1. Maintaining A Good Credit
Rating
Presented by Shaun Sykes

2. Topics of Discussion:
• What is credit?
• Credit terms
• How does your credit become bad?
• Who monitors your credit rating?
• What are the consequences of having bad
credit
• How long does you bad credit last?
• How can you improve your credit rating?
• Site to visit for credit information

3. What is credit?
• A contract to receive money, goods or services now,
paying for them over time at an established interest
rate.
• A sum of money or equivalent purchasing power, as
at a shop, available for a person’s use.
• The positive balance in a person’s bank account.
• Commendation or approval, as for an act or quality.
• A person or thing serving as a source of good
influence, repute, ability, etc.
• The quality of being believable or trustworthy.
• Belief in the trust, reliability, quality, etc., of someone
or something.

4. Credit terms:
• Line of credit: A fixed • Credit History: An important
amount of money that a record of each consumer’s
company can draw against historical usage and
from a lender. A line of credit payment of credit. Typically
is usually for an unlimited these records go back seven
period of time. years, and they have a
• Credit account: A credit tremendous impact on your
system by means of which choices for credit today.
customers may obtain goods • Credit card: A card issued
and services before by banks, businesses, etc.,
payment. Also called: enabling the holder to obtain
charge account gods and services on credit.
• Credit rating: An evaluation • Credit Union: A cooperative
of the creditworthiness of an association whose members
individual or business can obtain low-interest loans
enterprise. out of their combined
savings.

5. How does your credit become
bad?
• Delinquent or slow payment of bills
• Prior history viewed by others
• Stolen credit cards, accounts or
account numbers that are misused or
abused
• Possible mistakes or errors made by
the credit recording agencies

6. Who monitors your credit rating?
• Credit card issuers
• Auto Financing companiesCollege Loan
issuers
• Insurance Companies
• Landlords
• Potential employers
Who keeps and gathers credit
information?
• Credit Bureaus

7. What are the consequences of
having bad credit?
• You incur a bad credit rating • Your name can be damaged
• You lose state and/or federal • Your goods can be
tax refunds repossessed
• Your wages can be • You may need to have
garnished others with good credit co-
• Inegibility for automobile sign for you
rentals • Legal action can be brought
• You receive lower credit against you
rating, which incur higher • It takes a long time for you to
interest ratings repair your credit, or bounce
• You are unable to finance back from negative credit
anything, such as a home, • You may be denied credit
automobile, a practice, etc. from other agencies

8. How long does your bad credit
last?
• Inquiries – 2 years
• Late payments – 7 years from month that late payment was due
• Charge-offs – 7 years
• Collection Accounts – 7 years
• Lawsuits and Judgments – 7 years or until the governing statue
of limitations expires
• Bankruptcy - (Chapter 7) – 10 years
• Bankruptcy - (Chapter 13) – 7 years
• Paid Tax Liens – 7 years from date of payment
• Unpaid Tax Liens – Forever (unless paid)
• Foreclosures/Repos – 7 years from foreclosure or repo date
• Unpaid Federal Student Loans – Forever (unless paid, after
which they can appear for 7 years)

9. How can you improve your credit
rating?
• Get your credit history from a • Consolidate your debts into
credit bureau, review it and one payment
work on repairing it • Take your debts to debt
• If mistakes are found, write management or credit repair
the credit bureau to have the companies (find out what
mistakes corrected services the business
• Devise a re-payment plan provides and what it costs
and make payments and first)
pay-offs on things you owe • File for bankruptcy – used a
• If you locate credit fraud on last resort (Chapter 7 and
your accounts, notify the Chapter 13)
credit bureaus immediately • Contact creditors and devise
• As for credit cards – use a workable plan with them
them less, hide them and if • Start paying back on time –
all else fails cut them up you will avoid interest
payments

10. Websites to investigate:
• Personal credit history: Equifax
www.equifax.com
• Experian (formerly TRW) : www.experian.com
• TransUnion: www.transunion.com
• Providian Financial Corporation:
www.providian.com
• Free Credit Report Service:
www.consumerinfo.com
www.freecreditreport.com
• Credit repair articles: http://creditinsiders.com

11. Topics of Discussed:
• What is credit?
• Credit terms
• How does your credit become bad?
• Who monitors your credit rating?
• What are the consequences of having bad
credit
• How long does you bad credit last?
• How can you improve your credit rating?
• Site to visit for credit information