The score is dynamic as well. It moves up or down depending on various financial/credit/debt activities at various times. Those activities are things such as

-Your credit card balance-to-limit. To lower your score, keep your balance down to about 10-20% of the credit line.

-Loan-to-value:  How much do you still owe on your home? What has your payment history been like?

-Do you have too many credit and department store cards?  And, have you been late on any of them; if so, for how long?

Your credit history may need to be reviewed. Ensure it is updated, correct and with no old or inaccurate information on it.  If there are derogatory items on it, perhaps those can be removed.

Have 3 to 5 credit cards and use them not too infrequently so that the credit reporting agencies can gather enough data to determine how you use those cards.  And try not to have too many department store cards.  No matter what kind of cards you have, pay them off each month so you don’t accumulate and end up wasting money on interest and so you don’t lean towards get into debt trouble down the road.

Learn ways to maintain good use of credit and avoid spending money that is not yours (it’s the bank’s money) needlessly.  I recently spoke with a woman with 16 different debts, including 3 mortgages, and she was deep in trouble.  “I just kept spending like I had before I lost my second job income.”  The trouble was that she wasn’t spending, but borrowing… when she had no way or means to repay the debts.

You might need to charge an emergency expense to your card, but that thirst for Nordstrom, lots of gadgets, frequenting restaurants or big screen TV can wait til you have the money in the bank to pay off the card you may charge things to.

Live well below your means, save more money, plan for the unexpected and live much more stress-free in a country stressed heavily with too much debt as it is. You’ll love yourself for it… and those affected by your choices and use of money and credit will love you for it as well.

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You may think twice about using your debit card when renting a vehicle. Depending on the car rental agency, around $100-400 of your money is taken as ‘put on hold’ and unavailable to you to use, and then when you return the rental…whatever amount you don’t use towards the rental is put back into your account.

Plus, agencies will require more from you if you use a debit card. You have to qualify to be able to use your card with them.  Areas looked into are employment verification, insurance, your credit history and credit score.  Avis requires a score of 565 or higher.

You will want to call and find out on your own, but when I called a Hertz location, they told me they put a hold on $140 of your available credit if you use a credit card and $140 of your debit card account balance.  On top of the $140 (for either card) there is added the amount of rental quote for the estimated duration of the rental.

The Enterprise location I called charges you $200 as an actual sale if you use a debit card, and it puts on hold $200 if you use a credit card.  Or, they will ‘take’ 120% of the quoted rental amount, whichever is greater.

For Avis, one location in Gresham takes $100 plus the amount of the quoted rental amount if you use a credit card, and another Avis takes $200.  If you use a debit card, it’s $400 plus the amount of the quoted rental amount.  Yikes.

So, be sure to call ahead and ask not just for rates, but what their policy is on what amount of funds are locked out of your use as well. It could mean the difference between overdraft charges to the account your debit card is tied to or overlimit charges on your credit card.  Either way, if you simply want to have money or credit to buy groceries with or pay a bill with, it may not be there for you if your account balances are at the bottom.

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