Credit Repair Services

With the recession now in a confirmed double-dip, there isn't much getting away from the fact that more people than ever are struggling financially. One of the factors behind a sluggish economy is the fact that people are not spending . . . which is something they won't do if they don't have enough cash to make ends meet.

One thing that has been emerging in the UK however is the "credit repair" service. These have been popular in the USA for some time but have fallen from grace since the economic figures have started to pick up gradually. Now they seem to be over here.

Essentially, this is an advert for someone to help improve a bad credit rating on your behalf and yes, you've guessed it - you need to pay them a fee to do so.

Warning bells ought to be sounding here. For starters, although it's tempting to let someone else sort out your mess, the first step to credit repair is taking ownership of the situation. One of the main causes of bad credit is over-spending and failing to budget properly. This can still continue if someone is taking over your payments to creditors and the additional service you are paying for will fail unless this basic discipline is managed.

It's also a tempting thought to let a middle-man deal with your creditors, but that doesn't always happen either. If you owe people or are having trouble with makign repayments, just about every credit firm has a team of people specially hired to contact you to find out when and how much you will repaying. Imagine if you loaned someone £100 and they didn't pay it back . . . would you let that slide? I certainly wouldn't. Don't expect a team of credit recovery agents to remember to call someone else when they have your number on their files.

No-one likes having bad credit - I certainly didn't. If someone had offered me the choice to pay some money for someone else to make it go away I'd have been seriously tempted but to be honest, at the time I didn't even have the spare cash for that. Instead I had to knuckle down and sort out my own mess, and you nkow - it's possible. By using your credit report, budgeting sensibly and making some hard decisions in the short term about what I could afford, things started to pick up.

No need for third partis taking more money that I couldn't afford, to pay the same people I needed to settle debts with anyway!

If you are having problems with repayments then there are free services you can use to approach lenders to make repayment plans. Many will also be responsive if you contact them up front and settle on a repayment figure. Again, this doesn't have to involve additional expense or third parties.

I'm reminded of a carnival booth with all of this; if someone is telling you something's too good to be true . . . it usually is!

The Olympics and what it cost me

Now the Olympics are over I thought I would reflect on how much it cost me personally.

I was lucky enough to get tickets for the Final of the men’s football and the final day of the boxing which included seeing Anthony Joshua winning the Super-Heavyweight Gold medal.

   

It's been a memorable 2 weeks for everyone involved and thousands of people have been able to enjoy some unforgettable moments in British sporting history. I am sure many people spent a lot more than I did on seeing these moments live but this is an account of how much it cost me, the average Joe.

Broken Down Costs

First of all there is the price of the tickets themselves. My ticket for the Men’s Football Final cost me £95 and the Boxing ticket cost me £125. Total for tickets = £220

Then you have the price of my train tickets to get to the venues. An all day travel card from my local station costs £20.50 therefore for the 2 days my travel costs = £41

Obviously for a full day out you are going to need food. On both trips I had breakfast at the cafe next to my local train station. Full English and a cup of tea x2 = £10

Any sporting day out for me always includes plenty of refreshments in the form of Lager, it’s a day out after all, and you might as well enjoy yourself. Two cans for trip up on both occasions = £5

I had heard rumours of extortionate prices for refreshments at the venues themselves so I made sure I had some lunch before entering the stadiums. A decent pub lunch in London will set you back at least £10 these days (including pint) = £20

Couple of beers on each occasion = £14

Then onto the venues, there were plenty of things to purchase from flags to t-shirts however not being one for memorabilia I avoided these. The Olympic village only take Visa and even though I did have my Vanquis Credit Card on me I didn’t want to use it on things that I would ultimately regret once all the hype had calmed down. 

The football which saw Mexico beat Brazil was obviously only a couple of hours long so I avoided eating in the stadium and just had another beer (£4). The boxing however was a lot longer so I had to purchase a hotdog and a couple of beers while I was there. All in all the total expenditure whilst at the venues themselves came to about £20.

Once out of the venues it was time to hit the pubs again especially after the boxing as all the British people were celebrating Anthony Joshua winning the Gold medal which in the end was Team GB’s last. It was a fantastic atmosphere, everyone was singing and cheering. I have never seen anything like it. Neither had my wallet mind you, I must of spent at least £100 after the boxing alone. I loved the party so much that I missed the last train home and ended up staying in a Premier Inn to the tune of £105. Because of this I had to buy another Travel Card to get home the next day costing me another £20.50. 

So, it’s time to find out how much my Olympic exploits cost me in total. Adding everything up I arrive at a conservative £560. Which isn’t bad considering the events that I was lucky enough to see live.

Even though for the next few months I am going to be paying off my credit card bill those two days will last with me forever. Sometimes you just have to forget about the cost because some things are a once in a life time opportunity. Just for the record I wouldn't advise everyone to do the same. Make sure you are able to pay off what you borrow!

Knowing more about Bad credit Credit Cards

Plenty of people have a bad credit and for them applying for loans or even getting standard credit cards is a problem. Because of their low credit score, they will be forced to apply for Bad credit credit cards which can easily help them rebuild their credit if they are financially disciplined and pay off the required balance at the end of the month. Of course, including me, no one likes the fact they will pay higher interest rates when getting these special credit cards, yet if you can use them responsibly, eventually you will have access to other cards with lower APRs.

What you should do

In order to improve your credit score you will first of all need to consider spending less money and saving as much as possible. Take into account everything you spend on a daily basis and at the end of each day, write down everything on a piece of paper. At the end of the month, calculate the amount of money you spent for bills, food, nights out, things you don't need, clothes and so on. Make a summary of what you consider necessary and what can be disregarded. After that, take the steps to ensure you spend money only on what you need.

Also, do consider replacing your light bulbs with economical versions and never leave your TV, computer and other electronics on unless you need or use them. This will save you quite a lot on your electricity bill.

Applying for the credit card

You can only apply for Bad credit credit cards which generally offer between £500 and £750 credit. Some of them might come with a yearly fee, but others won't have one. Even though all the cards are high interest, you don't need to be too worried in this regard. Maybe you will be turned down for a traditional card and in this case, you will need to apply for a secured credit card.

The thing is that when you get it, you need to put around one to two hundred pounds in it. The money you'll deposit will become your credit limit, so if you ever fail to make a timely payment, it will be subtracted from this balance. You should make sure that you go for a card that after 1 year or 2 you can convert to an unsecured card. Check for the set-up and high yearly fees as well.

Using your credit card

You should use the credit card for necessary and small purchases every month. If you want to rebuild your credit you will need to use it, because this is the only solution in your case. Never use it in order to purchase goods that cost a lot of money or make purchases you cannot simply afford. The best results for your credit score will come only if you'll use no more than 30% of your credit limit.

Last but not least, after you have used your card properly for 1 to 2 years, apply for a new one. Rebuilding your credit means you will have access to other credit cards with lower APRs. Remember to also have older card accounts opened for as long as possible, because this will certainly improve your credit history.