Learning how to recognize credit repair scams will save you pain and money. The scammers promise to remove negative information from your Credit Report, so that you can be approved for future credit. They can’t deliver on those promises, and the fee you pay to them is lost. The good news is that these scams follow the same patterns, so once you understand how they work, you can avoid them.

In this day and age, just about every facet of life is connected to your creditworthiness. It’s not just about buying a home or car anymore. Employers check credit reports to see if you are trustworthy. Insurance companies tie premiums to your credit rating. Even landlords check credit ratings to see if you pay your bills on time. Establishing credit helps you get the best deals of life’s big purchases.

Your FICO Score is a very important indicator of how well you’re doing credit wise. FICO Scores can be retrieved at a small cost but there are some ways to obtain your credit report and sometimes your score for free.

A 0% balance transfer offer can seem like an amazing way to eliminate credit card interest payments. Yet some credit card users remain concerned that taking advantage of these offers will hurt their credit score. In fact, the opposite may be true as there are several reasons why receiving a 0% APR balance transfer credit card may actually improve one’s credit score.

Your credit score report can be affect by more than your available credit history. We talk about how credit cards, mortgages, car loans, and any type of loan that reports to all 3 credit bureaus will affect your credit score. We don’t always talk about utility companies and how they can have a negative impact on your credit report. Here are utility companies I like to consider non-creditors. In other words these companies don’t give you a line credit, they just provide a service.