subject: The Secrets to Obtaining a First Class Credit Rating [print this page] Today it is virtually impossible to survive and prosper financially without a good credit rating. There have been times in the past when Joe' had taken business risks that turned out very badly and had lost a lot of money. Even worse than losing the money it is the damage that serious business failure can do to your credit rating.
After having had over 20 major credit cards, bank loans and overdraft facilities, with an ability to raise in excess of 100,000 in credit, Joe was left with massive debts and a credit rating so poor that he couldn't even open an ordinary bank account!
The one sure thing Joe learned about borrowing vast quantities of money, at high interest rates, to finance business deals and ventures, is that access to credit is virtually essential for any real wealth creation. Our man learnt this lesson very quickly.
It was unfortunate for Joe that he had to learn the hard way about the importance of maintaining an excellent credit rating. After having access to easy credit, he lost hundreds of thousands of pounds on property deals and other business ventures. Only after this experience did he realise how fortunate to have been in the position to gain the credit he was using in the first place.
Joe has now re-established his credit rating to a first-class level, and intends never to create a situation again where his credit rating is put in jeopardy. The method detailed below is the one Joe used to rebuild his credit rating back to a level where he will never need to worry about access to money for any purpose. When you have no money at all and your assets are all frozen because of debt, and no bank or other lending institution will lend you a penny, you may think that creating a credit rating where you can eventually borrow almost unlimited sums would be virtually impossible. Read on . . .
In fact, with absolutely no cash at all, it is virtually impossible. Some amount of cash is essential. To get this plan up and operational within the couple of months that it takes to become productive, an ideal sum of money would be in the region of 1,000. After enjoying a fairly wealthy lifestyle and being used to the finer things in life, Joe ended up broke and almost bankrupt, having avoided bankruptcy by the skin of his teeth. To get some money to start his credit-building plan, he took every one of his personal possessions that he thought he could sell. He attended car boot sales at which he managed to raise just over 350. He then put together another 300 by selling furniture and other personal effects through adverts in the local paper.
Keeping 150 as an emergency fund Joe took 500 to the nearest bank and opened the highest interest savings account that he could get. After a week he applied for a personal loan from the same bank and offered my 500 deposit as security. Because the bank already held the sum he wished to borrow, they were only too glad to loan him the 500. So Joe then had 500 cash in hand and 500 in the bank. Naturally he had to make monthly repayments on the loan. These were kept to a minimum by taking the loan out for the maximum period allowed, which was 2 years. This left him with repayments of less than 1 per day.
Joe then took the 500 he had borrowed to another bank and opened another high interest savings account with it. Following the same procedure, he opened savings accounts at six banks and used the final 500 to cover the repayments.
After a couple of months repayments had been made to each loan he took the 150 emergency fund he had set aside and added it to the capital he still had. He then used this to repay the last loan he had taken out. This allowed him access to the savings he had with that bank. Then, after each subsequent month Joe paid off each of the loans in turn. Having done this it was easy to go to the first bank and apply for a loan of 500 secured on his home. They were happy to lend him this money because he had shown them that he could borrow and repay a previous loan. So, in spite of Joe's terrible credit history, after having lost a great deal of money in business ventures which went wrong he had rebuilt his credit rating to a first-class level within six months.
If you have no previous bad debts there is no reason why you could not establish this level of credit rating within two months.
And once you have established a credit rating with a few banks you can apply for their credit cards. Initially you may have to settle for a fairly low account limit, but this can be increased rapidly by using the credit cards to borrow money up the limit of each card every month, and then repaying the full sum at the end of the month.
Within a few months you can request and normally will be granted an increase in credit limit. Joe used this method with store-cards also and now has a 5,000 limit on most credit and store cards he uses. One thing to always keep in mind: once you have established an excellent credit rating, don't lose it. Joe became too careless with borrowed money in the early days because he had easy access to credit. Now that he has rebuilt his credit rating to a top-notch level, he will never let it be ruined again. Always be very careful when borrowing money to invest in wealth generating programmes. Do your research - don't just jump in at the deep end - Joe did, and lost out big time!
Keep your credit rating healthy by always ensuring that you are able to make any repayments that are due, and make these repayments on time. Even if you have to borrow from one source to make a payment to another, this can be worth your while as maintenance of your credit rating is one of the most important things you will need to take care of on your journey to financial prosperity.
Most of the larger banks and building societies now automatically check your credit rating and, if you have been blacklisted for any reason, such as default or CCJs, then they won't even lend you the same amount as you have deposited with them. This is a recent development, which limits the widespread use of the above plan. However, some of the smaller building societies and some banks will still lend to you, regardless of your credit history, provided that you have the right security.
The Secrets to Obtaining a First Class Credit Rating
