The magic number for getting a loan

The magic number for getting a loan

NEW YORK (CNN) -- From mortgages to refinancing and home equity lines of credit -- it's getting harder for people to qualify for a loan. And that makes your credit score even more vital.

Paying bills on time and setting up automated payments online can help improve your credit score.

Most lenders will look at your FICO credit score. The scores range from 300 to 850. The higher the number, the better credit you have and the lower interest rate you'll get.
Today, you'll need a higher score to get good loan terms.
"You really have to have good credit," said Bob Moulton, president of the Americana Mortgage Group.
Your credit score may have to be as high as 720 he says. "You can get credit in some places for 680. But that number gets higher every month," according to Moulton. Read excerpts from Gerri Willis' book
The first step to improving your credit is -- knowing where you stand. You can get a free copy of your report once a year from each of the three credit bureaus at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. This is especially important if you think you will apply for a loan in six months.
Your credit report includes specific account information, like your balance, the date the account was opened and your payment pattern.
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Pay close attention to detail. A study done by the U.S. Public Institute Research Group found that 25 percent of the credit reports contained errors serious enough to result in the denial of credit.
If you do find an error, make sure to put your complaint in writing, include any supporting documents and send it to the credit bureau. The credit bureau must investigate your claim and update your report if necessary. Keep in mind that your credit report is free, but you'll have to pay for your FICO score -- which will cost you about $15.
When it comes to calculating your credit score, your payment history is one of the biggest factors. So, keep making payments on time. Automate your bills online if it will help you avoid late fees. Even if you've made a few late payments, you can still re-establish a good credit score. The older the negative information, the less it counts against you.
"It may be tempting, but don't close old credit card accounts if you want to improve your credit score," says John Ulzheimer of Credit.com.
Your score also takes into account the difference between what credit is available to you and the amount you're using. If you shut down credit card accounts, the total amount of your available credit is lowered and your balances look much larger in comparison. This ratio then hurts your score.
Ideally your purchases should be within 10% of your credit limit, said Ulzheimer.
For example, if your credit limit is $6,000, don't charge more than $600.
Your FICO score also looks at how long you've been managing credit. So, the longer history you have, the better. If you have a card that you haven't used in a while, it's a good idea to use that credit card once every six months to keep it active, according to Craig Watts of Fair Isaac. This will ensure that your account is included in the calculation of that credit utilization ratio.
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Improving your credit score isn't only about managing the credit you have, it's about saying no to new credit. Avoid opening up retail store credit cards. Every time you open up an account to save an extra 10 percent, you're giving the retailer permission to pull your credit score -- and that could hurt your score for as long as 12 months, according to Ulzheimer.
Applying for new lines of credit is even more damaging if you've only been handling credit for a little while. The credit score of a 20-year-old with one or two credit cards will drop substantially more than someone who's been managing their credit over 20 years.
Credit limits on retail cards are always very low, so even a few purchases, can max out the card and that can really damage your score.
Finally, be wary of credit repair companies. Complaints filed against these types of credit-repair companies are up almost 40 percent since 2004, according to the Better Business Bureau.
You may have heard about these companies on television and radio commercials or Internet advertisements. In some cases, consumers pay large upfront fees.
In return, these companies promise to erase any blemishes on credit records, get new Social Security numbers for clients, or allow consumers to piggyback on someone else's good credit record.
Don't fall for these scams. Whatever a credit repair company can do legally, is something you can do by yourself for free

Annan: Kenya factions 'not capable' of agreement

Annan: Kenya factions 'not capable' of agreement


NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Kofi Annan has threatened to leave as mediator in the tense Kenyan power-sharing talks if a quick agreement is not reached, a senior aide to former U.N. chief said Monday.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is the chief mediator in talks aimed at defusing Kenya's crisis.

