Top 10 Resources For A 522 Credit Score
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Related Scores
What Does A 552 Credit Score Mean And How It Affects Your Life
A credit score of 552 is considered poor, however, it will still get you an auto-loan, some types of credit cards, a home loan and even a personal loan, especially from online lenders. The score, however, will impact your finances negatively as your credit report will indicate to the lenders that you have a high risk of defaulting your debt. Therefore, creditors and lenders will often approve the above but with very high interest rates as compared to those with fair, good and excellent scores. Basically, a 552 FICO credit score is likely to cost you highly in the long run.
Improving your 552 credit score by 50 or 100 points
The journey towards achieving a positive rise in your credit score is usually a long one and may take quite some time to complete. It is therefore quite important that you brace yourself for a long way ahead and stay focused on this goal. However, this isnt to alarm you as youll soon be able to reap the fruits of it. As your 552 credit score rises, you will progressively be able to get your loan requests approved and even qualify for credits on much better terms. Any negative information on your credit report will also be cleared by your local credit bureau with time and youll then be able to get that job you wanted or get that mortgage or even get an auto loan at lower interest rates.
Credit Score: Is It Good Or Bad How Do I Improve It
Your credit score plays an important role in your financial life, affecting your ability to borrow money and how much you have to pay for loans.
Like grades in school, your credit score is a number, but unlike the 100-point scale most people are familiar with, credit scores use a scale from 300 â 850. If your score is 552 , lenders see you as having a poor credit score.
Understanding how credit scores work, the different scoring ranges, how a poor score affects you, and how to improve your score can be helpful if youâre considering applying for a loan in the future.
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Factors That Can Affect The Calculation Of Your Credit Scores
There are five main factors that can affect the calculation of credit scores. If youre interested in improving your credit, understanding what these factors are can help you create a plan to build healthy credit habits.
1. Payment History
How you manage your payments is one important factor used during the calculation of your credit scores. This includes how many accounts you have open as well as all the positive and negative information about these accounts. For example, if you make payments on time or late, how often you make late payments, how late the payments were, how much you owe, and whether or not any accounts are delinquent.
2. Outstanding Debt
Sometimes referred to as a , many credit scoring models take into account how high your balance is compared to your total available credit limit. Specifically when it comes to revolving credit, for examples credit cards and lines of credit.
3. Length Of Credit History
Your credit file includes how old your credit accounts are and will influence the calculation of your credit scores. The importance of this factor will differ depending on the scoring models, but generally speaking, how long your oldest and newest accounts have been open is important.
4. Public Records
Public records include bankruptcies, collection issues, liens, lawsuits, etc. Having these types of public records on your credit report may have a negative effect on your credit scores.
5. Inquires
Additional Reading
How To Improve Your Credit Score
The steps you can take to rebuild your credit score fall into two categories:
- Short-term credit fixes: Things you can do right now to improve your score in the short term
- Long-term credit fixes: Things you can do to help your score slowly improve in the long term 5
Ultimately, how long it will take to repair your credit depends on your credit history, your personal finances, and the decisions you make.
Read Also: What Does Age Your Credit Report Mean
What Can I Do With A 552 Credit Score
With a 552 credit score, you may still be able to qualify for some financial products. However it will take time and effort on your part in order get there – starting with building up responsible history by taking out new cards as well!
Note that most of the credit and loan options out there will be high-interest and restrictive. Its crucial that you dont sign up for something new and end up in circumstances that might make your credit score worse.
Can I Get A Car / Auto Loan W/ A 552 Credit Score
Trying to qualify for an auto loan with a 552 credit score is extremely expensive, if not downright impossible. Thereâs too much risk for a car lender without charging extremely high interest rates.
Even if you could take out an auto loan with a 552 credit score, you probably donât want to.
There is good news though.
This is completely avoidable with a few simple steps to repair your credit.
Your best option at this stage is reaching out to a credit repair company to evaluate your score and see how they can fix it.
