Common Mistakes that Affect Your Beacon Score Part1

We often hear about someone closed that had problem with their banks because they have a bad credit history. They didn’t want to lend him anymore money or were asking for extra security because his beacon score was not high enough. Your Beacon score is something very fragile and little mistakes can make it drop drastically for nothing. Here are some common mistakes to avoid in order to keep a good beacon score.

Moving

I have seen this “excuse” several times in my life. “I moved and I forgot to make my address change on a credit card”. Unfortunately, this is not good enough to make the credit reporting agency to correct your credit bureau and repair your credit score. You are responsible of all your debts and moving is not an excuse for not paying your bill. You may have forgotten about a “pay in 6 months” bill you contracted before moving. Here are a few quick solutions to avoid this issue in the future:

- Write a list of all your bills and contact them advising of your new address before moving.

- Contact your post office and ask them to forward your mail for 6 months (this will cost you maybe $30 but will keep your beacon score untouched).

- Once moved, call the buyer of your house a month or two after to see if he received anything for you. You might have forgotten something very important!

Dispute

Another common mistake that affect your beacon score is the fact of not paying a bill that should not be paid by you. This often happens with cell phone companies (they have that tendency of charging a whole bunch of fees on your bill). If you don’t pay and the dispute last a few months, you will end-up with a mark on your credit bureau and you can even get into a collection agency. In order to avoid this situation:

- Verify your bill as soon as you receive it. If you come back to the company 30 days after the issue, your chances are pretty low. On top of that, you may deal with their perception department instead of their customer service center

- You must pay your bill and ask for a credit after. The company is more likely to listen to you if you pay your bill first and will probably give you a credit on your next bill. In the end, the important thing is keep your beacon score stellar.

There 3 other common mistakes that affect your beacon score but we will see them in a later post.

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