ASK THE BLACK MAN: “How Do I Improve My Credit?”

Dear Black Man,

I am trying to improve my credit. I have encountered situations where it has affected my financial growth. Do you have any suggestions to help make this an efficient progress?

-Kate B.

The BlackMan:

Hi Kate B. ,

As you probably know already you credit score can affect you in many ways from obtaining a vehicle, a house, and nowadays even a job. It is important to maintain a good credit score.

I suggest signing up to a site in which you can monitor your credit score like http://www.mycreditreport.com so you can keep a close eye on your score.

If you have a lot of credit cards. I would pay off a most of them and keep three credit cards. Close the rest. If you have a bunch department store credit cards, get rid of them. They are unnecessary. Thee ones you keep, make sure keep the balances low. The best is 1/3 of your credit balance. High balances appear to creditors as high risk accounts.

I would also look on your report to see if you have any old stuff on there that should be removed. Anything over 7 years can be removed. You can write in a letter to the credit bureaus to take all of the items off or you can pay a professional to do so. You can take a look at http://www.lexingtonlaw.com for a trustworhty, legtimate entity that can help you. Just like any service provided there are people that try to scam their clients> Be careful and do research on you you choose.

Just make sure to remember if you know you are able to pay for something then don’t charge it. This rule can save you a lot of financial burden in the future.

I hope this helps.

TBM