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When it comes to securing financing for a new house or an existing property, getting a great mortgage rate is at the top of all of our lists. This is probably because even a small difference in your mortgage rate can make a BIG difference to the total interest you’ll pay over the lifetime of your mortgage and overall amortization.

The truth is that getting a great mortgage rate often comes down to having great credit.

But did you know that having no credit can be just as damaging as having bad credit?

Did you know that credit reporting agencies don’t verify the information that is given to them? Or did you know that your credit can affect more than just your ability to qualify for loans? In fact, it can affect many of your everyday purchases, from cell phones to insurance to public utilities!

So if you’re looking for tips to improve or repair your credit, read on for valuable advice and recommendations to manage your credit and improve your financial situation you can start today!

First, always make at least your minimum payment on time on every loan, credit card or other debt you owe.

You may think that you can miss a month and then pay extra the following month—but that’s not how the credit card companies operate (or calculate interest). Instead, your required payment will be considered late or delinquent. Most companies will report even one missed payment to the credit reporting agencies – and this can damage your credit score. So make at least the minimum payment on every loan, no matter what, to keep your credit healthy and in good standing with any debtors you have, as well as have the best chance of a high FICO credit score.

Related Article: How Are FICO Scores Determined

Second, set up pre-authorized payments so your bills are paid automatically.

As I mentioned above, missing even one payment can affect your credit. Debtors don’t care if you intentionally or accidentally forgot to make a payment. They only care if you make your payments on time, every time.

Maybe you simply forgot to pay a bill because all of your bills are due on different days and you don’t have an organized system to keep track of them. In that case, setting up pre-authorized payments can be a lifesaver.

If you prefer not to use preauthorized payments, setting a reminder on your cell phone or computer can be another great way to make sure your bills are always paid on time. Paying your bills becomes effortless so you never miss a due date. You’ll also save money by avoiding unnecessary interest charges.

Lastly, request a copy of your credit report at least once a year and review it thoroughly.

In Canada, you can contact one of two credit bureaus (Equifax or TransUnion) directly to request a free copy of your credit report. In the U.S. you can go to http://annualcreditreport.com to get all 3 credit reports from Equifax, Transunion and Experian.  Verify the accuracy of ALL information, including your personal information, loans, credit cards, etc.

Take note: Credit bureaus don’t verify the information they get from your creditors so it’s up to you to make sure all the information is accurate! Otherwise, you could get a nasty surprise since inaccurate information or information about a loan you don’t recognize could signal that someone may have opened an account in your name, or even possible identify theft.

Address any inaccurate information as soon as possible so that you can be on your way to improving your credit.

For more tips on managing and repairing your credit you are in the right place. Upgrade My Credit is here to help. To get straight forward advice and tips so you can qualify for the best Barrie mortgage rates, visit my website or give me a call.

By Darren Robinson, Mortgage Broker

If you currently have low credit scores, you may be wondering if you should pay money to improve your credit score. Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret: if you ever get any kind of loan, you will make your money back many times over!

The reason is simple. Creditors of all kinds will charge you more – sometimes much more – to borrow money if you have a low or even a fair credit score.

Having a 720 credit score instead of a 640 score could save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, it may seem unfair, but that’s the reality of the lending world.

As someone who has 12 years of experience in the lending world as a loan officer and manager, and now the editor of MyMortgageInsider.com, I could tell you countless stories of how people have saved tons of money by having great credit.

Let’s look at an example, taken straight from today’s rate sheets: Someone with a 720 score could get a $200,000 loan with a principal and interest payment of $1013 per month and a rate of 4.5% (4.652% APR)*.

The same person with a 640 score would pay $1073 per month and have a 5.0% interest rate (5.155% APR)*. The borrower with a 640 score would pay an extra $60 per month and an additional $21,700 in interest over the life of the loan!

How does that fee for credit repair services look now? Pretty low?

The bottom line is this: lenders want to see that you are a low-risk borrower. And it all comes down to the three little numbers on your credit report. The higher those numbers, the less you will pay for credit.

And a home mortgage is just scratching the surface when it comes to the money you’ll save by having a good credit score. Some other things you’ll save money on are:

Car insurance
Homeowner’s insurance
Renter’s insurance
Auto loans
Credit cards

Heck, many employers look at your credit reports when you’re applying for a job these days, and some may even look at your credit scores! What if your bad credit cost you a great job? Reference NYTimes article on this subject.

When you add up all the money you could save and make over your lifetime by having a great credit score, the dollar amount could easily be six figures or more. This is no exaggeration.

Yes, it may seem like a lot of work to build, improve, and maintain your credit score. It takes a lot of discipline. But it’s that discipline that lenders are looking for. It proves you are a worthy candidate and will pay back the loan according to the terms you agreed to.

So if you can get help from an expert to improve your credit score, take that opportunity despite the time, cost and effort. You will get huge returns on your investment – more than you probably ever expected.

