for online purchases.

See how simple it is? All in the same day, even the same hour, you can 1) apply for an instant approval credit card online, 2) receive instant notification that you are approved and 3) start making purchases. What are you waiting for? Get your instant approval credit card online today!

Viola

Cornelius Crumpacker asked:




Every time that someone looks at your credit report, the inquiry is noted. If you have lots of inquiries on your report, it may appear that you are shopping for several loans at once – or that you have been rejected by lenders. Both make you appear a poor credit risk and may affect your credit score. This means that you should be careful about who looks at your credit report. If you are shopping for a loan, shop around within a short period of time, since inquiries made within a few days of each other will generally be lumped together and counted as one inquiry.

You can also cut down on the number of inquiries on your account by approaching lenders you have already researched and may be interest in doing business with – by researching first and approaching second you will likely have only a few lenders accessing your credit report at the same time, which can help save your credit score.

Be careful of online loan rate comparisons.

Online loan rate quotes are easy to get – type in some personal information and you can get a quote on your car loan, personal loan, student loan, or mortgage in seconds. This is free and convenient, leading many people to compare several companies at once in order to make sure that they get the best deal possible.

The problem is that since online quotes are a fairly recent phenomenon, credit bureaus count each such quote estimate as an “inquiry.” This means that if you compare too many companies online by asking for quotes, your credit score will fall due to too many “inquiries.”

This does not mean that you shouldn’t seek online quotes for loans – not at all. In fact, online loan quotes are a great resource that can help you get the very best rates on your next loan. What this information does mean, however, is that you should research companies and narrow down possible lenders to just a few before making inquiries. This will help ensure that the number of inquires on your credit report is small – and your credit rating will stay in good shape.

Marian

H. Scott Miller asked:




With millions of credit reports being ordered by creditors and individuals alike, the credit report is arguably the most misunderstood document in circulation. And for good reason… but unfortunately none of them are good for you.

This article will seek to demystify the contents, abbreviations and short hand language that is found throughout a typical credit report. Let’s get started…

Anatomy of a Credit Report

A credit report typically contains the following sections:

- Personal Information

Here you will find identifying information like:

* Name

* Current Address

* Social Security Number

* Date of Birth

* Spouse’s Name (if applicable)

* Employment Information (When Made Available)

- Public Record Information

This section will outline all public record items obtained by local, state and federal courts that reflect your history in paying financial obligations. This section will include:

* Bankruptcy Records

* Tax Liens

* Judgments

* Collection Accounts

* Overdue Child Support (applicable in many states)

- Collection Agency Account Information

Accounts that have been placed in collections in the last seven years will be listed here.

Contents to include:

* Collection Agency’s Name

* Amount Owed

* Contact Information (in some cases)

- Credit Account Information

Contents in this section usually consist of:

* Company Name (Name of creditor reporting information)

* Account Number (Lists the account # for specific credit account with the company)

* Whose Account (Indicates who’s responsible for the account and the type of participation that is included; see acronym chart below for definitions to common abbreviations)

* Date Opened (Specifies the month and year the account was established)

* Months Reviewed (Lists the number of months the account has been reported to the bureaus)

* Last Activity (Indicates the last payment and/or charge you made on the account)

* High Credit (Represents either the highest amount charged or the current credit limit)

* Terms (Pertains to installment debt; number of payments or the amount of total payments maybe listed)

* Balance (Reflects the amount owed at the time the report was ordered)

* Past Due (Lists any past due amount owed at the time the report was ordered)

* Status (An alphanumeric coding system used to indicate the account type and timeliness of payment; see acronym chart below for definitions to common abbreviations)

* Date Reported (Indicates the last time information was reported by the creditor to the bureaus)

Inquiries

This section will list all the businesses/creditors that have requested your credit report in the last 24 months.

Useful Charts

Whose Account Chart

0 = Undesignated

1 = Individual (borrower)

2 = Joint (borrower and someone else)

3 = Authorized User of Account

4 = Joint Account

5 = Co-maker

6 = On Behalf of

7 = Maker

8 = Individual Account for Spouse

9 = No Longer Associated With

Account Type Chart

I = Installment Account

M = Mortgage

O = Open Account

R = Revolving Account

Account Rating Chart

0 = too new to rate.

1 = pays in 30 days.

2 = pays in more than 30 days but less than 60 days.

3 = pays in more than 60 days, but less than 90 days.

4 = pays in more than 90 days, but less than 120 days.

5 = account is at least 120 days past due.

7 = bankruptcy

8 = repossession.

9 = collection.

Information Source Chart

XPN = Experian (formerlyTRW)

EFX = Equifax

TU = TransUnion

Misc. Account Types Chart

A = Automotive

B = Banking

C = Clothing

D = Department & Mail Order

E = Employment

F = Finance

G = Grocery

H = Home Furnishing

I = Insurance

J = Jewelry & Camera

K = Contractors

L = Lumber Hardware

M = Medical Health

O = Oil National Credit Cards

P = Personal Services Not Medical

R = Real Estate Public Accommodation

S = Sporting Goods

T = Farm Garden Supplies

U = Utilities Fuel

V = Government

W = Wholesale

X = Advertising

Y = Collection Services

Z = Miscellaneous Public Record

Experian Specific Codes Chart

C Current

N Current account/zero balance–no update tape received.

