My Credit Plan Blog

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Al Bingham
Al Bingham

 

Al Bingham is nationally recognized for his extensive research, insight and knowledge on purchasing power, credit reports and especially FICO® credit scores. From his extensive knowledge, Al has provided commentary in over 200 television news stories for many media outlets including US News and World Report, Fortune Magazine, CNBC, CBS and ABC affiliated stations along with a host of other national and regional media.

Al would like to help you find solutions to your credit questions, and identify solutions to improve your FICO scores, which ultimately leads to an improved purchasing power – which means purchasing more for less!

Al offers his insight through the My Credit Plan blog.

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We put together a series of questions for students at a couple of universities. 56% of students said they have what they would consider having an above average knowledge about their credit scores. However, after completing this short questionnaire, the percentage of those that answered correctly was 28%. That is not above average. Want to try the questionnaire, here it is -https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CreditScoreSurvey

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There is one way lenders make more interest on you and it can cost you lots of money - even if you make extra principal payments.

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It takes a lot longer now to get FICO scores to show up after opening the first new account. A change in recent times from FICO requires a longer wait before a person can generate FICO Scores in their credit report.

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When reviewing a credit situation or teaching a class on credit scores, it is always interesting to get feedback. People always state that they know a lot and are an “A” student in understanding their credit score. After a review is complete however, they quickly discover that many important points have been completely overlooked, and their credit score understanding is more like a “D”. As one professor put it, “The vast majority of individuals do not even have any fathom idea of all the factors impacting their credit scores.”

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Quite often, I get an email or text from someone asking me to validate some information that has come out from a news story or on the internet. It is quite rare to find a story or article on the internet that is accurate.

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Many realtors and brokers tell their clients to get their “Free” credit scores at Credit Karma to know their credit qualifications. The problem is, what is provided to them from the Credit Karma Credit Scores is never reliable.

Knowing the difference between a credit suggestion and a credit solution can save you a lot of money. It can mean the difference between a credit score increase say 3 or 4 points, while a credit score solution can increase your scores at least 30 to 40 points in most situations.

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The housing market in many parts of the country is really hot. Home values have increased at levels never before seen. Interest rates have also increased, raising the borrowing costs for those looking to purchase a new home. The principal and interest payments have increased an alarming 14% in the last 12 months.

My Credit Plan has fantastic results for 2021. An average of 81 point improvement for those users who utilize MY Credit Plan. Compared to Experian Boost's average of 12 pints, My Credit Plan averages almost 7x better. Many more consumers are leaving Experian Boost and other credit programs and coming to My Credit Plan to help them with their FICO scores.

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Jason pulled his FICO® score from Experian.com. It said 604. He showed that score to his real estate agent as he started looking for a house and she told Jason that he needed to improve his credit score before he could purchase a home. She referred him to a loan officer who helped consumers raise their FICO Scores. The loan officer then pulled his Experian FICO Score and it was 690. What!?!?!