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Can You Pay Off Your Balance Each Month
Never apply for a loan or credit if you dont first believe that you can afford to pay off the balance at the end of each month. This may sound obvious, but youd be surprised at how many people apply for credit or loans without asking themselves this question.
Ask yourself how you will use the credit card. Will you carry a balance, or can you indeed pay it off each month? Will you pay it off some months and not in others?
Roughly three fifths of all Americans who possess a credit card have a balance on that card. Despite this, you may want to pay off your balance at the end of each month so you can definitively avoid additional interest charges.
Can You Get A Credit Card With A 552 Credit Score
Credit card applicants with a credit score in this range may be required to put down a security deposit. Applying for a secured credit card is probably your best option. However, they often require deposits of $500 $1,000. You may also be able to get a starter credit card from a credit union. Its an unsecured credit card, but it comes with a low credit limit and high interest rate.
Either way, if you are able to get approved for a credit card, you must make your payments on time and keep your balance below 30% of your credit limit.
See also:7 Best Secured Credit Cards
Recommended Reading: What Is A Credit Report And Why Is It Important
How To Improve From A 552 Credit Score
A 552 credit score is not a great score to have and so its important to start implementing strategies and habits that can help improve your credit score over time. The following are steps you can take:
- Get Copies of Your Credit Reports: the first step wed recommend would be to obtain a copy of your credit reports from each of the credit bureaus and review them thoroughly to first ensure that all the information on the reports is accurate. It is very important to understand what happened that resulted in your score falling to this level. Every consumer is entitled by law to a free copy of their credit report from each of the three credit bureaus once a year. You can do this by visiting the Annual Free Credit Report. If you notice that there are irregularities on your credit report, you can act by sending a letter to the relevant credit reporting company disputing the information. Viewing your credit reports will also provide you with an idea of what has impacted your score in the past such as late payments and delinquent accounts. You can find more information about disputing information on your credit reports here:
Credit Score Personal Loan Options
While this credit score range isnt the lowest on the totem pole, it is still below average. While you should be able to secure a personal loan, your interest rates and terms will definitely be less than favorable. Interests will often vary anywhere from sixteen to eighteen percent, with most leaning towards the higher end of that range. If youd like to secure a lower rate, a cosigner is a good option while you work to build your credit. Guide on poor credit loans
Read Also: What Is A Fair Credit Score To Buy A House
Getting A Credit Account With A 552 Credit Score
Opening a new credit account with a low credit score is difficult, but possible. Credit cards that you can get with a low credit score are known as subprime credit cards. Because creditors need to compensate for the risk of lending to people with poor credit, most subprime credit cards have significant drawbacks.
Subprime credit cards fall into two categories:
- Secured credit cards: As mentioned above, with these cards, creditors mitigate their risk by requiring you to pay a security deposit, which theyll keep if you default on your debt.
- Unsecured cards with high interest rates: With these cards, creditors compensate for the lack of a security deposit by charging very high interest rates and additional fees .
Given the choice between those two options, its always better to go with a secured credit card. Unsecured subprime credit cards are dangerous because their high interest rates and fees can further jeopardize your finances.
Dont apply for a credit card if you know your credit score doesnt meet the companys requirements. Most applications will trigger a hard inquiry, which will cause your score to temporarily drop. To find out if the card issuer has a minimum credit score, check their website or give them a call.
Takeaway: A 552 credit score is considered poor, but there are many ways you can improve it
Additional Credit Scores
Credit Score: Reasons & Remedies
Regardless of what caused the damage, the best treatment for a credit score of 552 is a steady dose of positive information into your credit report. And the best way to get that going is to open a secured credit card account. Whether you lock the card in a drawer or use it to make purchases and pay the bill on time every month, positive info will stream into your report, offsetting previous mistakes.
That said, lets take a closer look at some of a 552 credit scores common causes and what to do about them.
