| 570. I was shocked and disturbed seeing the number | | | | The most obvious thing that came to mind after my |
| that I long neglected checking. Must be some sort of | | | | search was that I should do whatever I could to pay |
| mistake. No, that is what happens when you make a | | | | off that $5000 in credit debt. But I had no money. I |
| credit card payment SIXTY days late. So much for | | | | deciding against trying to take out a personal loan from |
| being approved for that new Honda Accord. | | | | a bank since I had terrible credit to begin with. That left |
| Monitoring your credit score is an extremely easy and | | | | me with the solution I dreaded most, borrowing from |
| important thing you can do to assure your current and | | | | family and friends. |
| future plans involving money transfer of any kind are | | | | Before you close out this article while saying to |
| safe. Less than two years ago, I lapsed on a credit | | | | yourself that you could never stoop to such a level, let |
| card payment for no other reason than deciding not to | | | | me just remind you that the reason you are reading |
| open up a credit card statement that I assumed would | | | | this in the first place is because you are looking for a |
| contain a $0 balance since I had not used the card in | | | | way to fix your credit. I swallowed my pride and |
| well over a year. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I | | | | borrowed $5000 from a variety of sources close to |
| used that credit card to purchase (how ironic is this) a | | | | me in order to pay off my credit debt. I made plans to |
| CREDIT SCORE MONITORING SERVICE a year and | | | | pay these people off within 6 months, despite the |
| a half before that had a yearly recurring fee if left not | | | | hardship that would place on me. Honestly I wasn't |
| cancelled. I never used the service after the first week | | | | even sure it would help my score much, but even if it |
| of purchasing it and I forgot completely about its | | | | didn't, I knew it would be better than having all that debt |
| existence. | | | | on my record. I couldn't believe my eyes when I |
| My score dropped from the low 700's to 570 because | | | | checked my score the following month. |
| of my 60 day late payment. I should probably be | | | | 654. Then the next month, 672. Now, 6 months later, it |
| happy I discovered I had a payment to make on my | | | | stands at 710. All I did was get that credit card debt off |
| own rather than through the receiver of my telephone | | | | my credit report and transfer it to "private" lenders, |
| with a collector on the other end of the line. | | | | namely those close to me who were willing to help. |
| There I stood, a 570 credit score, over $5000 in credit | | | | Reducing your credit utilization (how much you owe vs. |
| card debt, and I actually wanted to invest in real estate. | | | | the total of your limits) is the absolute best way to get |
| That was why I finally decided to check my score in | | | | your credit recovery plan off to a great start. Do |
| the first place. I wasn't going anywhere with that score, | | | | whatever it takes to get your credit cards paid off, |
| so I started looking for ways to fix it. | | | | and you will reap the benefits in the very near future. |