Free Credit Report

The Problem

I was driving home from the store the other night when I noticed a license plate that made me laugh to myself and then I proceeded to feel sorry for the poor sap driving. The plate read “0 DOWN”. It was a white, shiny, new Ford Explorer (probably an 06′). Here’s what really got me about the caption: Not only did this consumer purchase a brand new vehicle with no money down, but he was proud of it. DUMB! Commercial advertisements and society as a whole embeds the “Buy Now, Pay Later” method into our heads and it works so well that around 90% of all consumers who purchase new cars do not put $5 down on the vehicle before signing the papers. The sad fact is, is that the average new automobile loses $3,000 as soon as it leaves the lot. Technically, you have gone into debt for something that loses value before you even use it. As if this wasn’t depressing enough, the less money you put down on a car and the worse off your credit is, the more you pay for the car. If this isn’t one big sand trap I don’t know what is!

The Role of Your Credit Report

Your online credit report is affected 2 ways when you buy a new car with no money down. First let’s look at the role it plays after you decide you NEED that shiny new sports car. The mass majority of consumers are thinking of one thing when they sit in the ’sales chair’ to go through the paperwork: driving the car home (man this is bringing back some bad, bad memories). In order to do this you will need to finance the vehicle which requires pulling up your credit history and your credit report. This can easily be done online right in the sales office while you look around to make sure no one else tries to sneak off with your new toy. The worse off your credit report is, the higher interest rate you will pay. (This is fine though as long as you can still afford to buy food every other week and pay a few bills here and there.)
The other role that your credit report plays in this game is the after-effect. The average new car buyer’s car payment is 25-30% of their total income. This creates a nice, big road block on your credit report in itself for when you are ready to make another large purchase. Not to mention when you fall behind on even one payment and your credit file takes a hard blow. Try to keep these factors in mind next time the kid in you tries to make a financial decision.

The Solution

Well you’re not going to like the best solution but here it is anyway: PAY FOR THE CAR IN FULL! If you saved the car payment every month in a good money market account; not only would you save time and money, but when you walked into the sales office with piles of hundred dollar bills you would get quite a deal! Okay, so you’re more likely to win the super lotto than do that right?
Well here are a few ideas. As long as you practice a few you might get ahead of this nasty game a little bit or at least protect your online credit report. First, consider getting a 2 or 3 year old car. You can still get a shiny one and the previous owner will have taken the major depreciation of the vehicle passing the savings directly to you. Second, if you can, try waiting and searching to find the best deal possible. Trust me, there is more than 1 of those cars in the market. Third, put something down. Anything! For starters you could put down 10 to 15%. This will lower your monthly payment, lower your interest rate and maybe even cut your payoff time down. Lastly, get a bargain. Don’t settle for the asking price by any means. Be patient and keep control of your focus. One definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure.

To read more about how you can get your online credit report free with no obligations, see what is on your file and find out how to fix your credit report go to http://www.cleancreditonline.com

Tom Justice is the webmaster for Clean Credit Online and does all the designing, marketing, SEO and maintenance the site. He has a passion for personal finance and how the economy and consumers are affected by money. To see how you can use Clean Credit Online to help you with your personal finances please visit http://www.cleancreditonline.com
“Cars and Credit Reports” - © (2005) Reprinting is allowed assuming all content is left the same.

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Debt is a Product in America

The #1 sickness in America concerning finances right now is debt. Debt is a product in our culture and it is vigorously aimed at you and me everyday, everywhere. As a society, we borrow more money than the last two generations times two and your online credit report reflects these habits! Some companies like Sears make more profit from their credit department than from all the physical products they sell.

But It’s the Norm Isn’t It?

We are programmed from childhood to make automatic decisions regarding our personal spending habits thus negatively affecting our online credit report. A few ‘real world’ examples are listed below:

Tags: Bad Credit, Credit Report, debt, debt help, debt relief, free credit report, online credit reportBad Credit, Credit Report, debt, debt help, debt relief, free credit report, online credit report

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If you’ve taken a look online, you’ve probably found a number of sites that offer to provide you with a free credit report. But is it really free? That’s not easy to answer. It’s quite possible that you won’t need to pay for the report with money, but you may find yourself paying in other ways once you’ve entered in all your personal information. Some companies will then use that information to pester you with spam, junk mail or even annoying phone calls. So in many ways, a free online credit report really isn’t free at all. Quite often you will need to sign up for an offer, which might include a trial membership to service that traces and looks for irregularities in your credit history. You may even have to sign for services that have nothing to do with getting a free online credit report.

In the end, you might actually be better trying to find a credit report online that’s cheap, although the free ones might still be worth it. After all, it’s important to keep your credit history clear, and it can be a good idea to check what’s listed on your history before you apply for a loan. Do you remember when you changed addresses and missed the last cable payment? That’s a black mark on your credit history. Running late with a credit card payment? That’s on there as well. All of these things damage your credit, and if there’s enough of these little slip ups on your credit record, you may find it difficult to get a loan from a regular lender. It’s also possible that there are things on there that have nothing to do with you, and have either been placed against your name by mistake or by someone committing fraud.

Identity theft is on the rise, and a criminal may have been using your personal information to buy cellular phones and order credit cards. Once they have your name and identity, they can rent a home in your name or apply for loans. Unless you regularly check your credit report, you might not even know that these things are happening until one day you’re refused credit and you don’t know why. It’s much harder to clean your credit history than it is to mess it up in the first place, so checking it regularly can be insurance against having a big mess to clean up down the track. Removing all the fraudulent entries can take as much as a year, and will cause you a lot of hard work and frustration. Getting regular credit reports can be costly, and that’s why it might be worth getting a free credit report online, even if you have to put up with a few junk letters afterwards.

If you want to read lots more great information about credit reports and repairing your credit history, go to http://badcreditsolutionszone.com

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