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Friday Finance Round Up is a weekly post that includes interesting articles and blog posts on money found during the week from across the web.

The US Government’s Credit Score – Loans and Credit

This is a scary look at what Uncle Sam’s credit score would look like if we could rate it!

Investing and Money Rules of Thumb – Financial Highway

Great post by Financial Highway for those looking for some rules of thumb to start out with.

10 Attributes of the Perpetually Broke – Bible Money Matters

Pete offers some telling signs of those who always seem to be having financial difficulty.  The last one was particularly insightful.

Weekly Links

This past week was a good one for links.  Here’s a look at what went on:

• Do You Recognize These 5 Roadblocks to Reaching Your Financial Goals was included in Evolution of Wealth’s Sunday Link Rodeo and at JoeTaxpayer’s “Reading My Fellow Finance Writers” round up.

• 5 Ways to Win the Race to Retirement was included in One Money Design’s Weekly Round Up and also included in Buck$ome Boomer’s Journey to Retirement round up.

• How to Save (Potentially) Thousands by Spending $3.99 was included in the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights hosted by Financial Highway

• Should You Buy Accidental Death Insurance was included at Fiscal Geek’s Thursday Round Up

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Friday Finance Round Up is a weekly post that includes interesting articles and blog posts on money found during the week from across the web

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US Debt Clock - US Debt Clock.org

Wow!  This is disturbing!!

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 The Nefarious Hidden Costs of Debt - The Personal MBA

Are you an indentured servant to your creditors?

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Backlash Against AARP – Sound Mind Investing

SMI takes a look at why AARP members are canceling their membership.

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Credit Score Changes – Gather Little By Little

Lending institutions continue to tighten the belt, will these changes affect your score?

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How to Make Money on Ebay – Money Help For Christians

I’ve been wanting to do a post like this myself.  Great stuff from Craig on how to make some extra cash on ebay.

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With credit playing “hard to get” during this most recent economic downturn and lenders raising their standards for doling out cash, it’s more important than ever to boost your odds of getting a loan with a good credit score.  Here are five tips to help improve your score and give you a greater chance of getting that cash you may need.

A. Annual Check Up

Getting an idea of what your credit score is has become so much easier now with government legislation that gives everyone the right to request one free credit report each year.  I highly suggest visiting annualcreditreport.com to request your free copy.  Knowing where you are will help determine your next steps.

B. Be Punctual

This is so simple, yet it’s amazing that many folks think being a couple weeks late on their payment is no big deal as long as they are paying something.  According to CNN Money, ”someone with an average credit rating of 707 can raise their score by as much as 20 points by paying all their bills on time for one month.” 

C. Clean Up Errors and Old Information

Check you report carefully to see if there is any outstanding information that shouldn’t be showing up.  Perhaps an old doctor bill or credit card still shows a balance.  You’ll want to check for accurate credit limits from your card issuers as well.  These things can typically be taken care of with a phone call to one or more of the reporting agencies. 

Experian – 888-397-3742
TransUnion – 800-916-8800
Equifax – 800-685-1111

D. Don’t Close Old Accounts

This may seem counterintuitive, but closing old accounts will actually hurt your score.  This is because the reporting agencies want to see a nice long history of using credit.  According to Fool.com, “lenders take a hard look at the ratio between the balances on your revolving accounts and your total available credit. If you do have debt, try to keep it to less than 30% of your available credit.”  If you start closing your accounts, your debt-to-available-credit ratio goes up and impedes your score.

E. Eliminate Debt

As mentioned, lenders typically like to see a debt ratio of 30% or less.  No debt would be ideal!  Get serious about improving your credit score by getting serious about eliminating debt, especially paying down those credit cards.  Managing your debt responsibly will help boost your score tremendously.

Breakdown of How Credit Scores Are Calculated:

Improving your credit score won’t happen over night, but with simple discipline and some practical steps you can start seeing improvement in a very short time.