Obtain Credit Report

Credit scores are used by many different businesses to help determine your overall creditworthiness. Having a bad credit history and no credit history at all usually means the same thing, a low credit score. Credit scores are not only used to determine whether or not you deserve credit from a lender, they may also be a deciding factor on whether or not you get an apartment or even a job. More and more people are taking credit scores into consideration before dealing with other people. Read more »

It’s no very uncommon for some lenders to report to one credit reference agency and not the other. Lenders are actually required to pay money to add entries to your credit report. That’s why some companies like cell phone carriers and utility companies only choose to report to your credit if you miss payments. Often times a lender will only report to a single credit reference agency to save themselves some money.  Read more »

Usage actually makes up about 10% of your overall credit report and score. You should be using your credit cards every month, even if it’s just for a few small purchases like gas or eating out. If you don’t use your credit cards it won’t exactly hurt your credit score per say but it definitely won’t be as beneficial to you as if you were to use your credit cards occasionally. If you pay off your balance every month you won’t have to pay any interest on your purchases and will help you to build a great credit history you can use in the future to get a mortgage or take out a car loan.

You may be able to try disputing the repossession; however, it’s not very likely that it will actually be removed from your credit report. The problem is that on the original loan documents you signed there is probably a clause that allows the lender to report any and all missed payments, repossessions, etc to your credit report. In this case you probably don’t have a whole lot of options regarding legal recourse in this matter.

The best thing you can do at this point is to continue making your payments on time and attempt to pay down some of your debt to help boost your credit score. This incident may hurt your credit for a free years but that’s no reason to let your credit be ruined completely. Do what you can to lower your debt and make payments on time to help improve your credit score slowly over time.

About 15% of your overall credit score and credit history is determined by the actual length of your credit history. If you decide to close your oldest credit cards it can definitely impact this part of your credit report. The only reason you would have to close a credit card is if there was an annual fee associated with having that card. It’s never worthwhile to have an annual fee, no longer how much history you’ve developed on your credit card. A better option would be to instead get another credit card with no fee and a lower interest rate once you’ve established your credit.

This one really depends on how you are using the credit cards. If you are carrying a balance on all or most of your cards every month then it will definitely hurt your credit report and score. If you are paying your bills in full every month then it could actually help your credit score as you will be seen as having lots of credit available and very little debt.

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend having 10 or more credit cards, you can generally keep as many credit cards as you are able to responsibly use and manage. Generally though I would only suggest having 2 credit cards total. One for every day purchases that you pay in full every month and earn rewards on and another with a low interest rate in case you ever need to carry a balance. Other than that, as long as you are responsible and pay your bills every month you can have as many credit cards as you would like, within reason.