nsywja: Feb 18, 2008

Life happens with pitfalls. People don't plan on losing their jobs or becoming ill, but it does happen and if I had a choice between eating, paying rent, or paying my credit card bill, guess which one is going to lose out, and then there goes my credit from excellent to good to bad to poor.

In my experience there are two types of Bad Credit Credit Cards. One is a secured card, and the other has a much higher rate of interest. Both can be used to rebuild your credit worthiness after getting back on your feet.

Secured credit cards are great for rebuilding your credit. You send the credit card company a pre deposit amount set by the company. This amount will be equal to your credit limit. Pay over your minimum every month and send your payment in before the due date and you will build your credit up gradually. Never miss a payment, be late on a payment, or go over your credit limit even by a small amount. You don't want the company to ever have to take from your pre deposit amount because they want you to handle your account just like you would an unsecured card. A great thing about this pre deposit amount that you send in is it can act as a savings account even earning a little bit of interest for you. After establishing yourself with the credit card company, they may decide to give you a unsecured credit card or increase the limit on the one you have with them without having to make another deposit. Secured credit cards are a good choice for anyone wishing to rebuild their credit history.

There are also some companies that will give you a card for the main purpose of rebuilding your credit. A lot of these will come in the mail. These credit card companies usually have a high rate of interest, or annual fees, or application fees, or all three. Do your research on the ones you are interested in. Make sure it is something that won't put a burden on you to pay back, because you want to rebuild credit and eventually get a better rate of interest later on.

Both of these types of Bad Credit Credit Cards will report to the credit bureaus on a regular basis and will help you to reestablish yourself in the eyes of the creditors.

Remember you might have to pay more interest at first, but as your credit greatly improves, so will your interest rates. Rebuilding credit worthiness takes a little bit of time and patience, but is well worth it.

For more info on Bad Credit Credit Card resources and news please visit: best-creditcards.info

Pat Wood is the author and owner of the website http://www.best-creditcards.info

She has been in the banking industry since 1987 and has written several articles on credit and debt.

It is the goal of all Americans to own their own home.

Unfortunately, along the way, some of us get sidetracked. It is a tough world out there especially as it relates to credit and home buying. And frankly, many Americans get their dreams derailed, many times through no fault of their own or through circumstances that were beyond their control.

When a person ends up in credit trouble, or when things like job loss, medical conditions, divorce or bankruptcy become a part of a persons reality, hope for home ownership gets bleak and many people give up on their dreams and settle for a lifetime of renting.

This is where Lease Options (when done properly) can be a perfect solution to the challenges at hand.

If you are still renting, this list might describe some or all of your current circumstance?

You probably dont have much money saved for a down-payment

You have too many credit cards or credit accounts open

You have delinquent accounts and collection agents or attorneys asking you for payments

You may have past legal problems such as judgments, divorce, bankruptcy, or foreclosure

You have been told to wait for a year or more before being able to buy a home

You probably feel frustrated as you try to find the perfect answer to your home buying needs.

You have already been turned down by a lender (or couldnt get one to take you seriously if you tried)

And you are most likely, TIRED OF RENTING and TIRED OF BEING REJECTED. Probably the most damaging effects that poor credit will have on a person is that you feel like youve run out of options.

The truth of the matter is that if you want your own home and you have poor credit, you only have two real options. You must either:

1.Wait for your credit to get better or your circumstance to change and then at some point in the distant future you can go out and find a home to own. This could be anywhere from a 1-5 years depending on how bad off your credit actually is. This is the wait and keep renting method. (I usually dont recommend this)

2.You must find an investor/owner who is willing to overlook your problems and give you a chance to prove yourself through some means of owner financing. The safest and best way to do this is with a Lease-Option through a trusted and proven investor/owner who has a win-win scenario for making this happen. (This option is highly recommended if you do it properly)

Lets Explore a few specific reasons why a Lease-option is such a good idea.

If you enter into a lease-option with an owner/investor, you will get to live in the home as though you already owned it. This means that you instantly get to start enjoying the lifestyle benefits of ownership.

What literally happens is you will agree on price and terms of your purchase of the home immediately. Then, since you cant get your own home loan quite yet, the owner will agree to rent/lease the home to you for a period of time (6 months-2 years) and As Soon As you can get a home loan within that time frame, you will exercise your option or your purchase agreement and cash out the owner/investor.

So basically, you get to move into and virtually buy a home, even before you can get your own loan because of the flexibility of the owner.

Some benefits are:

No landlord dictating to you what color you may or may not paint your home or living room wall.

No waiting on a landlord to keep your house in working order. You take care of the home as though you owned it already.

You can make maintenance and home improvements to your house or yard helping you to enjoy the home as your own.

Much of the market appreciation and equity growth on the home can actually become your equity when you buy the home from the investor.

You can do these lease-options with ZERO credit. Or even with BAD credit. AND - Perhaps one of the BIGGEST benefits...

Lock in tomorrows purchase price today.

And this is huge because as you know, real estate appreciates over time! Your home will be worth more next year than it is worth today, and when you can lock in a specific price today, and pay that price tomorrow YOU can come out a big winner.

Just remember, when you get into a lease-option, to spend as little as possible in down payment money and do what ever it takes to get your credit turned around as fast as you can, which is what you should want anyways.

Most importantly, dont look past the ultimate goal. Buying a home through a lease option is your tool to get into the home of your choice, even before your credit or down payment challenges would have otherwise allowed you to.

Stop settling for a standard rental and go find the home of your dreams.

Dan Ostler is the owner of http://www.LeaseOptionHomeBuying.com. Dan is an author, speaker, business owner, investor, and one of the nations leading Lease Option Consultants. He has been offering housing solutions and consulting advice to families with credit issues in all parts of the country for the past 8 years, and welcomes all visitors to his website for tons of **FREE** Information.

nsywja

Monday, February 18, 2008

Bad Credit Credit Cards Can Give You A New Start

You Can Still Buy a House with Bad Credit Through Lease Options

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