Heres what can lead to a 552 credit score:
Remedy: If you have not yet defaulted on a delinquent account, making up the payments youve missed is your best option. Having your account default will cause your credit score to fall further, possibly leading to collections and even a lawsuit, both of which could add to the credit damage. Each missed payment you make up will reduce your delinquency level, so you dont have to pay the total amount due all at once. You can also explore debt management and debt settlement.
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Formulating A Plan To Improve Your 552 Credit Rating
First aid foremost, you need to understand that it takes time for you to build up your credit score. Dont expect it to be improved in the next week or the next month, even if you do everything necessary to improve it.
If you have any negative factors on your credit report right now, including a late payment, a bankruptcy, or an inquiry, you may want to pay the bills now and then wait. Remember that time is your ally, not your enemy. In the end, there is no quick fix for rebuilding a credit score. It takes time.
In formulating a plan to rebuild your credit rating, you need to understand how specific actions that you take will harm or hurt your credit score. For example, will working with your creditor to close an existing account in favor of rebuilding a new one with more favorable terms hurt or harm you?
Here are two factors for you to consider: a change to your credit report will affect your credit score , and your score is based entirely on the figures that are already in your report.
A major question that people have is how long it will take for them to improve their credit score. But heres what these people are missing: there isnt anything you can do to boost your actual score. Instead, you can do many things to rebuild your history of credit, and the healthier your credit history, the more elevated your credit score will be.
What Is A Good Credit Score Range
Good credit score = 680 739: Credit scores around 700 are considered the threshold to good credit. Lenders are comfortable with this FICO score range, and the decision to extend credit is much easier. Borrowers in this range will almost always be approved for a loan and will be offered lower interest rates. If you have a 680 credit score and its moving up, youre definitely on the right track.
According to FICO, the median credit score in the U.S. is in this range, at 723. Borrowers with this good credit score are only delinquent 5% of the time.
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Credit Score Loan & Credit Card Options
Percentage of All New Accounts Opened, by Credit Score
| 8.4% |
Just because you can borrow with a 552 credit score doesnt mean you should. You may not qualify for attractive terms at this point. And a little bit of credit improvement could save you a lot of money. For example, a credit score of 580 or higher qualifies you for a lower down payment on an FHA home loan.
Get A Secured Credit Card
As mention earlier, getting a secured credit card is a great way to establish credit. Secured credit cards work much the same as unsecured credit cards. The only difference is they require a security deposit that also acts as your credit limit. The credit card issuer will keep your deposit if you stop making the minimum payment or cant pay your credit card balance.
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What Credit Card Can I Get With A 552 Credit Score
You might have a hard time getting approved for a credit card with poor credit scores.
The good news is, Credit Karma can help. You can log in to your account to see your personalized Approval Odds for a number of different credit cards. While your Credit Karma Approval Odds arent a guarantee that youll be approved for a particular card, they can help you find a credit card that matches your current credit profile.
Here are some common options you may come across.
How To Improve Your Credit Score:
Another common question when dealing with credit scores is What can I do to improve my score? There are many ways to improve your credit score to the higher end of the scale. Some of these methods include:
- Cleaning up your credit report
- Paying down your balance
- Negotiating outstanding balance
- Making payments on time
Credit.org offers consumers help in managing multiple payments. With a Debt Management Plan, you have the possibility of joining these payments into one lump sum with a lower interest rate. Learn more by reaching out to one of our today!
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What Is A Bad Credit Score
Having a may mean some lenders will be reluctant to give you a loan or other credit product, or, depending on the loan type and lender, they may charge you a higher interest rate compared to someone with a good credit score. This is generally because you would be seen as a higher risk and less likely to be able to repay the credit.
So how low does a credit score need to be to be considered bad? Equifax considers a score of 459 or lower to be below average, while Experian views a score below 549 as below average, and Illion considers a score of 299 or under to be a low score.