PYCS EDUCATION

Why is Rebuilding Your credit So Important?

  • Rebuilding credit is crucial to achieving goals you may have like buying your dream home, owning a new car, or securing a personal loan.
  • You never know when you may need to take out a line of credit to pay for medical bills or emergencies.
  • Confidence and peace of mind knowing you can buy the things you need in life without worrying about a poor credit score holding you back.
  • Getting lower rates on insurance, car payments, and other financed items puts more money in your pocket.
  • Freedom to choose the best loan with the best rates available instead of taking whatever you can get.

Tips to Rebuilding Credit

A damaged credit score does not have to be permanent. A little diligence and patience is all that is needed to begin the rebuilding process.

  • Make a concerted effort to pay every bill on time every month, even if it is only the minimum balance.

  • Have an active Checking Account
    Apply for these Easy Approval No-Fee Accounts:
    Chime
    Acorns Spend

  • Open Credit Builder Accounts or a Secured Credit Card to begin the rebuilding process.
    Apply for these Easy Approval Credit Builder Accounts:
    Self Lender
    Grow Credit
  • Every hard inquiry negatively impacts your credit score. Creditors view it as a sign of desperation and will hesitate to grant you new credit.
  • Your credit report should be pulled regularly to check for any negative marks as well as movement on your credit score.
  • Ideally, if a person pays each of their accounts on time every month and does not have any negative remarks reported, the credit score should start climbing upwards.
  • If there are unwarranted negative marks, take immediate action to have them removed.

Shopping Cart Trick?

The credit card shopping cart trick is not reliable, so don’t try it if you can’t afford to lose a few credit score points to a hard credit inquiry. Assume the shopping cart trick won’t work, and you might be pleasantly surprised if you find out that it does.

  • Opt-in (Gives permission to credit bureaus to share your information with credit card issuers – Do Step 1 a week in advance)
    www.optoutprescreen.com
    https://www.factortrust.com/Consumer/Optout.aspx

  • Visit the website of a retailer that offers a store credit card.
  • Fill your online shopping cart with items. (You can ultimately purchase these items if you want, but you don’t have to.)
  • As you start the checkout process, look for a pop-up inviting you to become preapproved for the retailer’s credit card. (disable popup blockers.)
  • Go through the preapproval process.
  • If you are preapproved, immediately apply for the credit card.

  • If the shopping cart trick works, your application will be accepted without a hard credit inquiry.