Does Closing a Credit Card Hurt Your Credit Score?
Reader question: “My husband and I are planning to buy a house in a few months. Somebody told us we should close some of our old credit cards that we’re not using anymore. Supposedly it will help us to get approved for a mortgage loan by improving our debt-to-earnings ratio. It all sounds kind of sketchy to me, though. I don’t want to do anything that could hurt my credit. Does...
Read MoreWhat Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House?
Reader question: “We are hoping to buy our first home later this year. I’ve been researching all of the steps to the process, but everything I read says something different about credit scores. Some websites tell me I can get a loan with a score of 500 … others say I’ll need a 620 or higher. The number 720 seems to come up a lot too. I’m totally confused by all this....
Read MoreHow often should I check my credit report?
Question: “I read somewhere that I should check my credit report often, to make sure there are no errors on it. Is this true? How often should I check my credit report for this kind of thing?” I can’t seen any reason to pull your report more than once a year. You’re actually entitled to one free report per year, from all three of the reporting bureaus (Experian, TransUnion...
Read MoreWhat is My Credit Score, and Other Credit Questions
What is my credit score currently? What factors make up my score? How do I know if it’s good or bad? How much does it affect my chances of getting a mortgage loan? These are some of the most frequently asked questions relating to consumer credit. In this article, we will address all of these topics and more. Let’s start with the title question: 1. What is a credit score, exactly?...
Read MoreFreeCreditReport.com Has 11,046 Customer Complaints
Legal Note — I make no claims or assertions about FreeCreditReport.com, other than sharing this data relating to their BBB record (which is public record). The data reported in this article was taken from this page on January 7, 2010. FreeCreditReport.com has racked up more than 11,000 Better Business Bureau complaints over the last 36 months. I stumbled across this a couple of days ago and...
Read MoreHow Do I Check My Credit Score Online?
Question: “I want to check my credit score because I’m applying for a mortgage loan soon. What’s the best way to check it without having to pay for other stuff I don’t need?” This is a common question among home buyers. Here’s why. You see a website that offers you a free credit score, which is great. But then you read the fine print and learn that you have to...
Read More