0 Current account/zero balance–reported on update tape.

1 30 days past the due date

2 60 days past the due date

3 90 days past the due date

4 120 days past the due date

5 150 days past the due date

6 180 days past the due date

7 Making regular payments or paid under wage earner plan or similar arrangements.

8 derogatory, e.g. repossession, foreclosure.

9 derogatory, e.g. collection, charge off.

B Account condition change, payment code not applicable

-(Dash) No history reported for that month. Blank No history maintained; see payment status comment

Experian Score Factor Codes Chart

01 Current balance on accounts

02 Delinquency reported on accounts

03 Too few bank revolving accounts

04 Too many bank revolving accounts

05 Number of accounts with balances

06 Number of finance company accounts

07 Unable to evaluate recent payment history

08 Number of recent inquiries

33 Proportion of current loan balance to original loan amount

09 Number of accounts opened within the last 12 months

10 Proportion of balance to high credit on revolving accounts

11 Current balance on revolving accounts

12 Length of revolving account history

13 Length of time (or unknown time) since account delinquency

14 Length of time accounts have been established

15 Insufficient or lack of bank revolving account information

16 Insufficient or lack of revolving account information

17 No recent (non-mortgage) account balance information

18 Number of accounts delinquent

19 Too few accounts rated “current”

24 Lack of recently reported balances on revolving/open accounts

20 Length of time since legal item filed or collection item reported

21 Amount “past due” on accounts 22 Account(s) not paid as agreed and/or legal item filed

32 No recent installment loan information

30 Length of time since most recent account established

37 # of finance co. accounts relative to length of finance history

25 Length of installment loan history

26 Number of revolving accounts

99 Lack of recent information on finance accounts, or lack thereof

31 Too few accounts with recent payment information

28 Number of accounts established

98 Lack of recent information on auto loan, or lack of auto loans

36 Length of time open installment loans have been established

Transunion Specific Whose Account Codes Chart

A Authorized user of shared account

C Joint contractual liability

I Individual account for sole use of customer

M Account for which subject is liable, but co-signer has liability if the maker defaults

P Participant in shared account which cannot be distinguished as C or A

S Account for which subject is co-signer and becomes liable if maker defaults

T Relationship with account terminated

U Undesignated

X Deceased

Transunion Date Indicators Chart

A Automated

C Closed

D Declined

F Repossessed/Written Off/Collection

I Indirect

M Manually Frozen

N No Record

P Paid Out

R Reported

S Slow Answering

T Temporarily Frozen

V Verified

X No Reply

Transunion Manner of Payment Code Chart

00 Too new to rate, or no rating

01 Pays (or paid) within 30 days of payment due date, or not over one payment past due

02 Pays (or paid) within 30 days of payment due date, but not more than 60 days, or not more than two payments past due

03 Pays (or paid) within 60 days of payment due date, but not more than 90 days, or not more than three payments past due

04 Pays (or paid) within 90 days of payment due date, but not more than 120 days, or not more than four payments past due

05 Pays (or paid) within 120 days of payment due date or not more than four payments past due

07 Making regular payments under Wage Earner Plan or similar arrangement

08 Repossession

8A Voluntary Repossession

8D Legal Repossession

8P Making payments to account with MOP/08

8R Repossession redeemed

09 Bad debt; placed for collection

9B Collection account

9P Making payments or paid with an MOP of 09 or 9B

UC Unclassified

UR Unrated

Negative Remarks Code Chart

- CURR WAS FOR. Foreclosure proceedings began on your account. However, all past due amounts have been paid and the account is now current.

- CURR WAS 30-2. Your account has twice been 30 days past due, but is now current.

- DEED IN LIEU. You gave a creditor a deed to your property to prevent them from foreclosing.

- DEL WAS 120. At one point, your account was 120 days past due. You have made some payments, but the account is still 30, 60, or 90 days late.

- GOVCLAIM. You failed to repay a government loan, and the government filed a claim against you.

- FORECLOSURE. A foreclosure occurred on your property as you failed to pay the creditor.

- NOT PAY AA. An outstanding balance still exists and you are not paying according to the agreement.

- CHARGED TO P & L. The creditor charged-off the debt on their profit and loss statement as they felt it was uncollectible.

- REPO. Your property was repossessed because you failed to repay your loan.

- VOL SURR. To prevent repossession by a creditor, you voluntarily surrendered your property.

- 30-DAY DEL. You payments are at least 30 days late on one or more accounts.

Negative Remarks Dictionary

- Bankruptcy – bankruptcy indicates you once were financially unable to pay your obligations when due.

- Tax Lien – you owe taxes and an IRS or state tax lien was entered against your property.

- Judgment – there is now a judgment on record against you due to losing a lawsuit either at trial or because you failed to defend.

- Settled – a pending lawsuit was resolved before trial.

- Child Support – you failed to pay court-ordered child support.

- Withdrawn – a bankruptcy case was withdrawn.

- Dismissed – either the court ruled in your favor or the creditor failed to show up and your case was dismissed.

- Discharged – bankruptcy was filed and the court relieved you of your debts.

- Paid and Satisfied – a court judgment or a collections account has been fully paid.

- Suit – there is a legal action pending against you.

Still confused?

I wouldn’t blame you; it’s a lot of information to process…

Click HERE to request a sample credit report with a detailed explanation of the contents that serves as a handy reference when you need it.

Scott