Authorized User accounts are NOT what they use to be. In short, I use to recommend them but not anymore because they really don’t work now. An authorized user (commonly referred to as a piggyback account) is when someone adds you as an authorized user to their credit account. Then your credit report would be updated to show that account with all it’s longstanding positive history. Sounds good right? Well it was good for years but not anymore. The new FICO scoring model has 4 (yes four) scorecards devoted to credit files with authorized user accounts. The credit system has figured out this loop hole and closed it hard.
Let me give you an example of why authorized user accounts do NOT work. In 2009, I helped a young couple fix their credit to buy their first home. Both achieved over 80% success with our service and had over 700 FICO scores. When the husband applied for his mortgage he had a 710 FICO – sounds good right? Well there are two automated underwriting engines (commonly referred to as LP and DU in the mortgage industry) which effectively underwrite all (ok about 99.7%) mortgage loans in the country (yes I said the entire country). Well these two underwriting engines will decline any loan that has an authorized user account regardless of the credit score. My client whose score was 710 was declined because he had an authorized user account. I did not even know he had an authorized user account because it was not discernable on the credit report. No matter how much money he put down or how great his income, the computer would not approve his loan. When his income was entered as $100,000 monthly (yes $1.2 million per year) along with a 90% down payment the computer was still declining his loan, even with his 710 FICO score. The bottom line was that the computer knew his score was “tampered with” by having an authorized user account and would not approve his loan under any circumstances until the authorized user account was removed from his credit profile and then his loan sailed right through the automated underwriting process.
The bottom line is don’t spend money on these companies who want to sell you an authorized user tradeline with a high limit and longstanding history because it will NOT help you build credit or buy a house anymore!
:)
Matt
Toll Free: 888-NCFIXER (623-4937)
Toll Free Fax: 888-FAX-4020 (329-4020)
Local: 860-282-6181
330 Roberts Street Suite 402
East Hartford, CT 06108
Yesterday I posted about how everyone should have 3-5 open revolving credit accounts. That isn't always easy to get when you don't have a good credit score. There is a way to do it though.
One of the things I recommend you do to get good credit started is a secured credit card. A secured card works this way, you send the bank a minimum deposit of anywhere from $200 to $300. The bank then opens a savings account for you and deposits your money into it. Then you are issued a credit card with a limit matching the amount you deposited. You will receive statements and pay the bill like a regular card except you are not allowed to touch the money that is in the savings account to pay the bill. You won't get the money back until you either cancel the card or the account goes unpaid and reaches charge-off status at which point the bank uses that deposit to cover the unpaid bill.
Another way to get credit is through merchant accounts. These are accounts through which you can only use the credit at the providers store. Examples would be Macy's, Sears, or Jcpenny's. Some of these accounts can be just as hard to get as a regular Mastercard of Visa, but the merchant account providers I recomend to my clients are pretty close to guaranteed approval.
:)
Matt
Toll Free: 888-NCFIXER (623-4937)
Toll Free Fax: 888-FAX-4020 (329-4020)
Local: 860-282-6181
330 Roberts Street Suite 402
East Hartford, CT 06108
Probably one of the best things you can do for raising your score is getting more credit. You want to have 3-5 revolving accounts showing on your credit report. If you don't have enough I highly recommend opening some new accounts to build your credit.
A very common misconception that people have is that as long as they remove negative information that is reporting that their score will go up. NOT TRUE! Credit scores are calculated on a number of factors, some of which include credit history, credit usage, and payment history. Since 15% of your score is based upon how old accounts are it's not always wise to close or remove an account from your report because you will be shortening the amount of time on your report.
Another tip for the accounts you may already have is keeping your balance under a third. Thirty percent of your score is based upon your available credit. If you have a $300 limit but your balance is up to $250 than that starts to deduct from your score. Anytime you need to qualify for something and raise your score, your balances need to be under 30%.
The last little bit of advice may seem obvious but a lot of people don't put weight on it. Pay your bills on time! A late payment will show on your credit for 7 years, and the more you have the less likely you are to get new credit since the FICO program bases 35% of your score on your payment history. This can have the most detrimental effect on your score and is very hard to reverse the effects of.

:)
Matt
Toll Free: 888-NCFIXER (623-4937)
Toll Free Fax: 888-FAX-4020 (329-4020)
Local: 860-282-6181
330 Roberts Street Suite 402
East Hartford, CT 06108
Since there is a lot of negative thoughts out there about credit repair I wanted to take some time to show that credit repair, when done by some one who knows what they are doing, can have a great effect. I have been doing this for about 16 years now and last year had over a 70% deletion rate for my clients. Although not everything can be fixed or deleted by credit repair I like to think that I can help almost anyone raise their credit score.
Here is an example of a deletion letter that my company received on behalf of a client who had a collection account reporting for Midland Credit Management.

:)
Matt
Toll Free: 888-NCFIXER (623-4937)
Toll Free Fax: 888-FAX-4020 (329-4020)
Local: 860-282-6181
330 Roberts Street Suite 402
East Hartford, CT 06108
If your credit score is below 550 and you are having a hard time getting financed for anything, then you might want to consider credit repair. There are two ways to do credit repair. You can do it yourself, which isn't difficult but can be time consuming and frustrating (especially if you don’t what you’re doing) or you can pay a credit repair agency to do it for you (which can be expensive if you don’t know what to look for).
The first step in any type of credit repair is getting a copy of your credit report. Once a year you can request a free copy of your credit report from the three credit bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. When you have the credit report you need to look carefully at each account. How credit repair works is, any entries on your credit report that you think are inaccurate need to first be disputed with the three credit bureaus.
Next you must decide to either use a credit repair agency or to do it yourself. Should you have a lot of negative items on your credit report that are not accurate then you might want to consider saving yourself the hassle and hiring a credit repair agency. An average credit repair company charges about $1,000 for its services. This might be worth it if you have a lot of items you need to dispute. Keep in mind that by law a company cannot charge for a service it has not provided. This means that you should never pay for credit repair until the company has actually started to repair your credit.
Whether you decide to use a credit repair agency or do it yourself, credit repair can be a smart move. If you're looking to get a loan of any type the lower your credit score the higher your interest rates. By doing credit repair you can lower your interest rates and save a lot of money in the end.
:)
Matt Listro

Toll Free: 888-NCFIXER (623-4937)
Toll Free Fax: 888-FAX-4020 (329-4020)
Local: 860-282-6181
330 Roberts Street Suite 402
East Hartford, CT 06108
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