Did you charge all your holiday spending on your credit cards? Are your cards maxed out? Are you cringing at the thought of opening up your January Credit Card statements? If you are currently in the process of buying a home or want to buy a home in 2011 we need to get your credit score in order, check us out, UtahCreditCoach.com
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Singing the January Blues?
Monday, January 3rd, 2011Holiday Spending hits record levels this holiday season. During the period October 31 to December 24, U.S. consumers spent an estimated $36.4 billion, a 15.4% year-on-year increase over the 2009 holiday season.
Does that make your stomach flip? Are you scared to open your credit card bills this month?
Its time to take control.
Enroll in the Home Sweet Home program at UtahCreditCoach.com
ITS TIME TO ELIMINATE THE BURDEN OF BAD CREDIT!
*statistics from Spending Pulse 2010 report)
STICK TO YOUR BUDGET
Monday, November 29th, 2010I just went through a short sale, when can I buy another home?
Sunday, November 7th, 2010Below is a simple breakdown of the timelines for buying a home after a short sale or foreclosure: Timelines may vary depending on your circumstances.
Buying again after a short sale or foreclosure:
You can qualify for a loan, Fannie Mae backed after 2 years, FHA is 3 years
After a Foreclosure:
With some restrictions, the wait period is 5 years as your primary residence
The effect on your credit score:
A short sale can drop your score between 50 -130 points
Foreclosure 200-400 points drop potentially
A foreclosure normally stays on your credit report and public records for 7-10 years
All lenders report differently, and some do not report to the bureaus at all, negative credit typically stays on for 7 years
Two More People Join UtahCreditCoach.com
Monday, October 25th, 2010Two more people have made the decision to take charge of their lives and stop letting their credit report control them. It’s exciting and I cant wait to see the results. Amazing things happen when people decide to take charge. No more guess work or wasted time on what they “think they should do” now they have a complete plan with the correct steps they need to take. Congratulations
Amazing things are happening at Utahcreditcoach
10 Steps to a better credit score: Part 5
Friday, September 17th, 2010Past Due Amounts or over credit limit amounts do and will hurt your credit score. I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear this but you may be surprised to see what damage they can really do.
Maxed Out credit card: 30-45 points
Past Due : 60-110
Double whammy double the ouch. Some cards have the option where you can say yes allow me to go over my high credit limit or no. Let them know its not ok. I know from personal experience this causes a huge mess. I won’t go into that whole mess because it would take us to a different category on communication and marriage.
Back to my topic….. I can’t stress how important it is to answer the phone when your lenders call you. Inform them of whats going on. Try to work with them, but whatever you do please keep your cards open. Not only will you have taken a hit for being maxed out and past due but now you will take another additional hit for having closed an account. If you are working on improving your FICO/credit score this will hurt multiple areas of your FICO score calculations.
There are easy ways to help your score and even easier ways to accidentlly hurt it. Please read up on what to do and what not to do and speak to an expert in this area. It will benefit you greatly.
10 Steps to a better credit score. Part 4
Tuesday, September 14th, 2010Step 4 is to Pay your bills on time. Sounds simple but to someone who is barely making it day to day the thought of paying all their bills on time may seem impossible. Some days its down to paying the bill thats due or putting food on the table for your family. Again step three is critical to keep up on step four. You must have a budget; a place to start. Step four will always be a struggle without completing your budget and becoming knowledgeable about the whole picture.
Now assuming that you’ve completed step three; you can now look at your bills and their due dates. If the dates fall during the middle of a pay period, set it up to have them paid out of the earlier paycheck. This may be easier said than done, but it really does help out. Once you’ve switched your mindset and you get used to this happeneing, you’ll have the peace of mind of knowing you will never miss or be late on a payment.
*(this step may require you to get another part time job maybe sell some items you don’t use around your house)* You will need to build up some money so you have the ability to switch the payments to an earlier pay date.
When you get paid, Ialso suggest you immediately put money aside for groceries. That will help eliminate the desperate situation of having to choose to pay a bill or put groceries on the table. It takes time to switch your thinking and day to day lifestyle habits; but paying your bills on time is another critical piece of your FICO score. A late payment or missed payments hit your score hard. Payment history is 35% of your credit score
Missed Payment:
30 day late payment: if your credit score is around 680 you risk a possible 60-80 point drop in your score
30 day late payment: if your credit score is around 780 you risk a possible 90-110 point drop in your score
YIKES…. another reminder, please please please ….even if you setup all of your payments to deduct out of your banking account automatically, stay on top of your balances, due dates and any changes in the monthly payments required. This will also hurt you if the full payment is not made… more on that later.
Questions? Contact me, I’d love to help.
Remember if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t make the payment, contact the agency you owe the money to and work out a plan.


Do you know if you are an authorized user on a credit card? Do you know that this could be hurting your credit score, not helping it. Do not assume that being an authorized user will benefit your score. Some things to consider, Does the user of the card run a high balance? Do they pay their payments on time? Have they been late in the past? There are a lot of things to consider. Proceed with caution. That’s why our program works. We are the only credit program out there that uses credit mortgage scores. This allows us to run real scenarios to see what will help your score and what will hurt your score. To find out more, give us a call or send us an email.