*Payment does not include taxes, insurance, or HOA dues. Rates are as of 9/10/13. Purchase price $250,000, loan amount $200,000, property in WA. Scenarios are 30 year fixed conventional loans.

• Having a 720 credit score instead of a 640 score could save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. (Click to tweet)
• Lenders want to see that you are a low-risk borrower. And it all comes down to the three little numbers on your credit report. (Click to tweet)
• Most employers look at your credit reports when you’re applying for a job these days! (Click to tweet)

Free credit Reports! Hhhmmm… really?


The above quote is what someone who called in from our website said almost word-for-word. Unfortunately, she is right. There is no free lunch, as they say. The sites she mentioned, and many more, are not really free, even if the word “free” is displayed somewhere. Furthermore, it is not always clear what you are getting. Creditkarma.com, for example, gives the impression you are getting your credit scores and reports, but in reality they have their own “credit management” platform that does not include your real credit report, only partial information pulled from it. In my opinion, it is this small word free coupled with credit reports or credit scores that throws people off because they have heard that you can get your credit reports somewhere for free. There is only one place where your credit report is 100% free, with no bait and switch, or “small print”, or a catch. More on this in a moment.

Here’s how they work:
Except for sites like creditkarma.com, here’s how most of them work. First, in various catch phrases and combinations of products offered (read each carefully), they tout in big print that you get credit scores and/or credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies, Transunion, Equifax and Experian , with call to action buttons saying things like “Try it Free”, or “Get Started Now” and “Click Here to Start”. However, usually in small print, they state it is a free trial for 7 or 14 days. At the end of the free trial you are immediately transformed into a monthly credit monitoring customer, which costs between $14.95 and $29.95 per month, depending on the company. The ones that only give a 7 day trial are particularly tricky. Your reports aren’t usually available for 3-4 days due to “processing”, which gives you 3 days to view it. There hope is that you will “accidentally” pass the 7 day mark without cancelling the trial. As a rule, it is my opinion to avoid the 7-day offers. If you don’t cancel within the 7 days, they immediately charge you their monitoring fee. Additionally, needless to say, it is not always easy to cancel.

Tip:  Some offer a printer-friendly version. if you print it out immediately,         and make sure to call to cancel, then, depending on the site’s offer, you         could actually get a free credit report.


Credit Karma is truly free, but you don’t really get all your reports and scores, only ONE score, as mentioned above, and their proprietary credit management platform. Credit Karma is, in my opinion as a credit consultant, useless, and useless translates in my book as a gimmick, of sorts, because customers think they are getting something useful. (Update 6/14/15: Since the writing of this original post, Credit Karma now offers scores and reports for two of the big three credit reporting agencies, Equifax and Transunion. They still don’t offer information from Experian. Keep in mind that the scores they provide are NOT your FICO scores).

The ONLY place you get a free credit report without pitfalls to avoid, and hoops to jump through is AnnualCreditReport.com. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires the there major credit bureaus to provide one free credit report per year. You can get one at a time each quarter, or all three at once, once each year. Keep in mind, though, that this does not include scores, FICO nor VantageScores. Go here for a comparison of the FICO Score and Vantage Score. Most lenders use FICO, especially mortgage lenders.

Our favorite paid site is Privacyguard.com and instructions for pulling your credit so that we can give you a free credit report evaluation can be found here. You get all three full reports, and all three VantageScore credit scores. Privacyguard.com gives you a 14-day trial for free, and then only costs $19.95 per month for monitoring. Monthly monitoring is not necessary all the time, but we do recommend it if you are in credit repair and re-building phases, or looking to do something requiring credit in the near future. (We are NOT affiliated with privacyguard.com)

Has this been helpful? Please feel free to commment or share on social media. We like helping people.

Tweetable Takeaways Include:

• There is only one place where your credit report is 100% free, with no bait and switch, or small print (Click to tweet)
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires the three major credit bureaus to provide one free credit report per year. (Click to tweet)
• Most lenders use FICO (credit scores), especially mortgage lenders. (click to tweet)

What is this mistake? drum roll…..Closing credit card accounts. Go ahead, admit it. You have thought about it at least once, and understandably so. For a lot of us, it’s those darn credit cards that got us in trouble in the first place, (so we like to say). Therefore, why not just close them and cut them up? That’s what some of the financial and money management gurus on the net will say. Depending on your financial situation and goals, for most of us there is a very important reason you don’t want to close out your credit card accounts, especially if your goal is to repair and build your credit score. If you have other goals, like getting out from under an ill-controlled mountain of debt, and curtailing credit card spending, then you will want to talk with a credit and debt counselor first to put in place a comprehensive money management plan, including a budget. For this particular credit blog post with emphasis on credit score repair and building, closing out your credit cards could be a mistake. I am going to direct you to a well written CBS article by Adam Levin of credit.com that does a great job explaining why you don’t want to make this most common credit mistake.

