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Improving your credit score can take a few months. So if you’re looking to get an auto or home loan, or want to apply for a new credit card, an early start can give you time to raise your credit score and then get a loan or new credit card at a better interest rate.Here are some ways to improve your credit within a few months:

Pay your bills on time

Payment history is the most important factor in FICO scores, accounting for up to 35 percent of a credit score. Paying your bills on time – from credit cards to utility bills – can help a lot. Late payments stay on a credit report for seven years. The longer ago they happened, the less they affect credit scores. If a bill goes unpaid long enough the debt can be sold to a collection agency, which will be reported to credit bureaus. Set up online alerts when a bill is due, look at your balances online and set automatic payments for a credit card.

Low credit utilization rate

Keeping a low balance lowers your credit utilization rate, which is the amount of credit you’re using. Also called credit usage, it is the second most important factor in credit scores and accounts for 30 percent of a score. It’s calculated by dividing the total of your balances by your total credit limits. Paying off the balances in full each month should keep the credit utilization rate low – preferably not more than 30 percent on any one card or in total.

Increase your credit limit

Another part of credit usage is how much your credit limit is. Increasing your credit limit just a little by getting a new credit card can lower your credit utilization rate by giving you more money to use. However, using that higher credit card limit could increase your credit usage, so you may want to use it rarely and pay it off in full each month.

Keep those old credit cards

If you’re thinking about cutting up some old credit cards that you don’t use anymore so that they won’t be tempting to use, forget it. Age of credit history has a 15 percent impact on a credit score. Creditors and lenders like to see an average account age of more than five years.

Few credit inquiries

Credit inquiries account for 10 percent of a credit score. To minimize the impact on your credit score, keep credit applications to within a one-month period when you need a new credit card or loan. So, if you’re going to apply for a new and better credit card, apply for all of them in the same month. I hope you enjoyed this article. Contact me today with your real estate questions!

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Fixing a few of your home’s most likely trouble spots can improve energy efficiency and save you a bundle on utility bills. Consumer editors at ThisOldHouse.com provide a starting point for your DIY energy audit:

Drafty WindowsOn a windy day, close all windows and exterior doors, as well as the chimney flue damper. Light a stick of incense, move it around the perimeter of each window and watch for air that stirs the rise of smoke. If you find a culprit, scrape out any cracked or dried caulk on the outside where the casing meets the siding. Apply a fresh bead of paintable acrylic latex, such as DAP’s Alex Plus. For doors, add new weather stripping. The work may shave off up to $20 from your annual bill for each window and door you weatherize.

Damaged Fireplace DamperUp to 20 percent of your home’s warmed air can be drawn up and out via your chimney flue. Check it by closing the damper and holding a lit candle inside the firebox. If it blows around or blows out, you are losing a lot of warm air. Hire a chimney sweep to give it a good cleaning and check the damper. The $100 or $200 service call may reduce your annual heating bill by as much as $500.

Old, Tank-Style Water Heater

Water heaters more than 10 years old are likely lined with fiberglass insulation, which is less effective at preventing heat loss than the foam used today. Check the age of yours on the printed label, then touch the tank. If it feels warm, it’s losing insulation. Wrapping it in a pre-cut blanket and fitting foam sleeves or insulating tape around the pipes can reduce annual water-heating bills by up to 9 percent.

An Over-Worked Fridge

The refrigerator gets no time off, and wear and tear over time will take a toll on the gasket. Check by closing the door on a sheet of paper. If you don’t feel resistance when you pull it out, the gasket seal is leaking cold air. Order a new one from the manufacturer for about $60 – $90. It’s relatively easy to remove the old one, and installing the new one following the manufacturer’s instructions will improve its performance by up to 25 percent.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Somewhere on your credit card statement-or maybe even on the back of the card-is contact information for a credit card concierge. The service is usually free, and while it isn’t available on all credit cards, many travel rewards cards offer it as a way to have someone do some tasks for you. Requests can be made over the phone or by filling out an online form. Here are some of the best ways to use a concierge service offered through your credit card:

Sports Tickets

Is that hockey game you want to go to sold out? Is the game in two days and you really want to go? A credit card concierge can check resale markets for you, and should have a number of price ranges for you within a few hours.

Restaurant Reservations

If the OpenTable app or calling a restaurant directly doesn’t get you a dinner reservation at the time you want, try the concierge. They may be able to find availability that you can’t, getting you in to a popular restaurant.

