Tag Archives: score
Getting the Best Unsecured Loans
You might think that you can’t control what rates lenders will offer you, which is true to an extent, but there is actually a lot of things both small and large that you can do to improve your application and your search that will help you find the best unsecured loans offers.
The first thing you want to do, which may seem a little off course, is get a copy of your credit report. You can do this free online once a year. The report will not show you what your score is, but it will show you all the information used to calculate your score. First check this over for errors, such as closed accounts marked overdue or open, or your credit limit marked lower than what it really is. An important factor in your score is the credit available to you versus the amount you have used so you want this to be as high as possible. If you have any high card balances that you are able to pay down, do that! This will help your score greatly.
While your score is an important factor, there are still more things to consider. Have you lived at the same place, and had the same employer, for the last few years? This shows a lender that you are a stable customer and is something you’ll want to point out on your application. If you’ve had financial problems in the past caused by a specific factor that no longer exists, such as medical bills, student loans, or a divorce, you’ll also want to point this out. You don’t want to focus on this for too long, but a short two or three sentence explanation will help, lenders will take this into consideration.
When you go to start your loan search, whether you plan to use an online lender or a local lender, I recommend doing a brief internet search. I recommend looking at five sites and looking at their rates and their terms and conditions. This will give you an idea of what to expect while shopping around for the best offer. A lot of customers only look at the rates, which lenders know, so they often hide a lot of fees in their terms, so do make sure to read them over.
If you work on cleaning up your application to present yourself in the best light, and do a search through five lenders offers, you’ll be on your way to finding the best unsecured loan for your situation.
Defaulted Student Loan
A defaulted student loan will put you in a complicated situation. You will likely have to repay the loan and your credit will be ruined.
When your student loan goes into default, your account is turned over to collection agencies and various collection procedures begin. In addition, the government can garnish your social security benefits, your wages, and more.
According to a law that Congress created called the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you only have a negative mark on your credit report for a maximum of seven years. Although, these debts can be collected upon for life!
If you have a defaulted student loan on your report you are likely to have to pay interest rates of roughly 25% and place large down payments, just to be approved. More often than not you will be turned away for a new line of credit.
You should dispute the collection marks on your report. There is hope you can remove this mark from your report and, with some luck, you may be able to remove the debt entirely.
A dispute letter should be sent to each bureau containing a reason as to why the mark is not correct. Examples may be the account is paid in full, the mark has already been reported for seven years, not my account, and so forth.
This is the most difficult item to negotiate on a credit report and thus we suggest that you should hire a credit repair service to dispute it on your behalf. The benefit is you will have a licensed attorney fighting for you and there are continuously new laws passed by congress to help protect consumers.
We feel hiring an expert is worth the money since your credit score impacts every aspect of your life. This is a good idea since, compared to the high cost of a low credit score, hiring an expert can be done at very reasonable rates.
Please be aware that a private loan, such as one with Sallie Mae, will be difficult to remove but easier than a federal loan. A loan from the government, such as a Stafford loan or the Perkins loan, will be much harder to remove from your report.
When the bureaus receive your dispute letter they will contact the creator of the negative mark and ask them to verify the debt. They will verify that the account is yours, the dates are correct, and the balance of the account.
If the account can not be verified then the negative mark must be removed from your credit report. This is due to the Fair Credit Reporting Act saying that any unverifiable mark on your credit report must be removed.
It is estimated that 1 in every 4 people have an error on the report that is costing them money in higher interest rates. The bureaus and lenders make errors all the time, but your credit is the one that will suffer. If this mark is in error, be sure to send any documentation that you have with your dispute letter to prove it is in error.
In closing, if you have a defaulted student loan on your credit report, it does not mean you will have a low credit score for the rest of your life. Defaulted student loans are removed from credit reports every day. To do this, we suggest you dispute this mark with the credit bureaus.