Go here for the CBS News article

Personal Information such as name, address, date of birth, Social Security Number and employment data (where you work(ed) only) are included.

Account information. Account information includes loan amount, credit limit, balance, payment dates, payment rating and history, to name a few.

Collections by 3rd party collection agencies.

Public records like judgements, tax liens, bankruptcy, etc. are reported.

Inquiries, when and where, but not for how much, and why you applied for credit. Inquiries initiated by you are called “hard” inquiries, which are results from applying for new credit such as credit cards, vehicle loans, mortgage, etc. Go here for more on inquiries and the myth surrounding their impact on your credit score.

Information NOT included in credit reports:

No salary or income history whatsoever is included

Medical history is not included, although medical collections via a 3rd party collection agency may be.

No arrest or criminal records are reported.

Property tax records are not included.

Insurance premiums or insurance claims are not reported.

Personal information like gender, marital status, race, religion, nationality, political affiliation and personal lifestyle is not a part of your credit reports.

Payday loans (unless in collection), debit cards and prepaid debit cards are excluded

Inquiries initiated by you online, called “soft inquiries” are not reported and have no effect on your credit score.

Financial Institution accounts like checking accounts, savings accounts, CD’s, or investment accounts. NSF checks will appear if sent to collections.

While some of the above information like income and assets may be considered by lenders such as mortgage banks, and auto finance companies, etc., in their decision process, you need only be concerned about the information that is reported on your credit reports as far as your credit score in concerned. Information not reported on your credit reports does NOT impact your credit score.

By Blair Warner (see About US page for more info.)

You have finally done it! Congratulations! Your hard work paid off! You pulled yourself out of credit card debt and restored your credit rating through credit repair, and now, no doubt, want to avoid making the same mistakes that drove you into debt in the first place. In one sense, it is easy, but, as we all know, it is just as easy to get back into credit card debt again unless some habits are changed, and systems in place to avoid it.

Consider the following simple strategies for credit and financial management.

Make a budget

The best way to avoid going back into credit card debt is by making yourself a budget. You will want to be realistic about your budget. Think about what your spending was before that got you into debt and figure out how you are going to avoid overspending on the same things. The secret to budgeting success is to keep on track with your budget. You may want to enter in your expenses every day, weekly or pre-determined, regular times so that you do not get behind without realizing it. If you spend too much in one area, try to make up for it from another one.

Think about whether you really need all of your credit cards, and possibly get rid of some.

Some people will just spend what they have available. If you do not need all of it, which most people don’t, then you might want to start cutting down on them. This is a tricky one, though. You don’t want to get rid of all of them, yet you have to be a bit strategic on which ones to close and which ones not to, so that the hard work of building a new credit score is not wasted. If done right, it might also help your credit rating. Here are some suggestions:

You might want to start with all of the miscellaneous store credit cards that you have. Not only might this make it less likely for you to go shopping when you really don’t need anything, but store cards often charge more interest, and don’t report to the Transunion, Experian and Equifax as often as credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc. — not adding as much benefit to your credit scores.

You do NOT need a gas card. It is better to use a general credit card and then pay it off each month. Things like gas and groceries really shouldn’t be bought on credit anyway, but if you want to use your credit card as a type of debit card (it is not, though. It is indeed credit), then paying it off each month is important.

During your previous credit repair journey you should have been advised which cards to close and which ones to leave open. If you have not done that yet, consider closing the younger ones first, and/or the ones with higher interest rates. Again, this must be done somewhat strategically. Ask your credit specialist for advice.

Pay with cash most of the time.

Some people who are survivors of credit card debt want to deal with credit cards as little as possible. They may just take out how much cash they want to spend at any given time and just bring that with them when they go to the store. They will not have the option of overspending.

Do not go shopping. (easier said than done, right?)

Some people just cannot help themselves when they are at the store. Do you get a “Must have it, gotta have it, can’t live without it” mentality when you go shopping? If this is you and caused you problems in the past, then you might want to just avoid the stores altogether. That also goes for the online shopping websites if that is your weakness.

When you get the urge to spend, think about how hard you worked to get out of debt and repair your credit. Be proud of yourself when you see your bank account growing and as you see yourself getting in charge of your finances. This simple tips above will help you stay out of credit card debt for good.

One out of Five Consumers Likely to Receive Meaningfully Different Score than Creditor



WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sept. 25, 2012, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a study comparing credit scores sold to creditors and those sold to consumers.

“This study highlights the complexities consumers face in the credit scoring market,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “When consumers buy a credit score, they should be aware that a lender may be using a very different score in making a credit decision.”

The complete Analysis of Differences between Consumer and Creditor-Purchased Credit Scores is available at: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201209_Analysis_Differences_Consumer_Credit.pdf

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directed the CFPB to compare credit scores sold to creditors and those sold to consumers by nationwide credit bureaus and to determine whether differences between those scores harm consumers.

THE STUDY DETERMINED:

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