Even with the current rainfall we here in the Bay Area have experienced as of late, there is still a shortage of water for the coming summer months. While we are close to facing mandatory cutbacks, the rest of you could use the money savings gained from our tips to conserve water.

The following tips can have households achieving a 10% reduction in water use by saving about ten gallons a day. Here is what you can do to help meet the challenge of cutting back.

Take shorter showers. Each minute you cut saves 2.5 gallons of water!

Turn off the faucet when you are brushing your teeth of washing the dishes. As I stated above, each minute you cut saves 2.5 gallons.

Don’t pre-rinse dishes. Scrape food waste directly into the compost bin. While this probably won’t add up to a minute, you can still save the proportionate amount of time it takes you to do all the dishes that month.

Use the Dishwater. Surprisingly dishwashers are often more efficient than hand washing. A modern dishwasher’s cycle uses as little as five gallons per load. Compare that to running the faucet at two plus gallons per minute.

Wait for a full load. Full loads are the most efficient way to wash clothes. A traditional clothes washing machine can run at forty plus gallons per cycle.

Use a broom. Hosing down sidewalks, driveways, and pavement is a wasteful practice. Running a garden hose can waste up to ten gallons per minute.

Install aerators on faucets. Installing aerators on kitchen and bathroom sinks can reduce indoor water use by about four percent. Inquire about FREE aerators from your local water department (the SFPUC for the local folks).

Check for leaks. Do you hear the toilet running or your faucet dripping? You could be wasting thousands of gallons per month. To check for leaks, turn off all water taps inside and outside your home. Locate your water meter, and if the dial is moving you may have a plumbing leak.

Adjust your sprinklers. This is so that water remains on the landscape, not the pavement. Reduce evaporation by watering during cooler temperatures at night or in the early morning.

Hope these tips help guys. See you in seven (-ish).

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I was going over my tri-annual credit report the other day, and noticed some things I needed shared with you guys when examining your credit report. Yes, I do mean tri-annual. There are three major credit bureaus, and they each give out free reports once a year, so I spread them out evenly throughout the year to read.

Anyways, first and foremost, blitz significant errors. Attack them and correct them head on! Your credit score is calculated based on the information in your credit report, so certain errors there can really cost you big. However, not everything that’s reported in your file matters to your score.

Here’s the stuff that’s usually worth the effort of correcting with the bureaus:

1. Late payments, charge-offs, collections or other negative items that aren’t yours. These are the big ones. If you notice any of these, blitz, yes blitz, them immediately like your life depended on it! Because, you know what, it just may when you’re looking to close that big loan.

2. Credit limits reported as lower than they actually are. You need to get credit for what you’ve earned. Simple.

3. Accounts listed as “settled,” “paid derogatory,” “paid charge-off” or anything other than “current” or “paid as agreed” if you paid on time and in full. This should actually be number two if I was listing this in order of importance. In any case, blitz these too.

4. Accounts that are still listed as unpaid that were included in a bankruptcy. This is the same as getting credit for what you’ve earned. If you spent the last ten years paying for your bad financial habits, consider your sins paid for. They shouldn’t be on your record still. Get rid of them.

5. Negative items older than seven years (10 in the case of bankruptcy) that should have automatically fallen off your report. This is the same as number four. Consider your debt paid.

You actually have to be a bit careful with this last one, because sometimes scores actually go down when bad items fall off your report. Believe it or not, it’s a quirk in the FICO credit-scoring software, and the potential effect of eliminating old negative items is difficult to predict in advance.

Now, here are some of the stuff that you typically should not worry about:

1. Various misspellings of your name. Believe it or not, I have an alias of Alexander J. Leigh on my credit report. I don’t know how it got there but it’s never bothered me for the last ten years it’s been on there.

2. Outdated or incorrect address information. This one is simple. People move all the time. As long as your identity has not been stolen, it’s okay to have an incorrect address. There may be someone with the same first and last name as you who has lived there.

3. An old employer listed as current. As with the old or incorrect address, this is okay. Fix it if you like, but I wouldn’t bother.

4. Most inquiries. These are not hard pulls, so the companies had only limited access to your information. Many credit card companies tend to do this so they can send out credit offers.

