Susie Orman often speaks of the importance of getting your debt in order but doing so in an intelligent way. To get the debt consolidation rate you want and thus achieve favorable consolidation for debt terms, you’ll need to obtain your credit report and be prepared to address what it is telling the world about your credit rating.
There are so many credit reporting agencies (upwards of 5,000 at this time of writing if you include the collection agencies in the count). Susie Orman’s site will recommend you look closely at MyFico as a place to start. All these credit agencies to choose from and this is just in the United States. If you take other countries into account the numbers are much, much bigger. If there is a problem with your credit, you may or may not be told about it outright. If people are inquiring as to your credit worthiness (if for example they’re trying to find out if you should be sent a favorable credit card offer) this may damage your credit rating without you even knowing it.
If you apply for credit yourself and you are rejected because of these or other problems (say you’re ready to talk to your bank about your debt issues) than that rejection will also erode your credit rating further thus making the situation even worse. When or if your application for credit is denied, it is because of something on your credit report.
Even if you think you might have a credit problem, you won’t able to know for sure unless you get a copy of your credit report your self and read it carefully. In your credit report you’ll find any barriers to getting favorable debt consolidation rates (and thus favorable costs related to your own consolidation for debt). And as I suspect Susie Orman will tell you, the only way to discover this is to read your credit report.
Your credit report is available to you. Before you attempt to get some debt consolidation or any other consolidation debt information for that matter, you need to get a copy of your credit report and read it for yourself. You can do this by calling for one or more of the credit bureaus and simply asking them for your credit report. Some will charge a small price for delivering the credit report. But keep in mind that if your consolidation debt refinance request is denied by a bank or other creditor, then you can get a credit report for no charge from the agency that reported your credit to the lending institution you tried to get the consolidation for debt from. However, if you wait until this happens you might have waited too long. Good advice is to get your report on your own first.
Now what if you don’t think there is anything wrong with your credit? What if you think a process of consolidation for your debt will go smoothly and that you have nothing to worry about? It is still a good idea to get a copy of your credit report to see if you can identify any false information or mistakes made by those logging your information (yes, they make mistakes). There could be errors due to computer mistakes, data entry errors, a problem with your social security number, or any number of items. For me, I was shocked at how many lines of credit I actually had. The $200 limit JC Penny’s card I got 20 years ago was still on my file as an open line of credit even thought I hadn’t used it for decades (literally). And that wasn’t the only item like that. There were dozens and dozens of old, dormant but live lines of credit in my name.
These certainly had to be addressed before I started my own debt consolidation efforts.
(Please note that this information is provided for entertainment purposes only and should not be treated as professional advice. It is always smart to follow the advice of Susie Orman or other finance gurus and consult with a finanical or legal professional before making any financial decisions.)
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