Many people are aware of the important role the credit rating plays in their lives. However, understanding what actually goes into a credit score (the credit score breakdown) might present a bit more difficulty. There are several different methods of scoring, but most lenders and banks rely on the FICO method that has been in existence since the 1980′s when it was developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. The three prominent credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) all worked with Fair Isaac in order to come up with the FICO method.

Your credit score may be any number from 300 to 850. The average American falls at about 690 which is deemed relatively good credit. However, while this score should secure you a loan, it will not get you the very best interest rates on a loan.

Following is the credit score breakdown:

Payment History. The biggest chunk of your score (35%) is derived from your payment history. This score is influenced by how well (or not) you pay your bills on time, how many have been sent to collection agencies, bankruptcies, tax liens, etc. Keep in mind that missing a payment is worse than making a late payment and that being late or especially missing a mortgage payment is a bigger blow to your credit score than missing a credit card or utility payment.

Outstanding debt. The amount of debt you have (compared to the amount of credit you have not used) accounts for 30 percent of your score. Try not to max your credit cards out. In fact, it is recommended that you only use 25 to 50 of the credit that is available to you. A way to balance this out is to obtain more lines of credit and not use them. However, you do not want to apply for a bunch of credit cards all at once as this is marked against you. If your credit is in good standing, apply for a reputable card every six months or so and save it for a rainy day.

credit duration: Fifteen percent of your credit score is based on how long you’ve established credit. This is common sense. The longer your credit history, the better your overall score will be. More data about your past leads to a more accurate prediction of your future credit worthiness.

Types of credit: Having several types of credit will actually boost your score if they are managed well. This counts for 10 percent of the overall rating.

Too much activity: As mentioned earlier, opening new credit accounts all at once will negatively affect your score in the short term. It’s also important that you are aware that your score can be lowered for too many “hard inquiries” about your status. A “hard inquiry” is one that you have authorized a lender to perform. If you are inquiring about your own score, this will not count against you.

Understanding what goes into the credit score breakdown is the first step in improving your score.

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With the increases in technology, it’s becoming more and more difficult to find ways of preventing credit card fraud. It seems as soon as we come up with one effective method to protect our information, the crooks find a way to get around our safeguards. When you use credit cards you will always have some level of risk, but the good news is that by following some simple strategies you can greatly decrease those risks.

Here are some simple things you can do to prevent fraudulent activity:

1. Make sure you check your credit report at least yearly, and make sure you check all three reports since there can be different information on each one. If you notice something unusual contact the credit bureau immediately.

2. Shred all of your documents, particularly credit card statements and credit card offers you receive in the mail. Also, contact any companies who are sending you card offers in the mail and request that they stop sending them to you.

All it takes is one thief to grab a credit card offer out of your mailbox and activate the card and you can have a very hard time sorting it all out and getting that fraudulent activity off of your credit report.

Also, don’t take your trash out at night. You may find it hard to believe but thieves will actually steal your trash bags and look through them for any type of personal information.

3. Don’t carry a lot of credit cards with you, only carry the ones that you use the most often, or better yet, don’t carry a card with you at all unless you are going to go shopping.

4. Don’t sign your name on your credit card. That really doesn’t offer you any protection since a thief can see how you sign your name and copy it. A better alternative is to sign the back of your card: ‘Request ID’ or something like that, then a cashier has to ask for more identification. It might be a little more time consuming but in the long run this simple step could help save your credit score and your good name.

5. Never give out your credit card number, or any personal information, to anyone on the phone unless you are the one that made the call. There is technology available that allows anyone to program any name or number they want to show up on your caller ID.

Just because your caller ID is showing the name of your local bank, it doesn’t mean it’s your local bank. It could just as easily be a scammer who is using the technology to make their phone number show up as the phone number of your bank. If you’re ever in doubt, play it safe, end the call and call your bank back yourself.

Too many people take fraud too lightly. It seems that just because the bank or credit card company doesn’t hold you responsible for fraudulent debt that people don’t care. Well they should. The bank is not going to pay all those fraudulent charges themselves, even if they don’t charge you for them directly, they are charging you, and all of us, by having increased fees. Preventing credit card fraud is easy to do and will benefit all of us.

Average credit scores for Americans are estimated to be about 690. If you don’t know your credit score and are planning on purchasing something that requires a loan, it’s probably a good time to find out how you rank in terms of credit. While it is commonly (and mistakenly) believed that having debt is “bad”, the truth of the matter is that debt itself isn’t bad, it is the way that you manage your debt that can get you either a good or bad credit score.

Whether you are below or above average credit scores in the states, there are a number of things that you can do to improve your score and a number of things that you should avoid if at all possible.

In order to raise your score, first make a commitment to paying your bills on time. If you are having trouble paying all of your bills, the one that you need to pay no matter what (even at the expense of others) is your mortgage. Missing a mortgage payment is a much bigger blow to your credit than a missed or late credit card or utility bill payment.

Next, consider opening up new lines of credit for a rainy day. Do not go credit crazy and open up a bunch of accounts at once. But every 6 months or year you can apply for a new credit card and not use it. This raises your unused credit amount and also your score. If you are maxed out on all of your credit lines, this brings down your score.