Just a note about number one and two, if the misspelled name or incorrect address is because of identity theft or because your file has been mixed with someone else’s, that should be obvious when you look at your accounts. You’ll see delinquencies or accounts that aren’t yours and should report that immediately. However, if it’s just a goof by the credit bureau or one of the companies reporting to it, it’s usually not much to sweat about.

Oops, here are two more items you don’t need to correct:

1. Accounts you closed listed as being open. If it has a zero balance, I would leave it alone for the time being. It should drop off by itself.

2. Accounts you closed that don’t say “closed by consumer.” Closing accounts can’t help your score, and may hurt it in the short run. If your goal is boosting your score, leave these alone. Once an account has been closed, though, it doesn’t matter to the scoring formulas who closed it. If you messed up the account, it will be obvious from the late payments and other derogatory information included in the file.

Hmmm, while we are on this topic, here are some other actions to beware when you’re trying to improve your score:

1. When you ask a creditor to lower your credit limits, it will reduce that all-important gap between your balances and your available credit, which could hurt your score. If a lender asks you to close an account or get a limit lowered as a condition for getting a loan, you might have to do it, but don’t do so without being asked.

2. When you make a late payment, it will ironically hurt a good score more than a bad one, dropping a 700-plus score by 100 points or more. If you’ve already got a string of negative items on your credit report, one more won’t have a big impact, but it’s still something you want to avoid if you’re trying to improve your score.

3. When you try to consolidate your accounts, and apply for a new account, it can ding your score. So, too, can transferring balances from a high-limit card to a lower-limit one, or concentrating all or most of your credit-card balances onto a single card. In general, it’s better to have smaller balances on a few cards than a big balance on one.

4. On the other hand, when you apply for and get an installment loan, it can help your score if you don’t have any installment accounts, or you’re trying to recover from a credit disaster like bankruptcy.

Oh, and just FYI, all these suggestions work best if you have poor or mediocre scores to begin with. Once you’ve hit the 700 mark, any tweaking you do will tend to have less of a positive impact.

And if your scores are in the “excellent” category, 760 or above, you probably won’t be able to squeeze out any more than a few extra points despite your best efforts. There’s really no point, anyway, since you’re already qualified for the best rates and terms.

Whew! Okay guys, hope this helps a bit. See you in a few!

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Okay guys and gals. Today we have part two of the How To Raise Your Credit Score Arc. I’m just going to dive right back in. Last week we left off with tips on amounts that you owe, so we’ll move on from there.

Length of Credit History Tips
If you have been managing your credit only for a short time, don’t open a lot of new accounts. New accounts will lower your average account age, which will have a larger effect on your score if you don’t have a lot of other credit information. Also, rapid account buildup can look risky if you are a new credit user. Lenders will get the impression that you are desperate for money.

Dispute old negatives.
Say that fight with a certain rental car company (damn you, Enterprise!) over an unfair bill a few years ago resulted in a collections account. You can continue protesting that the charge was unjust, or you can try disputing the account with the credit bureaus as “not mine.” The older and smaller a collection account, the more likely the collection agency won’t bother to verify it when the credit bureau investigates your dispute.

Some consumers also have had luck disputing old items with a lender that has merged with another company, which can leave lender records a real mess. Mind as well take advantage of their disorganization. Hey, it’s a big eat small world. Deal with it. No, take advantage of it!

Get some goodwill.
On the same vein, if you’ve been a good customer, a lender might agree to simply erase that one late payment from your credit history. You usually have to make the request in writing, and your chances for a “goodwill adjustment” improve the better your record with the company (and the better your credit in general). But it can’t hurt to ask. Hmmm, someone remind me to post a dispute letter template for you guys in the near future.

However, here is a longer term solution for more troubled accounts. Ask that they be “re-aged.” If the account is still open, you may be able to convince the lender to erase previous delinquencies if you make a series of 12 or so on-time payments. For those of you charmers out there, now’s the time to shine. Sweet talk, smooth talk, whatever. It’s your credit we’re talking about here.

New Credit Tips
Do your rate shopping for a given loan within a focused period of time. Credit scores distinguish between a search for a single loan and a search for many new credit lines, in part by the length of time over which inquiries occur. Supposedly, any and all inquires within a 15 day period is counted as one pull nowadays. Just make sure it is within the sametype of loan. Don’t shop for a new car and a house refinance within the same week.

