Credit Reports Galore

InLoveWithHer asked:


My girlfriends parents are asking her weird questions about things that she has purchased on credit without even actually knowing that she purchased them. She thinks as do I that they are checking her credit report online because they have her SS#. She’s almost 20 years old. What can be done to find out if they are doing this and are there legal ramifications to this immoral act?
The card and accounts are in her name and she pays them completely off each month except for some furniture that we have for 12 months no interest and we pay 140.00 per month to get it paid off before any interest will acrew.

JARROD

Amy Gordon asked:


Personal credit report largely determines your credit worthiness and interest rates that you can qualify for. You can easily get a credit report through government-sanctioned agencies (FTC) and consumer-reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) that provide free credit reports. These are easily available and even you can get one to know your current financial standing.

A personal credit report contains detailed information about your borrowing and repaying pattern along with few other important details. It contains consumer information i.e. your name, date of birth, employment history and address details.

Credit information – the most significant portion of your credit report since it contains complete information pertaining to your credit accounts, mortgages and other financial transactions. Your payment history and contains record of repayment defaults being made.

A personal credit report shows details of credit enquiries i.e. all the people who have accessed your credit report in past two years. One can even get creditor’s contact information. The phone numbers and mailing address of your previous creditors in case if you need them.

A personal credit report also encloses information about declared bankruptcy, tax liens and judgment fillings. You can easily get hold of a personal credit report and verify your status easily.

If your credit report is blemished one then you can easily improve it and make it impeccable. You can easily improve your credit scores if you scrap off all your debts and repay your loan amount on time without faltering payments. It is a slow and time consuming process but can definitely help you improve your credit scores and financial standing in market.

Getting a personal credit report is not at all a difficult nut to crack! You can easily apply and register yourself online. The online application and processing is very convenient. Moreover these reports are made available for free. Now this is something that should be missed because in today’s time there is hardly anything that comes for free! But do check the reliability of the company that you are applying with.



SYDNEY

Helen Hecker asked:


Everyone wants a good credit score. So much of what we do financially is dependent on this FICO score on our credit report. Of course it’s important to try to make payments on time, etc. but this isn’t always easy to do. Emergencies come up. You can be the best person in the world and responsible too and you try to do things right. But there are secrets in the credit reporting field.

But you may just find yourself short on cash and try as you may just have to miss a payment or make a late payment or you’re charged for something you did not buy or returned or something else. Many times this is through no fault of your own.

If you don’t have a current free annual credit report you can get a free credit report instantly online. After you have your credit report in hand, look through the report and find all the negative marks or bad items. Make a list. Hopefully it’s short. Maybe you only have one or two. If you have several then list them with the highest amount down to the lowest.

This is an easy lesson in how to repair your credit. We’re going to tackle the lowest amounts first. And here’s the secret that many people do not know. If you write a letter to the three credit report companies or bureaus and dispute any of the amounts, the credit bureaus contact the creditors. If the amounts are small the creditor may not even bother to answer the credit bureaus.

The credit bureau has to remove the item if the creditor hasn’t responded within a certain length of time.

Don’t think that writing the letter is hard to do. Sit down early in the morning when you are fresh or at a time when you have more energy. Just simply address three envelopes to the three credit bureaus. They are Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.

You can easily get their address from the free credit report or online. Just explain that you found some errors on your credit report that you want to dispute. Make it short.

Enclose any relevant documentation, if you have any, which shows there is an error or that you want to dispute. This would include any cancelled checks, online payment confirmations, etc. Ask for a correction. Then say something like you want to keep a good standing and value an accurate and good credit history.

Also say something like a good credit rating and credit score is important to me. Make sure to name the creditor and the date of the error. Keep a nice tone to the letter.

Then close with a ‘thank you’ paragraph. Something like “Thank you for attending to my letter and this matter so I can maintain a good credit history. If possible let me know that my file has been reviewed and send me a copy of the corrected credit report.”

