by Daniel Moskel
The Horizon Gold Card is an unsecured shopping card. Unlike most credit cards, it is only accepted at a designated Web site.
Often individuals will apply for this card when they have a damaged credit score. That is because it will report to a major credit bureau.
The card offers guaranteed approval. They do run a credit check, but they do not require employment verification and there are no minimum income requirements.
The card will be issued with a credit limit of $500, and there are application and monthly fees charged as well.
However, because this card is accepted at only one location, we have considerable doubts regarding the quality of the goods sold on this site.
In addition to the sale price of the item, you also are charged a processing fee for every transaction. They also have the ability to manipulate the prices for the products they sell.
Moreover, this card only reports to one of the three credit bureaus, which means that it only affects one of your credit reports. This means that the card will have no effect on your score if a potential lender happens to not check that particular bureau’s report.
It is a wise decision to take steps to improve a low credit score. However this step is not one we suggest.
As an alternative, we recommend applying for a secured credit card, which will guarantee approval and report to all of the three credit bureaus.
Secured cards require an initial deposit to secure the card, but the deposit is 100% refundable, provided that you close the account on good terms. In addition, secured credit cards are accepted everywhere.
It is important to have positive reporting credit accounts, but the best way to improve your credit score is to remove the derogatory marks from your credit report.
There is a lot of information that says a negative mark must remain on your report for seven long years. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The truth is that you do not just have to live with bad credit-every mark can be removed from your credit report.
Congress has passed legislation, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects you and your credit report from dishonest collection agencies and lenders. This act says that a negative mark may remain on your report for a maximum of seven years.
However, no mention is made of a minimum amount of time. In addition, there may be mistakes and inaccurate information on your credit report. In fact, it is believed that one-quarter of the population have incorrect items on their credit reports that could be costing them a lot of hard-earned money in higher interest rates.
In sum we do not suggest the Horizon Gold shopping card; instead we suggest a secured card. Additionally you do not just have to live with a damaged credit report, it is your right to challenge and remove these negative marks.
This will do the most to improve your score and provide you and your family with a higher quality of life. Additionally there is not a better feeling that knowing you will be approved for a new credit line.
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