This article is the 4th and final article of a series of articles designed to show you how to repair, improve, and monitor your credit without the help of any expensive service.
As I said last article " Work on your credit now, before you need it, because by then it will be too late.
" So having said that, on to the next step.
Part 4: Monitoring and maintaining your credit once you have cleaned it up...
So, normally when someone talks about monitoring credit they talk about all the obvious stuff.
They talk about paying your bills on time and avoiding late fees and things like that.
Well we all know to do those things.
I prefer to talk about some of the rules you can give yourself to make it easier to maintain and monitor your credit.
For example, to keep your credit rating strong, keep all of your credit card balances below half of the limit.
So if you have a card with a $1000 limit make your personal limit on that card $500.
It won't hurt you if you think that way and unless there's a real emergency, you shouldn't use that extra $500.
Doing this serves two purposes.
First, if you keep your balances below half the limit the credit card companies look favorably on that and your score is rewarded for it.
Also, you create a credit emergency fund for things that can accidentally happen.
Respect this rule, but if you had an unforeseen car problem you can get it fixed with your surplus credit and pay it off over the next few paychecks.
Another tip is to never close a credit card account.
Even if you pay the card off and do not plan on using the card.
Credit bureaus lower your score for closing out accounts.
They look at it as if you are not being responsible.
Just destroy the card and do not use the account again.
Lastly, you need to monitor your credit regularly.
Make a plan to pull all three credit reports every 6 months.
Make sure that there are no new negative items and if you are really on top of your game then you can challenge the old negative items that remain on your credit every 6 months (as I explained in the last article part 3).
If you are unable or unwilling to do this, then you can use one of the credit monitoring services from the credit bureaus.
They charge a monthly fee usually around 10 bucks.
They will send you any updated information that goes on your credit.
I personally am not a big fan of these services because they cost a lot of money (120 bucks a year) and they often do not give you all the information for all three bureaus.
Just the bureau that you got the service through.
My advice is to do it yourself.
You will save some money and you will learn to be more credit concise in the process.
I hope these credit articles have helped you and opened your eyes on how to get your credit in order.
Till next week, Good luck and God Bless