The Women Leading The Way in The Credit Industry Share Their Top Credit Tips

Financial literacy is more important than ever in 2020, and credit is something that very few people truly understand. Knowing how to leverage it and how to fix a bad credit score is the tip of the iceberg – however, there are a few women who are some of the most highly educated in financial literacy in the world. These amazing women have helped countless individuals get their credit in order, allowing them financial freedom, security and ultimately creating a fulfilling, abundant life. Here we present 3 of the most knowledgeable and powerful women in the credit industry, where they share their top credit tips.

Brittany Greene, Crowned Financials

A credit expert and the CEO and Founder of Crowned Financials, Brittany Greene is a passionate individual whose mission is to give her clients proper credit education, providing them with simple instructions to help them leverage, increase and maintain their credit scores. Brittany entered the credit world and started her journey back in 2017, in attempts to fix her own credit score. After educating herself and learning about the financial burdens and poor credit education across the entire US, Brittany’s drive to fill this gap became intense. Brittany teaches the importance of how to build and maintain your credit score through books, workshops, and courses. Here are Brittany’s Top 3 Credit Tips:

 Tip 1:Your credit score is all about balance. Keep your usage below 30%, let your accounts organically age, and take care of the negative items on your file. Don’t ignore them or cease activity. Be consistent!

 Tip 2: Statute of limitations. This is the time frame a company/creditor can take LEGAL actions against you for an account and every state is different. This time frame is very crucial to YOU when disputing collections. VS reporting limitations = is how long it can report on your file.

Tip 3: Only pay for FICO scores because 90% of lenders use this model. Most free sites like credit karma use the VANTAGE model. Check your monitoring site to see which one you have been viewing. It’s good to know and understand both models but only pay for FICO scores. 

Karena Simon, Go Deluxe Financial

Driven by the desire to create a positive impact in the lives of others, Karena Simon is a credit consultant with over 12 years of experience. She’s educated hundreds of clients and business owners to build, repair, and leverage their credit into greater opportunities through her top-rated company, Go Deluxe Financial.. Karena is a fierce advocate for financial literacy, consumer education, and protection of consumer rights – with an impeccable track record of guiding clients through their journey towards improved credit and finances. Here are her top 3 credit tips:

Tip 1: Keep your accounts open. You want to establish a long credit history. Remember, the length of credit history is 15% of your credit score. Do not close credit cards or other open accounts as this can have an adverse impact on your credit score by removing the history associated with that account. Closing a credit card can hurt your score because it impacts your debt-to-available-credit ratio, which may cause your utilization percentage to increase. Remember, credit utilization is 30% of your overall credit score. You want to keep your credit cards open and the balance paid down below 30% utilization for optimal scoring at all times.

Tip 2: Pay off past due credit cards or accounts that are not charge-offs or collection accounts. If you are late paying a bill and the account is still active, make a minimum payment as quickly as possible to begin rectifying the delinquency. Request to set up a payment arrangement, if you cannot get entirely caught up with one full payment. If the account has already been sold to a collection agency or has been charged-off as a loss, do not immediately pay it off if it is older than 24 months. Old collections do not impact your score as negatively as it would if you were to suddenly pay on the old derogatory account, which in turn updates the “date of last activity”, causing your score to decrease. 

Tip 3: Secure a reliable credit monitoring source and monitor your credit monthly. I often tell my clients, “if it’s free, it’s limited” – meaning, if you are using a free platform to view your credit reports, the data you are viewing is generally not reporting from all 3 credit bureaus and the information is limited. Although those platforms may provide you with a sense of where your credit score stands, the importance is in the details of the actual data reporting to your file. 90% of lenders use the FICO scoring model and most free credit monitoring services present your Vantage score which does not compute the same. Consider using www.myFICO.com as a top-rated, reliable source and monitor your score monthly at minimum.

Kiara Martin, Credit With Kiara

 Kiara Martin is a financial coach with over 10 years of credit coaching experience. She specializes in personal and business credit and spent 5 years in the personal finance business. Kiara is well versed with the knowledge and experience to guide her clients in the right direction with their credit. She created Credit With Kiara, a do it yourself coaching blog aimed to assist women with rebuilding their credit and taking charge of their finances, at their own pace. Here Kiara shares her 3 top credit tips:

Tip 1: Credit Report Card. Kids have reports cards, and adults have credit reports. Your credit report is your financial transcript, which determines the likelihood of you repaying your debt, and it follows you everywhere.

Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to get a secured card. If you won’t lend money to yourself, what makes you think a bank will? 

Tip 3: Do not just focus on your credit score. Since Lenders can use a variety of scoring modules to determine your credit score. Instead, focus on the credit report itself, so no matter what version of FICO is being pulled, your rating will be favorable. 

Make sure to go and follow these incredible women, as they continue to create a positive impact throughout the world with their services. All of their Instagrams have been linked here.