If you review your free credit report often you can catch small errors and fix your credit report before too much time passes. This is a little known secret and if the creditor amount is small enough you should be able to easily get it removed. It’s worth the small effort to raise your credit score. You CAN fix it yourself knowing this secret! There are many other credit report secrets!



HUNG

Liz Roberts asked:


When applying for credit or taking out a loan, the first thing that your creditor will do is to check your credit report. Based on your credit report, a lender can either grant you an approval or reject your application. For this reason, everyone is advised to personally check on their credit report first before sending out an application to a prospective lender. This way, rejection and unnecessary inquiries in your credit report can be avoided.

What factors affect the status of your credit report? Your credit report is divided into four sections- the identity information, credit history, public records and inquiries. Checking the accuracy of the details in your ID information section is important. One minor error can cause serious problems or mistaken identity.

Meanwhile, your credit history section is what your lenders is most interested about. The types of accounts you own, your debts, your payments, credit limit, and everything that concerns you and your creditors are listed here. Naturally, you’ll want to check if all the charges that are billed in your account are correct and if all the payments you’ve submitted to your lender are recorded accordingly.

The next part of your credit report is the Public Records section. You’ll want this section to be empty unless you’ve filed for bankruptcy once or if you have tax liens or have been through foreclosure. Obviously, a remark listed in this section of your credit report will have a negative impact on your status and your credit score.

Last but not the least, the inquiries section of your credit report contains information about past and present lenders who have made an inquiry in your report. If you frequently submit applications to various lenders and often get rejected, this will all be reflected in your credit report. Take note that too many inquiries and rejections will badly affect your credit score.

Now that you know the factors that make up your credit report, take the time to review every detail in your report. In case you’ve errors, you are free to dispute about them by sending a dispute letter to the credit bureau who issued your report and to your creditor as well. Remember, being aware about the status of your credit report is your personal obligation and is the best way to protect yourself from erroneous reporting and fraud.

What if you found out that your credit score isn’t enough to get an approval from a lender? Do not lose hope. You can still work out on improving your credit score by paying your unpaid debts and keeping up with your payments to your present creditors. By being timely in submitting your payments, significantly reducing the amount owed, and staying within your credit limit, you can be assured that your credit score will improve. So instead of rushing in submitting your credit card or your loan application, take a moment to review your credit report and see if you are in the right position to apply for new credit.



SOLOMON

Lisa Nichols asked:


Fix errors on your credit report to prevent future problems. Credit report errors can result in an incorrect credit score- or worse. Tips to keep credit reports clean include reviewing credit card statements and credit report monitoring to prevent errors and stay safe from identity theft.

Reviewing Credit Card Statements to Unearth Mistakes

Review credit card statements monthly to stay on top of credit report problems. Errors are unlikely to appear on a credit card statement. However, it’s important to review credit card bills to make sure there are no mistakes or suspicious charges. In addition, promotional or introductory annual percentage rates (APR) will eventually expire. Knowing when an APR will expire can help decide whether to switch to a low interest credit card or a balance transfer card to defer the additional charges and save money. Late payments, missed payments or late payments on other lines of credit can also result in an unexpected increase in interest rates. Reviewing credit card statements can help mitigate sudden, unplanned expenses and avoid problems with identity theft.

Monitor Credit Reports to Avoid Problems

Monitor a credit report to avoid problems. An inaccurate credit score can result in getting turned down for an apartment or a job. It may also mean getting turned down for insurance, a loan or a credit card, or paying more in fees or interest rates if approved. Monitoring credit reports for errors can help mitigate problems and speed up the approvals process for new lines of credit.

Protect Yourself From Identity Theft by Monitoring Your Credit Report

Carefully monitoring a credit report and credit card statements can help protect you from identity theft. Unusual, unfamiliar or suspicious activities on a statement should be immediately reported to the credit card company. In addition, if identity theft is found through reviewing credit card statements, the credit reporting agencies should be notified. A credit report monitoring service identifies suspicious activities and quickly notifies you so you can decide if you need to take further action to protect yourself from identity theft.