Hotel

If you have a hotel rewards credit card, you may be better off calling the card’s customer service line for help. After all, hotels are their specialty, so they should be able to find you a great room at a great price.Otherwise, ask the credit card concierge for hotel recommendations. The hotel chain doesn’t have to be tied to your credit card, though that can’t hurt if it allows you to collect more rewards points from the trip. Just tell the concierge your travel dates, price range and location, and see what they can do.

Gifts

If you don’t like to shop for gifts, give your concierge a few ideas on what your friend likes-along with their age-and, chances are, they can find a few gift ideas for birthdays or other events that you may not find on your own. You can direct the concierge to charge them to your credit card, or you can go purchase them yourself online.If you’re pressed for time and don’t mind that you won’t be comparison-shopping yourself, a credit card concierge can be one of the best free services on your credit card.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

If you’re buried by credit card debt, a negotiated debt settlement with your creditor may be worth checking into. Negotiated debt settlement is a general term for discharging debt in a way that appeals to the credit card holder and the card’s issuer.It’s best to negotiate from a position of strength by not having submitted late payments or having missed them, which can cause a credit score to fall. If that happens, cardholders will likely have a harder time getting concessions in a negotiated debt settlement. Instead, they should start talking to their creditor soon after realizing they’re having trouble repaying their debts.

Forbearance

There are a few types of negotiated debt settlements, and the simplest one is called forbearance. Banks offer these programs to reduce interest rates, waive late fees and extend repayment terms.Forbearance doesn’t forgive any debt, but offers better terms for repayment. Unemployed cardholders typically are approved for forbearance, and the plans should have no impact on the cardholder’s credit score.

Workout Arrangements

In these programs, card issuers lower or eliminate interest rates and fees, either temporarily or permanently until all of the debt is paid. A credit line may be reduced so that the credit card can no longer be used.Like forbearance, a workout agreement doesn’t reduce the principal owed. It can affect a credit score, depending on how the bank reports it to the credit agencies.

Lump Sum

A lump-sum settlement is where a cardholder offers to pay less than the full amount owed so that the entire debt is eliminated.These are often accepted in two or three payments and are a way for banks to avoid trying to get payment through a debt collection agency. Interest and fees are likely to be forgiven in lump-sum settlements, however the principal will still need to be paid.It can have several downsides. The bank will be charging off its loss, which will hurt the cardholder’s credit score. Also, cardholders must pay taxes on any forgiven principal of $600 or more and treat it like income.

Debt Management Program

This type of negotiated debt settlement is for people who don’t want to negotiate directly with their lender. A third party does it for a fee.Some for-profit debt management companies can be unscrupulous and charge large up-front fees. To find a reputable credit counselor, check with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or the Financial Counseling Association of America.

Published with permission from RISMedia.

Ask any jeweler how much money you should spend on an engagement ring and theyll likely give you the jewelry industrys long-standing rule of thumb”three months salary.

The average person spends about half that amount, according to Census data.

The jewelry industry isnt recommending three months of pay after taxes, but three months of gross pay”which adds up to about $8,500 for the average man age 25-34, according to Census data. The average person spends about $4,000 on an engagement ring.

A specific dollar amount or percentage of income shouldnt be the determining factor in how much you spend on an engagement ring. The main factor should be how much you can comfortably afford.

You can also consider your earning potential in the immediate future, as well as ways to ease the cost, such as using a family ring. Here are a few things to consider:

Your financial situation
Even if your income is high, your living expenses may be so high already that you cant afford to save much for a ring. Being in debt can make the major expense of an engagement ring more difficult to handle.

Financing a ring on a credit card can only worsen your finances if you dont pay it off within a month and pay late fees or interest charges.

If you dont have an emergency fund, an engagement ring purchase could leave you vulnerable if you lose your job or suffer another financial emergency.

Wedding expectations
If your significant other wants to get married soon, then you wont have much time to save up for an engagement ring, the wedding or anything else associated with it.

This may require you to buy a simpler ring for now and add to it or replace it later.

How to pay for the wedding ceremony, honeymoon and other things can be part of the discussion around the type of engagement ring thats appropriate for your budget.

Saving on an Engagement Ring
To save money on an engagement ring, some thoughts are to use a family ring, or buy a synthetic diamond or cubic zirconium ring, shop for a vintage ring, or buy the best ring you can afford and update it later.

Hope you enjoyed this tip. Contact me today for all your real estate questions!

Published with permission from RISMedia.