Don’t miss these 7 random credit tips that are obscure and yet so very valuable.
Credit Tip #1 – Divorce Issues
If you are in the middle of divorce, and you don’t have a lazy family law attorney, you can legally prevent certain items from reporting on your credit report (by way of a judge’s order, until such time as credit judgement occurs). For example: if the spouse took the pick-up truck and fled out of state and they decide to make payments every other month to screw up the other spouse’s credit – there is a legal remedy to save the credit report.
Credit Tip #2 – Married Creditors
You always want to keep all of your creditors different from your spouse’s creditors on their credit report. In the event that a good opportunity comes along to purchase something, the other spouse can purchase it last minute; even if an unexpected collection comes up on your credit report, a disputed new late comes up, or anything that can present a glitch or an obstacle with closing on the purchase.
Credit Tip #3 – Types of Trade Lines
There are four types of trade lines on a credit report: mortgage, credit line, installment, and revolving accounts. Mortgages and credit lines are secured by real estate and have a higher value once they have been paid for more than 12 months. Installment loans are something that you pay down, but the balance cannot go back up, and is not secured by real estate. Revolving accounts are like your credit cards and the other accounts that you can pay down and continually borrow more against. Surprisingly, installment loans are the most powerful trade line to have – and if they have a high balance in proportion to the credit limit, they hurt your credit score the most.
Credit Tip #4- Using Credit Cards
You can legally purchase additional reported credit card trade lines onto your credit report – as an authorized user. This will legally inflate your score, and also increase your eligibility for higher credit limits on future loan applications. (We sell these too)
Credit Tip #5 – Account Type Ratios
It is best to have 3 revolving accounts for every installment account to legally inflate your scores. Some people have a 730 credit score with low balances, some people have an 830 credit score with low balances. This is one of the tricks to be 800 or above.
Credit Tip #6 – Reduce Inquiries With Pre-Approvals
Credit inquiries are not as easy to remove off of your credit report as they use to be. So before going to a car dealership, it is best to get a pre-approval for a lease or new purchase from your bank or credit union. This makes it so you don’t have to give your SSN to the car dealership and you can let the 2, 3 or 4 car dealerships fight in lowering their price to get your purchase/bank letter of commitment/sale.
Credit Tip #7 – Make Check Memos Matter
Restricted endorsements are typically illegal – you can’t change the terms and conditions of a contract by writing something in the memo portion of a check. However, under the laws of Accord And Satisfaction By Use of a Negotiable Instrument you can legally settle a disputed debt in full and settle other claims in its entirety by having the correct legal verbiage on the memo portion of the check and also on the endorsement side of the check (ask us to send you any case law and/or verdicts that may assist you or your legal team).
Legal disclaimer: This content is not formally asserted as legal advice, cannot be construed as legal advice, and only an attorney within your state is authorized to give legal advice.