DOMINIC

David Siegel asked:


s world, having a bad credit report may be detrimental. Even though in most cases consumers have brought this upon themselves, in some cases the bad credit report may be caused by a glitch in the credit bureau system. As up to 25% of credit reports have a substantial error that can affect the consumer in getting credit, housing or a job. Although, some may feel helpless against the unperfected credit bureau system, that is far from the truth.

Every person should order a credit report at least once a year, it is free on annualcreditreport.com. This report should be carefully examined for mistakes and biased information. Once a mistake is found the credit bureau should be contacted through certified mail, explaining the mistake. The creditor that reported the information to the bureau should also be contacted by mail, stating the mistake that was found. The Fair Credit Report Act mandates credit bureau to delete all incorrect information that may be on the report. Therefore once the credit bureau receives your letter disputing the mistake within the report, it will investigate the glitch by contacting the creditor and trying to verify the credit report. If the creditor does not respond in time or if he does not verify the information on the original report then the bureau will delete the erroneous information from the report.

Furthermore, if your credit report displays information that you feel is biased towards you, you can add an explanatory note explaining the situation. For example, if you moved to another address while your bills kept coming to your old address, causing impairment to your credit score, you can add a note to your credit report explaining that situation. Just write a note to the bureau explaining that you would like such a note included on the report. Sometimes an easier route to fixing your credit report is by contacting the creditor that reported the problem to your credit bureau and asking them to clear up the glitch, by contacting the bureau.

No matter which approach you take to fixing your credit report you need to make sure that the mistake has been fixed by getting a subsequent credit report. Remember if the credit report gets a letter notifying them of a glitch, they have to investigate it, and if they can’t verify the original report then they have to delete the information. By taking control of your credit report, you can begin to change your financial picture.



BILLY

Aubrey Clark asked:


Credit scores are the determining factor on how good the deal is for most of the major purchases we make in life. Managing your credit wisely can save thousands of dollars over one’s lifetime and even contribute to a comfortable retirement. Think about this, improving your credit scores by 50 points can save around $33,000 over the life of the average mortgage. If you also consider the likelihood that you will also pay higher rates on car loans, and credit were talking about a huge sum of money. What if you were able to put all of that money into a retirement account, wow!

Before we get started, I would like to touch on the “companies” that advertise that they can magically clean your credit and have your scores up in a matter of days. In my opinion any company that makes such a claim is less than legitimate at best. The simple fact is that it’s ultimately the credit bureaus that will update your scores via the information they receive. By law, credit bureaus cannot treat you any differently than the people you hire to clean up your credit. This means that Know-how and hard work are the only differences between you and credit repair companies. So if you are willing to learn a little and roll up your sleeves you can save some money.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of legitimate credit repair companies that perform great a services for their clients. Depending on how bad your credit is repairing your credit can be a lot of work. If you are unable to spend the time or you lack the “stomach” to deal with collection agents then I suggest that you look into hiring a legitimate credit repair company. The only downside is that it can be very expensive and the money you spend paying them to repair your credit can be used paying down debt.

3 Tips for Fast Credit Report Repair

1) Opt out of all credit bureau solicitations – Have you ever wondered how you get “pre-approved” credit card and mortgage offers? Credit bureaus actually sell your information to companies to solicit you. These leads are furnished to the solicitors by credit type and a credit score range. The credit bureaus then “ding” your credit score 3 – 10 points for the inquiries! The good news is that you can “opt out” from this practice and it will raise your credit score 3 – 10 points within a week. You can find the website here: www.optoutprescreen.com.

