Know where you stand

I know for the majority of my credit life until maybe 5-6 years ago, I never really monitored my credit reports or Fico scores. That being said, most of the time I applied for credit I was going in blind in that I had no idea what my prospective lender was going to see in terms of my report/score.

My very basic tip to anyone would be to know where you stand before applying for credit. Know exactly what is on your credit reports, what your Fico scores look like and do some basic research on the lender with which you're applying to ensure that your profile aligns with what they generally find acceptable.

I would add that you really need to figure out what your spending and income actually are. Create a spreadsheet, use a budget app, accounting software or just a plain old pencil and paper list.

Figure out what you are spending and where.

Debt to income (DTI) is a very important factor in credit approval, rates and limits. Just because you are meeting your obligations doesn't necessarily mean you have a DTI that looks good to lenders.

Understand your finances and make a plan to optimize them before you start on your credit applications.

I've only discovered this community this week and you all have really made things so much clearer. I'm rebuilding, and your post is exactly what I've been planning as far as creating a better budget. My question is, what budget apps would you recommend? I've tried pen n paper , never keep up with it. Not that good at computer things really . And the biggest issue I run into with most financial apps is, I bank at my local credit union. Had my account since age 16, I'm 40 now. These apps always want you to pick your bank and mine is never never listed. I recently put in a request with Experian to add my bank , but it being such a small bank who's know what will happen. So again , is there any apps you would recommend?
What to say thank you for what y'all are doing with this page , it's quickly becoming a life line for me and my family.

dcasto wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:35 am What to say thank you for what y'all are doing with this page , it's quickly becoming a life line for me and my family.

Hi @dcasto ! Welcome. It really means a lot to me, to know that what I'm working on here is helping people. It's always been my primary motivation. Our Credit Scoring Primer is a must read and better than any book out there on this subject. Just the credit optimization table alone at the top of that document is enough info for someone to make a significant improvement to their FICO 8 scores. @Saeren , any suggestions on a banking/budgeting app of the kind that dcasto is looking for?

dcasto wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 3:35 am I've only discovered this community this week and you all have really made things so much clearer. I'm rebuilding, and your post is exactly what I've been planning as far as creating a better budget. My question is, what budget apps would you recommend? I've tried pen n paper , never keep up with it. Not that good at computer things really . And the biggest issue I run into with most financial apps is, I bank at my local credit union. Had my account since age 16, I'm 40 now. These apps always want you to pick your bank and mine is never never listed. I recently put in a request with Experian to add my bank , but it being such a small bank who's know what will happen. So again , is there any apps you would recommend? What to say thank you for what y'all are doing with this page , it's quickly becoming a life line for me and my family.

Hey there! Welcome to Credit Rebels, @dcasto! If you get a chance please start a thread in the "Introduce yourself here" section and let us know how you found this place, a little about yourself and what your credit goals are. We look forward to you being a part of the forum!

I use this app called Spending Tracker. I add a field for each of my cards in the following month and just start adding up the total balance. Lets me make use of my grace periods. http://www.mhriley.com/spendingtracker/ No need to enter any bank details and having to add transactions manually makes you think about your spending. I run my budgets for each month based on my main checking account balance so the ending balance it gives me is what my checking account should have in it. Helps with balancing so that's even better. If you want something simpler, Daily Budget splits your monthly income into daily spending budgets and has a simple +/- function to do transactions. I don't prefer this method because it doesn't tell you exactly what you'll have to pay on your cards but it is definitely better than nothing. The iOS dev never brought this app to Android but there's a clone. I've used both and they're both fine. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/daily-bud ... d651896614 https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ailybudget