Once factor that goes into your score is how many different types of credit you have. If you are balancing a mortgage, car loan, and several credit cards, this shows that you can manage various forms of credit and that fact weighs in positively on your credit score.

Keep in mind that longevity is also important. The longer you can go on paying your bills on time, opening up new credit lines (while not using them) and balancing a variety of credit accounts, the better your score will be.

Just to recap on what you need to avoid in terms of maintaining good credit status or improving below-average status:

* Do not delay or skip a mortgage payment. * Do not close down credit accounts, even if you are not using them. Leave them open to show that you are not using all credit which is available to you. * Do not make requests for new credit lines all at one time.

If you are in the average American credit range, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting any type of loan. However, you will not be paying the best interest rate on your loan. A person with a credit score of 520 will pay almost four percent more on interest than someone in the highest ranking credit bracket. That is a significant difference. And if you are in the lower bracket, think of how much you will save by bringing your score up. Being among the above average credit scores is definitely attainable.

If you take a look through the television stations on almost any given day there is a television show somewhere that features home improvement, real estate investing, or some sort of combination of the two. From shows that teach people how to sell homes that have lack luster reviews to shows that teach viewers that it is possible to buy, repair, and re-sell a home in a matter of weeks for astronomical profits, there are shows that appeal to the entrepreneurial wannabes in audiences around the globe.

These shows have made and lost fortunes a few times over by convincing viewers that they too can do the wondrous things seen on television. The truth is that many viewers are capable of doing these things but television never really shows how hard the work actually may be. The television cameras do not always show the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making these projects successful and rarely mention the countless complete and total failures that occur along the way.

The cameras are also not to keen for showing up at 4 am and rolling well after midnight when the work for the day is finished. It doesn’t catch the heart attacks and nightmares as credit cards are going dangerously close to being completely maxxed out while dreams of quick riches fade right in front of investor’s eyes.

This does not mean that every project is doomed to failure only that things are not always as rosey as they may appear to be on the television shows. Flipping houses may seem to be a bit glamorous and a lot hands on. The problem with that is that too few people really realize how much work goes into the hands on part of the program. This is not easy money no matter how much the television cameras would like to convince you otherwise.

It is very possible to turn a substantial profit in a relatively short amount of time if you keep your cool, use your head, and buy and sell in the right conditions. The problem is that so many people do not consider the big picture and find themselves in over their heads and out of money before the project is anywhere near completion.

One thing that television has definitely done for this line of work is make competition for the flappable houses a little fiercer. The early bird in this business gets the worm and while the cheapest house isn’t always the best candidate the less competition you have driving the prices up, the better in this situation. The goal is to buy low and sell high. Most people do not have a terrible amount of competition, as of yet, on the selling high portion of the program. The real trouble at this point in time lies in the buying low portion as there are many more would be real estate investors that are interested in buying the inexpensive properties than there are that will actually see the projects through from beginning to end.

So yes, television has greatly changed the way people invest in real estate. Whether this is truly good or bad for the overall real estate market remains to be seen. In light of the recent down turns in real estate it is to be expected that some of the popularity may diminish. The sad thing is that this is still one of, if not the best ways to make a large sum of money fairly quickly that is legal in the world today. Fortunes can be made and lost in real estate; the trick is always in placing your bets on the right property at the right time. For those who are willing to take the risks associated with this type of investment in today’s market and those that are willing to wait for a slight upturn in the market the profit potential is phenomenal.

After you pay off credit card debt

Credit card debt is a very big problem that is being faced by a lot of people who have been irresponsible and undisciplined in the use of their credit card. Though some might have landed up with credit card debt due to some unfortunate event/emergency in their life, most people carry a credit card debt due to their own wrong doings (i.e. wrong usage of their credit card debt). There are a lot of ways to pay off credit card debt and a lot of people do achieve this feat (i.e. are able to pay off credit card debt). Surely, to be able to pay off credit card debt is really a great achievement in itself for not everyone is able to pay off credit card debt. It takes a lot of discipline, restraint, planning and perseverance to finally pay off credit card debt. However, there is more to paying off credit card debt then just being able to pay off credit card debt.

Here we are talking about the life after you pay off credit card debt successfully. As mentioned before, of all the people that try to pay off credit card debt not everyone is able to pay off credit card debt i.e. there are some failures too. However, some people fail after they have succeeded in paying off credit card debt. These are those people who let themselves loose and go on a spending spree as soon as they pay off credit card debt. Soon, these people again land up with a credit card debt and are again trying to pay off credit card debt. So, it’s not enough to just pay off credit card debt, it’s equally important to maintain a debt-free status even after you pay off credit card debt; only then can you enjoy a stress-free life in the world of credit cards. So learn your lessons well and do not let yourself loose on the path to another credit card debt. Most of the rules that you followed when you were trying to pay off credit card debt, will also hold good after you have paid off your credit card debt. Here is a quick synopsis of things that you should take care of even after you pay off credit card debt:

1) Do not overspend. Yielding to the sale offers for something that you don’t really need, is a big mistake that leads to overspending

2) Always remain within 70% of your credit limit.

3) Make credit card bill payments in time and in full.

4) Don’t hold more than 2 credit card accounts (two are enough for anyone)

These are just very basic things; you can add more based on your own experience and knowledge.

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