2) Validate all debts as real debts on your bureau – This action requires that you have a credit bureau in hand. If you are serious about cleaning your credit it is crucial that you have one it will be your blue-print. You will need to pony up about $40 bucks to get a credit report with all 3 bureaus and scores. Many companies offer “free” credit reports if you join their credit monitoring service that ironically cost around $40 bucks.

With Credit report in hand, you need to validate ALL debts with collection agencies that are reporting on your credit bureau. Look for debts that are older than 7 years old, (from the charge-off date) the credit bureaus have remove these by law. Dispute these debts with the credit bureaus NOT the collection agencies. Next, look for duplicate collections, many collection agencies will package and sell your debt to other companies and never remove their original report. Send a letter to the credit bureaus with an explanation asking that they remove the debt.

3) Dispute ALL debts with the credit bureaus – Dispute all late payments, collections and negative remarks that appear on all 3 credit bureaus, not the collection agencies. In the dispute letter simply state that you do not believe the debt is yours and ask them to have the reporting agency to prove that you owe the debt. In the event it is a late payment simply say that you weren’t late.You can find a good letter by following the link above.

Note: When I say dispute all items I mean all negative items whether they are a legitimate debt or not. By law the collection agencies have to prove that you owe the debt within a reasonable amount of time or remove the remark on your bureau. Many collection agencies are too busy or unable to respond to the credit bureau’s request. When this happens the credit bureaus have to remove the negative remarks regardless of their legitimacy.

10 Ground Rules for Dealing with Collection Agencies

1- To use an analogy, credit collection agents are the Devil incarnate and they are on commission.

2- Arguing with the Devil is fruitless; they hold the gold and will ultimately win the argument.

3- Speaking with the “supervisor” usually will not work; he got his position by being the meanest Devil.

4- The Devil will lie and cheat, it is his nature. Do not EVER give debit card numbers, checks numbers, credit card numbers, or bank accounts over the phone to a collection agency.

5- Make any and every payment you send to them with a money order or certified funds.

6- Send all correspondence via certified mail return receipt, leave a paper trail and make a file.

7- Do not accept a deal or negotiated payoff without having it in writing.

8- When negotiating a lower payoff take their first offer, they will almost always call back to sweeten their offer.

9- When negotiating a lower payoff always approach the collection agent from the position “this is all I can afford to pay” not “this is all I am going to pay you”. Refer to rule #2

10- Always have a copy of your credit report when repairing your credit!

Obviously, there is a lot more to know than we have mentioned in these three tips. However these three tips will almost always help you with fast credit report repair. NOTE: Executing these three tips you do not want to the collection agencies at this time. If collection agencies update the information on your bureau it can actually lower your credit scores. Do these three steps first before contacting the collection agencies and then you can dance with the devil later.



TODD

Jay Delgado asked:


There is no doubt that your credit report contains a lot of information that can have a direct impact on your lifestyle. It is also true that other people are reviewing your credit file and making judgments about you and your ability to repay. What do they see? Should you be at all concerned about the information is included in your credit report? You should be very concerned with the information included in your credit report because it has a direct impact on your life. The information on your credit report can break you or make you and it does not go away overnight.

Regularly reviewing your credit report is not only a great way to keep tabs on how well you are doing financially; it is also a great way to protect yourself from identity theft and credit reporting errors. Did you know that 25% of credit reports contain errors that are serious enough to cause a denial of credit? Keep in mind that these are just the serious errors. More than three quarters of credit reports contain errors due to typing mistakes, misinformation and human error.

Credit reporting agencies know that their system is not fool proof, so they have set in place avenues that people can use to have incorrect information removed from their credit report. But you can not have information removed if you do not know it is there in the first place.

Most financial advisers recommend that you should review your credit report every 90 days or four times per year. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three major reporting bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, each year. So, that is three out of four, right? Not exactly.

You see not all lenders report to all agencies. This means that your report from Experian could look completely different from a report issued by Equifax. One report might contain errors while the other is spot on. The only way to know for sure is to pull all three reports and compare them at the same time. This should be done every 90 days.

