Build better credit in 2012

If you're still mulling over New Year's resolutions, here are a few to consider: spend less, save more and repair bad credit. 

Main-taining a good credit report can translate into quicker loan approvals, competitive interest rates and a strong financial foundation. A few simple steps can help repair bad credit.

Pay on time

Most importantly, do your best to pay your bills on time. Making timely payments ensures a positive payment history, which creditors weigh heavily when they make lending decisions.

Check credit reports

Review your credit reports periodically and take quick action to address any disputed or incorrect information. It's important to address any inaccurate information on a credit report. Federal law requires each of the nationwide credit reporting bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - to provide one free credit report per year to borrowers who request a copy of their report.

The credit reporting bureaus must provide the borrower with everything in his or her credit report and a list of everyone who has requested the report within the past year.

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit bureau and any organization responsible for reporting inaccurate information must correct errors for incomplete information on credit reports.

Write a letter

If you discover errors, send a written dispute letter to both the credit reporting bureau and the creditor who filed the information.

Dispute letters should very specifically describe the facts and circumstances surrounding the mistake.

Include copies but not originals of any supporting documentation, such as receipts, statements that verify payments and a copy of the inaccurate credit report.

Circle or highlight each error on the report, and include a detailed explanation why the information is inaccurate.

Send your dispute letter by certified mail, return receipt requested, so you can document that the credit bureau and creditor received the correction request. And be sure to keep copies of the dispute letter and any enclosures.

What's next

Once a credit bureau is notified of a dispute, it must investigate the items in question, unless it considers the dispute to be frivolous. The credit bureau also must forward all relevant data the borrower provided about the inaccuracy to the appropriate creditor.

The creditor must review the dispute and report the results back to the credit bureau. If the reporting creditor discovers the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three credit bureaus so corrections can be made to the information in the complainant's file.

Once its investigation is complete, the credit reporting bureau must notify the borrower of the results in writing. If the dispute led the credit reporting bureau to correct the mistake, the bureau must also provide the borrower a free copy of the corrected credit report.

Keep in mind that a corrected credit report does not count as the borrower's annual free report.

Put it in the file

If the credit reporting bureau's investigation does not resolve a borrower's dispute, the borrower may request that a statement of the dispute be included in his or her file and in future credit reports.

Borrowers may also ask the credit bureau to provide the dispute statement to anyone who previously received a copy of the report. Credit bureaus may charge a fee for this service.

If a credit reporting agency or creditor refuses to correct inaccurate, incomplete or outdated information on your report, you can file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General's Office, www.texasattorneygeneral.gov, or with the Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov.

© 2012 El Paso Inc.. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

12 financial resolutions for 2012

Still living off credit cards? Can't figure out how much you could or should spend? Need to save for retirement? Deborah McNaughton, a Placentia credit expert, financial coach and author of “The Essential Credit Repair Handbook,” is here to provide her financial advice:

Each year we all sit down and scratch our heads trying to come up with New Year's resolutions that will stick. Finances are always in the top ten resolution list.

One of my favorite movies last year was “The Help.” The line, “You is kind. You is Smart. You is Important,” is one that people need to remember when they are feeling distraught.

When people are facing financial challenges they want to run and hide. They also fall into the “mind trap” that they see no end or future to their situation. They become negative and begin to feel insecure in all of their choices in life and not just money.

Here are 12 New Year's resolutions that you may want to add to your list. Some you already know about and some you may have never thought about in dealing with your finances:

1. Get a copy of your free annual credit report atwww.annualcreditreport.com. Review each item to make sure each is correct. If you find errors, dispute them with the appropriate agency.
2.  Start saving money by taking your fast food runs and coffee run money and dumping it into a jar. Once you reach $100 in change open a savings account. You not only will save money, but you will also avoid the calories and added inches to your waistline. (Read my book: "Rich and Thin: Slim Down, Shrink Debt, & Turn Calories into Cash" or visit my website:financialvictory.com.)
3. Set a realistic budget. Don’t be blinded by what you think you are spending. Get a reality check by listing everything. Go back to your checkbook and credit card statements. Use mybudget worksheet.
4. Create ways to earn more money. You were born with special gifts, talents and hobbies. Use these talents to make money part time or turn it into a small business. It may be time to reinvent your self and feel rewarded.
5. Clean out your closets and look for items that you can sell. Either donate and help someone in need or use the money to pay down debt or save.
6. Help a needy person or friend. Anything that you can do either financially or just donating your time will give you great satisfaction.
7. Pay it forward. Any little bit of money or gift that you can give to others, do it and then ask them to pay it forward to another person.
8. Be a silent blessing. You don’t have to have a plan. Spontaneously pay the fast food bill for the car behind you in line. Pay a bill for someone in need. Drop off groceries on the porch of someone who is out of work. Become a "layaway angel."
9. Mentor someone who is going through financial problems. Help them with their budget. Be an accountability partner.
10. Hang out with positive friends and associates. People who are having financial problems tend to withdraw from people. That is the worse thing to do. Negative people will pull you down. Positive people may be able to help you brainstorm to turn your situation around and give you a shot of encouragement.
11. Begin teaching your children how to manage their money. What you teach your child at a young age can be a stepping stone to how they handle their finances as an adult.
12. Use all your extra money to become debt free in 2012.

Being secure financially is important, but what legacy do you want to be remembered by? Is it just the things that you have accumulated throughout the years or is it the things you did to help others?

Using good financial judgment and being responsible with the finances you have is important, especially in these economic times. What we all have learned this past year is we can do without a lot of luxuries we thought we needed and not have to be one up on our neighbor or friend. More importantly we can be satisfied with what we have now and reach out and touch other people’s lives. That is what we want to be remembered for.

Don’t forget, “You is Kind. You is Smart. You is Important." With this implanted in your mind you can do many things financially and be creative on how you will do it.

Stepping Up your Credit Repair during No Credit Auto Loans

The start

If you have bad credit, in most cases the best way to establish car credit is a problem credit auto loan. But there are steps you can often take to further raise your FICO scores.

We know because we are involved in bad credit car sales and have been since 1992 here at Auto Credit Express. We also designed a website so that applicants with poor credit can understand such topics as authorized users and bankruptcy, as well as today’s topic, additional credit repair during no credit auto loans.

Credit repair

Even if you’re financing a bad credit car, if you haven’t already done so, now is the time to make sure the information in your credit reports is accurate.

To help you do this, we’ve created a new web site at FutureCreditScore.com and partnered with a Michigan-based company, United Credit Education Services, to offer our applicants an additional credit repair opportunity.

United Credit Education Services

United Credit Education Services (UCES), which is affiliated with a federal credit union, is also a financial services company that deals with credit education and restoration. Top-rated by the Better Business Bureau, UCES can help will guide you through the process of disputing inaccurate, erroneous and obsolete information in your credit files.

If you decide this is the way to go, you’ll find yourself using a web-based application and working with a team of experienced professionals that can offer you the chance to raise your FICO scores both quickly and legally.

This means that if a low credit score has prevented you from getting approved for an auto loan or if you’re unhappy with either the interest rate or terms of your current loan you can, with the help of the professionals at UCES, take the necessary steps to repair your credit and improve your credit scores at all three credit bureaus.

For more information on the steps you can take to correct information contained in your credit reports as well as improve your credit scores, go to www.futurecreditscore.com.

As we see it

Here at Auto Credit Express we’ve helped thousands of people with bad car credit find a dealer that for their best chance at getting approved for a bad credit car.

So if you’re serious about getting your auto credit back on track, you can begin now by filling out our online car loans bad credit application.