Negotiating teams for Kenya's government and opposition left the talks after only half a day Monday. Sources close to the negotiations said the talks had reached a standstill
Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general and chief mediator in the process, expressed displeasure.
"After four hours of intense negotiation this morning, the team made almost no progress on reaching an agreement on government," Annan said in a statement. "I had to conclude that they were not capable of resolving the outstanding issues."
Annan met with leaders of both sides Monday to implore them to come to an agreement.
A senior aide said that Annan "believes that if genuine political will had prevailed, the problems could have been resolved a week or two ago. He has suspended a lot of important activities to help Kenya. And if this foot-dragging continues it is unlikely that he will be able to hang on."
Annan on Friday asked for both President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to "give their negotiators clear instructions so that we can more swiftly to a conclusion," sources with Annan's team said. But sources close to the negotiations said there remained definite sticking points to finding a solution.
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It was not immediately clear what those sticking points were.
Violence erupted in Kenya after the December 27 presidential election, when incumbent Kibaki of the Party of National Unity was declared victor. Odinga's backers said the election was rigged, and he and his supporters declined to recognize it as valid.
Both sides said Monday the government had agreed to the opposition Orange Democratic Movement's demand to have the prime minister's job. The powers of that post and details of its creation were under discussion.
The opposition party also has said it wants a proportional sharing of powers in any new government.
The opposition threatened last week to embark on a mass civil disobedience campaign by Wednesday if its demands were not met, employing such tactics as work slowdowns to apply pressure in the talks.
The fighting that followed December's election has broken down along tribal lines. Members of Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe and Odinga's Luo tribe have been in the middle of the ethnic clashes.
Both sides eventually agreed to talks and approved the creation of an independent committee to investigate irregularities in the election and suggest reforms.
But the opposition parliamentary group has been accusing the ruling party of "procrastination and obvious time buying games" at the talks.

Thaksin Shinawatra-a biography

Thaksin Shinawatra-a biography
Before his Thai Rak Thai party won the January 2001 elections, 51 year-old Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had already enjoyed successful careers as a policeman and a telecommunications entrepeneur.
The latter has made him and his family the wealthiest in Thailand.
Thaksin Shinawatra (pronounced "Chin-a-what") was born on July 26, 1949 in Chiang Mai, where the family silk business has been successful for over fifty years and has expanded into a bus line and movie theatres.
Thaksin was close to his father, Boonlert, and worked in the family businesses. At age 16 he was managing a movie theatre.
A good student, Thaksin entered Pre-Cadet School Class 10 and emerged as the top graduate of Police Cadet School Class 26 in 1973. He then went to the United States for his education after winning a scholarship from the Office of the Civil Service Commission for foreign study. He earned a Master's degree in Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky in 1974 and a PhD in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas in 1978.
His first career was in the Police Department and lasted for 14 years until 1987 when he felt burned out and resigned to market a film called "Bann Sai Thong."
His first experience with the new field he was to find himself in, telecommunications and the computer industry had come in 1982 when he signed a contract with the Police Department to supply it with computer software.
Five years later he established the Shinawatra Company as a software marketing company. A year later he joined with Pacific Telesis to operate and market the PacLink pager service.
Conflict produced a split in the company and Thaksin started his own successful pager service, Shinawatra Paging. The company naturally evolved into the cellular phone business and Advanced Info Service now has the largest customer base in Thailand.
Along the way, Thaksin launched communications satellites, as he believed that Thailand should have its own satellites and not have to rent space from satellites owned by other nations.
In 1990 when Thaksin made a successful bid for a 20-year concession from the Telephone Organization of Thailand he was almost broke, as reported by Post reporters, but still had the daring to offer the TOT 20 billion baht in concession fees to garner the contract. Thaksin has never lacked for courage it seems.
Today the renamed Shin Corporation is a communications conglomerate consisting of two major divisions, Shinawatra Computer and Communications Plc and Advanced Info Service Plc with majority holdings in four other telecommunications subsidiaries.
With a self-proclaimed goal of cleaning up Thai politics, Thaksin entered political life in 1994 when he was appointed foreign minister under the cabinet quota of the Palang Dharma Party.
After the government of Chuan Leekpai lost power, Thaksin was elected head of the Palang Dharma party and was elected to Parliament in Bangkok's Constituency 2.
The once popular Palang Dharma Party self-destructed under Thaksin's leadership. He then became a deputy prime minister in the Chavalit government in 1997 with a commitment to solve Bangkok's traffic problems. The problems were not solved and he resigned his position in 1997.
In 1998 he formed the Thai Rak Thai party which won a smashing mandate at the polls in January 2001.
Thaksin is married to Potjaman (Damapong) and the couple has three children: a son,Parthongtae, and two daughters, Praethongtarn and Pintongta.
Thaksin lives by a motto he learned at the Police Cadet School: "Better to die than to live like a loser."