If you absolutely cannot afford to purchase reports from the agencies three times a year, you can stagger your free credit reports throughout the year. Keep in mind, though, that you may not be seeing the whole picture.

How much do credit reports cost? Depending on the bureau, you can be charged up to $10.50 for your credit report. So you are looking at roughly $90 a year to keep tabs on your credit. Remember; these fees do not include your credit score. You will also NOT be supplied a credit score along with your free reports. If you want to know your credit score, you can request it but it will cost you about $5 to $7.

Ninety dollars a year may sound steep, but not knowing could be costing you much more. You could be overpaying thousands of dollars in interest payments each year because of something on your credit report that you do not know about.



ERIN

Jon Arnold asked:


Considering how valuable your credit report and your resulting credit score are to you, it never ceases to amaze me how many people believe in and rely on misconceptions, myths, and downright bunk about how credit reporting really works. To adequately function in today’s society, one’s credit score needs to be at least at the “ok” level, and people with bad credit or poor credit are only accelerating their downward spiral by not doing something about it.

The sad part is that there ARE things you can do to improve your credit score. While those things take effort, they do not necessarily require money and these are all things you can do at home.

Most people do not realize that they have three entirely separate and distinct credit reports, one from each of the three credit reporting bureaus. Since these bureaus do not share information, they each report what they think they know, which in reality means that not one of them has a true and complete picture of your credit. To add insult to injury, chances are extremely high that your credit report with at least one (if not all) of the credit bureaus contains errors, and the only way the errors will get fixed and removed is if YOU dispute them. I have heard of people whose credit score jumped more than 100 points in less than a month after they got various inaccurate pieces of information removed from their credit profile.

But let’s spend some time here talking about some very common myths about credit, credit scores, and credit reporting, and find out what the real deal is on this misconceptions.

Myth #1: Paying off a negative account on your credit report will get it removed from your report.

This is not true at all. That account will remain on your credit report for years, plainly showing for all to see that it went past due, it went delinquent, and then you paid it off. But since it is part and parcel of your credit history, it stays on your credit history for years. Remember, your credit history is exactly that – a HISTORY of your dealings with credit, and just because an account is closed or paid off does not dismiss the fact that it is still part of your credit history.

Myth #2: Paying off an account will cause your credit score to increase significantly.

Again not true. There are a huge number of factors that come into play when the credit bureaus calculate your credit score. Chief amongst those factors are have you been paying your financial obligations on time with at least the minimum payment due. Paying off an account entirely can actually do more damage than good. Having credit in good standing, but keeping your balance less than about 32% of your credit limit is a great place to be, and you gain no additional points by paying off that account.

Myth #3: Checking your credit reports will lower your credit score.

Yet again not true. The financially savvy consumer will check his credit report at least once a year, sometimes more often. Every time someone requests a copy of your credit report, that fact is flagged, but it is also flagged as to WHO requested your credit report. If it was you, then it does nothing to your credit score, as opposed to having your credit report requested by 12 different loan companies, which is almost sure to raise a red flag and lower your score.

Myth #4: Cosigning for a loan does not mean you are responsible for the account.

Not at all true. The reason you were requested to co-sign on a loan or an account for someone is because they themselves have insufficient credit history or have bad credit history. The act of you co-signing on it is you telling the financial institution “hey, if they default on this, I’ll take care of it”, so you DO have responsibility for the loan. But it gets worse – if the person who took out the loan starts to default on it, then it is also YOUR credit score that suffers, since again, you co-signed on it, giving you some responsibility for making sure they repay it on time.

Understand how the credit game is played. You cannot win any game if you don’t know the rules, and since credit affects a lot of different aspects of your life, it is well worth your time to understand the factors and the myths about how your credit score is derived.



DENIS

cs asked:


NOT report, just score. preferably free.

GALE