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The DollarVisor Blog

Short guides that answer one money question at a time, across insurance, credit cards, loans and investing.

400 guides (page 14)

Credit Cards How to Get a Credit Limit Increase Without a Ding Whether a credit limit increase dings your score is decided by your issuer, not by you. Capital One puts in writing that its reviews… Read the guide → Credit Cards Secured Card Upgrade: When and How to Graduate A secured card upgrade happens on your issuer's review calendar, not on your credit score. Citi starts reviewing at nine months, Ope… Read the guide → Credit Cards What Is a Thin Credit File and How to Fix It A thin credit file is a real credit report that does not carry enough history to produce a score. FICO needs one account open six mo… Read the guide → Credit Cards Do Buy Now Pay Later Loans Build Credit? Mostly no. Two lenders now send some plans to the bureaus, but no mainstream credit score counts that data yet, so on-time payments… Read the guide → Credit Cards Can You Build Credit With a Debit Card? No. A normal debit card cannot build credit, because checking account activity is not reported to Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. C… Read the guide → Credit Cards Experian Boost Review: Does It Really Work? Experian Boost works, but only inside a narrow lane. It adds on-time utility, phone, streaming, insurance and online rent payments t… Read the guide → Credit Cards Do Rent Payments Build Credit? How to Report Them Rent payments build credit only if somebody reports them, and your landlord almost certainly does not. Enroll in a rent reporting se… Read the guide → Credit Cards What Is a Credit Builder Loan and Does It Work? A credit builder loan is a loan you repay before you get the money. It works, but only for one group. In the CFPB's randomized study… Read the guide → Credit Cards Authorized User Credit: How Much It Really Helps Authorized user credit helps a lot if you have almost no file, and almost nothing if you already have a decent one. Federal Reserve… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Build Credit Without a Credit Card You can build credit without a credit card using four routes that report to the bureaus: a credit-builder loan, a rent reporting ser… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Build Credit at 18: Your First 5 Steps To build credit at 18, open a checking account with income of your own, add one starter card, put a small recurring bill on it, auto… Read the guide → Credit Cards How Long Does It Take to Build Credit? Building credit takes one to six months for your first score and 12 to 24 months for a score lenders call good. FICO needs six month… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Rebuild Credit After Repossession You rebuild credit after repossession by working the only part that is still moving: the leftover loan balance. Settle or plan the d… Read the guide → Credit Cards How Long Does Bankruptcy Stay on Your Credit? How long does bankruptcy stay on your credit report? Federal law caps it at ten years, counted from the date the court entered the o… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Rebuild Credit After Bankruptcy You can rebuild credit after bankruptcy starting the month you are discharged. The public record sits on your report for up to ten y… Read the guide → Credit Cards Are Credit Repair Companies Worth It? For most people, no. Credit repair companies send dispute letters you can send yourself for free, and they cannot remove anything ac… Read the guide → Credit Cards 609 Dispute Letters: What the Law Really Says Section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act is a disclosure law. It tells the credit bureaus what they must show you. It has no del… Read the guide → Credit Cards How to Remove a Charge-Off From Your Credit Three things remove a charge-off early: an error you can point to, a lender that fails to verify it, or an identity-theft block. Pay… Read the guide → Credit Cards Charge-Off vs Collection: What’s the Difference? Different parties, same debt. A charge-off is the original lender moving your balance to loss on its own books, on a schedule set by… Read the guide → Credit Cards Does Paying Off Collections Improve Your Score? More often than the usual answer admits. On a medical bill, paying off collections removes the entry from all three bureaus outright… Read the guide → Credit Cards Pay for Delete: Does It Actually Work? Sometimes, and far more often with debt buyers than collection agencies. It is not illegal, because reporting a debt is voluntary. B… Read the guide → Credit Cards How Long Do Collections Stay on Your Report? Seven years plus 180 days, counted from the first payment you missed on the original account. Not from the day a collector bought th… Read the guide → Credit Cards Goodwill Letters: Do They Remove Late Payments? Sometimes, and less often than the internet suggests. A goodwill letter asks a lender to withdraw an accurate late payment as a favo… Read the guide → Credit Cards How Long Do Late Payments Stay on Your Credit? How long do late payments stay on your credit report? Seven years, counted from the date you first fell behind and never caught up… Read the guide →