Reestablish your credit history if you have had problems. Just remember, opening new accounts responsibly and paying them off on time will raise your credit score in the long run

Note It’s okay to request and check your own credit report. This won’t affect your score, as long as you order your credit report directly from the credit reporting agency or through an organization authorized to provide credit reports to consumers.

Types of Credit Use Tips
Apply for and open new credit accounts only as needed. Don’t open accounts just to have a better credit mix. It probably won’t raise your credit score. See my explaination above.

Apply for and use credit cards but manage them responsibly. In general, having credit cards and installment loans (and paying timely payments) will raise your credit score. Someone with no credit cards, for example, tends to be higher risk than someone who has managed credit cards responsibly for a significant period of time.

Note Closing an account doesn’t make it go away. A closed account will still show up on your credit report, and may be considered for the score. Usually accounts will stay for seven to ten years, depending on the type.

Okay folks, I’m out. See you in seven!

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All right folks! I’ve shown you the importance of your credit score, so today I’m going to give you some tips on how to raise it. Now, please keep in mind that if your score is tier one, there’s not much I can do for you. Not like you guys need it anyways. But for those of you in the 600s and would like to make that final leap, this is for you.

An analogy I like to make regarding improving your credit score is, that it’s a bit like losing weight. It takes time, effort, and there is no quick fix. In fact, quick-fix efforts can, and more likely than not will, backfire. Remember the whole Atkins fiasco? The best advice I can give you is to manage credit responsibly over time. Okay? Now on to the tips!

For Amounts You Owe
Keep balances low on your credit cards. High outstanding balances will negatively affect your credit score. Also, use your cards lightly. Racking up big balances can hurt your score, regardless of whether you pay your bill in full each month.

What is reported to the three credit bureaus is the balance reported on each of your last statements. That means paying off your balances each month isn’t financially smart (well, it is) because the credit bureaus just don’t care.

Here is how you can typically can increase your score in this area. Try limiting your charges to 30% or less of each card’s limit. And also pay off your debt rather than moving it around. The most effective way is to pay down your revolving credit. In fact, owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts will lower your score further.

Don’t forget to check your credit limits either. Your score might actually be lower than it should be if your lender is showing a lower limit than you’ve actually got. So call in and fix it. Most credit card issuers will quickly update this information if you ask.

Here is what I mean. If you consistently charge the same $2,000 each month, with a limit that’s still showing as $2,500, it will look like you’re regularly maxing out that card every month.

Oh, and don’t close unused credit cards as a short-term strategy to raise your score. Dust off that old card you save for emergencies. The older your credit history, the better. If you stop using your older cards, the issuers may stop updating those accounts to the credit bureaus. The accounts will still appear, but they won’t be given as much weight in the credit scoring formula as your active accounts. So, I would recommend you use their older cards every few months to charge a small amount and pay it off in full when the statement arrives.

Don’t open a number of new credit cards that you don’t need, just to increase your available credit either. This approach could backfire and actually lower your credit score beacuse all of a sudden, you have a bunch of potential debt. That, and it looks like you are desparate for money to use.

Looks like this post is getting longer than anticipated. So, I’m going to leave you with a few more obvious tips and give you the rest of my pearls of wisdom next time!

Always pay your bills on time.
Pretty obvious, right? Delinquent payments and collections notices have negative impacts on your credit score. And trying to dispute them is even more of a pain. Do yourself a favor, just don’t have a late payment to begin with.

Pay down your credit cards.
Paying off your installment loans (mortgage, auto, student, etc.) can help your score, but typically not as dramatically as paying down, or paying off, revolving accounts like credit cards.

The credit bureaus like to see a nice, big gap between the amount of credit you’re using and your available credit limits. Getting your balances below 30% of the credit limit on each card can really help.

While most people recommend paying off the highest interest rate card first, a better strategy is to pay down the cards that are closest to the maximum limits.

If you have missed payments, get current and stay current. The longer you pay your bills on time, the better your credit score. Be aware that paying off a collection account will not remove it from your credit report. It will stay on your report for seven years.

Okay guys, I squeezed in as much as I can this week. Stay tuned for more!

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