1. BUILDING CREDIT Jennifer Boston
QUESTIONS TO ASK
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What can I add that’s legal news… I don’t know what to do hear both to add value to my presentation and also for my paper. Like beyond basics?
ADD SLIDE: Secured Credit Cards Apply for this card as you would a traditional credit card. Once approved, you deposit a set amount of money (ranges from $50-$400, depending on the card issuer) with the credit card company. The bank holds onto this deposit and extends a credit line matching the deposit amount. Generally, you can build credit with a secured card. We recommend that you charge a small amount each month and pay it off in full. Again, always keep the total balance less than 30% of your credit limit in order to help your score. Many of these cards offer a “graduation” component, which allows you to move from a secured card to a traditional card seamlessly after establishing a pattern of consistent payments. - Credit Builder Loans (aka Savings Secured Loans) With this option, you deposit a small amount in an account with a bank, which they then “loan” back to you. You repay the bank in small payments each month for 6 to 24 months. These payments are reported to the credit reporting companies. If you make your payments on time each month, this can improve your credit score. - Retail Store Cards Many gas stations, department stores, or retail chains offer credit cards. These cards tend to be easier to obtain and typically offer lower credit lines than other traditional credit cards. This combination makes this a good option if you are looking to build up a thin or nonexistent credit record

2. You can handle this on your own.
Overview of presentation. Explain everything should be free don’t pay for services. Things can seem complicated but I will walk you through the basics. I also will talk about myself and some financial fumbles ive made and how ive been working on my credit score: I will do this both to demonstrate what can be done and because I think it is important to talk about personal finances, its not something we should have a stigma about… keeping quiet is a bad cultural norm that we should fight to break because if people share information about money openly then everyone will be better off.

3. Fico Transunion Equifax Experian VantageScore WHAT IS A CREDIT SCORE?
a number that ranges from 300 to 850 and is used by lenders or even utility companies to decide how likely you are to pay your future bills. It is possible for somebody who has no borrowing history not to have any credit score at all.
It can seem confusing because there are a lot of different scores out there, but typically they should all be pretty similar.
There are three different credit agencies, and then companies that piece together those scores and give a number.

4. Why does
credit matter?

6. What is good credit?
Giving out my ultimate lawyer answer here “it depends” I know that doesn’t seem helpful but it really does. I mean yes, we can generalize and say the higher the credit score the better but what is a good credit score for each individual depends on their situation. Just searching for infographics to make this slide I found a ton of different answers although this one is typical. In reality what is a good credit score is depends on the person and their goals. Maybe you need to get a cell phone without a down payment, you want a better interest rate on a car loan, or you need somewhere to live. 620 is typically the minimum excepted by most rental companies without a cosigner. Set a goal that works for you and is realistic. Although it is possible to make improvements quickly, you will likely not improve you score drastically in a quick time frame. This is a long process.
HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW YOUR CREDIT SCORE RIGHT NOW?

7. How do I find out my credit score?
Your bank or card statement
Annualcreditreport.com
CreditKarma.com
How do I find out my credit score?
You never need to pay to get a credit report or score, there are lots of free methods out there. Its possible the bank or credit card company you currently use is already sending you your score or allowing you to access it in your online portal but if not there are other ways. Annualcreditreport.com allows you to access

8. Factors that impact credit
Credit Age
Older is
better.
Total Accounts
The more accounts the better.

9. Factors that impact credit
Derogatory Marks
Bankruptcies, tax liens, etc.
Inquiries
Hard inquiries hurt your score.

10. Factors that impact credit
Payment History
Late payments can really hurt your report.
Too Much Debt
The ratio of current
balances to your credit limits.

11. Improving your credit:
Make ALL payments on time!
Lower debt!
Increase credit limits!
I am going to walk you through some basic steps to improve your credit if you already have a score and are unhappy with it (or heck even if you have a good score but just need to maintain it). If you don’t have a credit score yet then you have to get some kind of account to get started. This can be really tricky because lenders look at credit so its kind of a never ending cycle. However, there are secured cards and different accounts out there that will potentially approve somebody wih no credit. (maybe come up with a concrete suggestion)
If you do already have a score: Pay the minimum balance on your cards, if you miss just one payment that is going to dramatically hurt your score. Set up auto pay or calendar reminders to make sure you aren’t missing the day. Typically a bill has to be 30 days late before it is reported but the best thing that you can do for your credit score is get your payments in on time.
I know this is easier said than done, but the less credit you are using the better. For maximum credit benefits you should only be using 10% of your total credit limit at a time (which may very well be impossible). In general though, the more you can keep spending down on a card the better and if you know you plan to have a credit check run in a few months, then this could be part of the preparation process. I will come back to debt consolidation in a few minutes.
Another thing that can keep that debt ratio low is raising your credit limits. This is typically a simple process. (I called three of my card companies to request limits and it took less than fifteen minutes, two said yes, one said no). Do not extend your limits if that means you will likely spend more than you can afford.

12. Improving your credit:
Avoid Hard Inquiries
Keep accounts open
Now when I called my credit card companies to ask for an increase I made sure they would do a soft pull and not a hard pull to find this out. All I had to do was ask and it was simple. If they would have indicated the need to do a hard pull for my credit increase, I would not have done that unless I really needed a credit limit increase for some reason and not just to work on my score.
Some things have hard inquiries no matter what, like shopping for a car, opening new cards, or getting a loan. IF you can group all of these together in a short time period they should only show up as one mark and have a minimal impact on your credit score.
Because credit age is a factor in credit scores you want to keep accounts open and raise their limits when possible. Closing an old account can tank your score.
Credit mix and number of accounts are important you want loans, cards, store cards, a variety but this will impact inquiries and account age so do so with caution.
These are all kind of all been proactive steps

13. Removing Bad Marks Disputing
You have a right to dispute anything incorrect!
See handout*
Removing Bad Marks
The things I’ve mentioned so far are proactive, but there are also reactive steps you can take to improve things that are already having a negative impact on your credit.
Dispute inaccurate remarks: Go through steps of how to do this

14. You can handle this on your own.
Overview of presentation. Explain everything should be free don’t pay for services. Things can seem complicated but I will walk you through the basics. I also will talk about myself and some financial fumbles ive made and how ive been working on my credit score: I will do this both to demonstrate what can be done and because I think it is important to talk about personal finances, its not something we should have a stigma about… keeping quiet is a bad cultural norm that we should fight to break because if people share information about money openly then everyone will be better off.