Upturn Credit Resource Center

When you have a debt that goes to collections, it can feel as though debt collectors will rule your life until it gets repaid. But thanks to the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), there are rules that debt collectors must follow when contacting you for repayment. Read on to learn what debt collectors can’t do so you’ll know how to protect your rights.

[Read more…] about 7 Things Debt Collectors Can’t Do

The last thing college students and recent graduates might think about is how their student loans can impact their credit reports and their financial lives in general. Nevertheless, the impact is real. Here’s how I learned about the intersection of student loans and credit:

Back when I was a newly minted college graduate, I got hired to be a bank teller and then a personal banker. At the time, the job was a placeholder while I searched for work in journalism. Years later, I realize it was probably the best job a new college graduate could have, as it immersed me into an education on personal finance I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

One of the moments I remember the most is learning about “debt-to-income ratios” and how they impacted someone’s ability to be approved for credit. Now, income isn’t included on credit reports, but debt is and if someone’s debt was too high relative to their income, their chances of approval went down. My student loans came into mind, along with my meager $11 per hour wage. It occured to me that I might never be approved for any kind of loan (at least not until ten years or so went by).

That moment was the first time I understood that my student loans could impact my financial life in more ways than just my monthly budget. Suddenly I found myself desperately wanting to find out the answer to two questions: “How do student loans show up on my credit report,” and “How will these student loans affect my credit?”

Here are the answers I wished I had then.

[Read more…] about How Do Student Loans Show Up on My Credit Report?

How long do negative items stay on my credit report? This is the question anyone in need of credit might ask if bankruptcy, collections accounts, or late payments are dragging down their credit scores. Since it’s easy to forget about the importance of checking our credit reports regularly, by the time we notice the negative items, we might fear it’s too late.

Luckily, although negative items can sometimes take a while to drop off, their impact on your credit scores can decrease over time. Here’s why that is, and how long you can expect to see negative items on your credit report.

[Read more…] about How Long Do Negative Items Stay on My Credit Report?

Credit reports are the foundations on which credit scores are measured. Even though there are multiple credit scoring companies (and multiple formulas for each type of score), where your scores land depends on information from your credit reports.

Because of this, anyone looking to apply for credit might take a sudden interest in their credit reports to ensure that they’re being scored on accurate information. But how up to date are these reports, really? Let’s find out.

[Read more…] about How Often Does My Credit Report Update?

Roughly four percent of homeowners who refinanced their mortgages in July 2018 had a credit score of less than 600, according to mortgage software company Ellie Mae. While that figure shows that it’s not easy to refinance your home when you have bad credit, it also shows that it’s possible. There are several mortgage refinance programs available, depending on the type of mortgage you currently have. Here are a few of them, plus some other strategies you can use to get approved.

[Read more…] about 5 Ways to Refinance Your Home If You Have Bad Credit

So, you’ve heard you need to review your credit report, but you can’t help but wonder: What am I really looking for?

It can be frustrating to learn financial to-dos only to realize we’re not sure how to properly execute on the list. However, let’s remember that these are things few of us were taught in our homes growing up, and almost no one learned in school. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re already doing great!

Now, let’s talk about the simple things you should look for when you’re reviewing your credit report.

[Read more…] about Here’s What to Look for When You’re Reviewing Your Credit Report

If you have serious financial goals on the mind, then there’s a good chance you’ve thought about your credit recently. But have you thought about the range your credit score falls into, and not just the score itself?

You should. In fact, your credit score range might be even more important than your score. Here’s why.

[Read more…] about Credit Score Ranges: Why You Should Know Where You Stand

You already know you have a credit report. (Well, three, but we can get to that later). You already know that the information on your credit report affects your credit scores (more than one there, too). But did you know that there’s a fairly decent chance that you have an error on one or more of your credit reports, and that the error could be dragging your credit scores down?

This can be an incredibly frustrating realization for anyone who’s working hard to clean up their credit or reach a higher score. It’s also the reason it’s so important to regularly review your credit reports. After all, you can’t fix credit report errors you don’t know about.

Here are some of the most common credit report mistakes to look out for when you review your reports.

[Read more…] about The Most Common Credit Report Mistakes — Are These Hurting Your Score?

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

So you’ve found an error on your credit report. Now what? Are you stuck with it forever or can you dispute the error and take action to remove it?

It’s not at all uncommon to find mistakes on a credit report, so much so that an entire process has been outlined and put into law for fixing these mistakes. But you can’t fix anything until you make the decision to dispute your credit report.

Here’s what happens when you do.

[Read more…] about How Does a Dispute Work on a Credit Report

So you found a mistake on your credit report. Maybe it says you paid a bill late, or didn’t pay one at all, but you have proof that you did. What can you do to fix the problem?

It’s time to dispute.

Starting a dispute on your credit report might seem intimidating at first, but if you follow the steps it doesn’t have to be. In fact, the first step is to simply write a dispute letter. Although you can skip this if you dispute online, choosing to write the letter instead gives you the room you might need to explain more details about the error. And you can still check the status of your dispute online even if you send in a letter by mail.

Ready to get started? Here’s how to write your dispute letter and fix your credit report.

[Read more…] about How to Write a Dispute Letter for Your Credit Report

How often would you say you review your credit reports? Once per year? Once every few years? Never? Although it’s one of the most important stops on the journey to financial health, it’s one many of us skip. There’s always something else that seems more important or the feeling that looking at the report won’t make a difference. Or, for many of us, we might simply forget we even have a credit report.

The truth is, this simple task is one of the easiest ways to work towards a better credit score and to create a line of sight into potential identity theft. A few minutes each year with each of your credit reports can make a massive difference to your daily finances. Here’s why, and how to find a mistake on your credit report that might be damaging your score.

[Read more…] about How to Find Mistakes on Your Credit Report