Credit Reports Galore

Tarun Jaswani asked:


It is important to be aware about your credit score before looking to apply for mortgage or availing the facility of credit card. It is really a good idea to verify credit rating from different credit bureaus at different period of time in order to secure the identity, which can be very beneficial in preventing identity theft. Identity theft is possible when unknown person pulls out the credit report of individual for different reasons such as taking mortgage or availing credit card services which can ruin the credit rating of the victim if the accused person makes irregular payments on mortgage or credit card existing debts.

Credit report provides all the details to the people regarding their credit status in the market after taking into consideration all the transactions.These transactions are related to the credit taken by the borrowers for their personal as well as commercial purposes.

The credit reports are usually provided by credit bureaus to all the financial institutions, banks, mortgage lenders of different lending institutions, credit card companies, who deal with people on the basis of their creditworthiness.

The report can be accessed by the individual if he is not working from last 60 days or looking to join somewhere professionally in next 30-45 days. The person need to apply for free credit report if his credit rating is very poor or marginal.

The people are provided with mortgage, credit cards and many other facilities on their basis of their credit report in the market.Availing the service of free credit report results in continuous credit inspection of the people,which results in avoiding bad credit report in the market.

Credit status can be accessed from any of the main credit bureaus available in the market, which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion after every financial year. This can ensure the individual that there correct credit report has been provided to different banks, financial institutions and prominent mortgage lenders in exact relation to their financial strength.

The report also protects the people from theft of their identity in the city, avoiding any sort of mis happening.

There are many credit check programs,which are arranged for the people in the country to get provided with free credit report. All the major credit reporting organizations mainly credit bureaus launch their website along with their toll free number and mailing address of credit bureaus.Consumer need to request the report from three different credit bureaus at the same time or some different scenarios according to the requirement.

The free credit report is provided to the consumers at that point of time if they apply for their credit scores instantly at their respective websites of specific credit bureau. Applicants have to be cautious regarding their typing mistakes, which can lead to expenses. It is because of providing the information in the wrong website related to free credit report status,that individuals get charged for credit report which is actually free.

There are many people who can apply for free credit report over the toll free number or mailing them at the provided address, it takes at least 15 days of time, which is provided on the basis of time period required by the credit bureaus to extract the credit detail of each applicant.



VICENTE

Helen Hecker asked:


If you want to get rid of negative credit you can easily take a few steps to completely turn it around and see a significant improvement in your credit score. Thousands of people face the same problems and assume it takes a credit professional or credit repair service to do it for them. These offline and online credit services don’t come cheap and often people spend their hard-earned money trying to fix negative or bad credit.

First of all you may not know what is actually on your credit report today. You may assume you have bad credit based on your payment history in the past or you haven’t had the courage to get a copy of your credit report even though it’s free. Many resist this because of the fear of what they think they may find. However you may be surprised. There may be entries on your credit report that are totally false and can be easily corrected or there may be entries you can easily change with a little documentation.

Really it’s not that difficult to get these corrections taken care of on your credit report. You can actually take care of it pretty fast and it won’t cost you a dime other than a first class stamp. In actuality you can do a better job than any credit repair clinic because you’re in the position to actually add some positive credit marks to your report if you know how to do it and I’ll explain below.

Okay these are the 3 simple steps to repair your credit history.

1. First get a copy of your free credit report if you don’t already have a CURRENT copy. Everyone is entitled to a free credit report every year according to federal government laws. You can get an absolutely free annual credit report online instantly at the approved Web site: type in ‘annualcreditreport’ and then a dot and then com. You’ll be able to print it out as soon as you provide identification.

You can also call 1-877-322-8228. When you call you’ll get an automated service. Know what phone number you’re going to use as that is a requirement in the process. However it will take about 15 days to get the report. You can also write but instant online or calling is easiest. This free service is sponsored by the three credit reporting agencies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Now you must know that you won’t get your credit rating or score when you get the report. There is an additional charge to get a score. However if you recently applied for credit and were turned down, call the lender and ask what your score is. You can usually find out that way for free.

Once you have your credit report in hand, sit down and note any negative items or anything that doesn’t seem right to you. You may find a few mistakes, sometimes even with your birth date or other personal information. These are easily corrected. There can be some totally false information such as credit information for someone else with the same name or similar name.

2. Write a dispute letter. It’s easy to write a dispute letter. If you’re not sure how to do this, sit down and pretend you’re writing a letter to a friend. It does not have to be fancy and it can be in your own handwriting if legible or typed out. Don’t make it too hard. Make a list of the bad credit marks or wrong information that you want to dispute. Make sure to keep it as short as possible and don’t add any fluff. Get the facts as you know them. If you have any documentation to include to ‘back you up’ then add this or include copies with your dispute letter.

When the credit bureau gets your letter they will do an investigation and will either verify the item in question and remove or fix it - or they will be unable to verify the negative credit information to remove it.

If they notify you that they are unable to verify any negative credit mark thus not removing it, then you can still dispute it by sending another letter asking how they arrived at their decision. This is called a ‘method of verification’ or sometimes ‘procedural request’. If the dispute is regarding a creditor the credit reporting bureau and the creditor must both provide you with adequate proof of their decision. Otherwise they are required by law to remove the negative credit mark from your credit history.

3. How to get positive credit marks on your credit report. This is simple to do over a period of a few months to start building a positive credit history. Get department store and/or gas credit cards and use them. Pay them off on time. Make note that these usually come with higher interest rates so compare rates first. Pay a little more than you owe and pay a little early. Paying online ensures that your payment arrives and is not lost in the mail.

Keep a bill calendar and write on it when payments are due and another notation on the calendar a few days before so that you make the payment online early. If you wait till the last minute, the Web site may be down for maintenance or their may be other network issues. But in any event make sure to make the payment before it’s due. Try to get an installment type of loan or automobile loan through your bank or credit union.

Be aware that if you try to buy a car or other vehicle that the car dealer will contact several lenders to get the best interest rate and EACH one of these will contribute a mark to your credit report. This can affect your credit score, also called FICO. So try to get a pre-approved loan before you head to an auto dealer. If you can do this over a few months you will build up a recent and good credit history fast. No credit repair service will be able to build up this positive history for you.

For additional help removing or erasing negative credit you can easily get a good credit repair guide that will help you read and dispute the report and will cost pennies as opposed to a credit repair service which can cost you significantly. And a service can’t do it as well as you can or add positive credit marks to your credit history. Sit down now if you already have the credit report right and do a quick letter before you start dwelling on it. You can do it! And YOU can do the best job. The faster you take action the sooner you’ll see a turnaround.



PABLO

The-Mom asked:


My friend has a neighbor that used a credit card from a piece of paper with a person’s credit card info and charged about $150 worth of stuff.What will happen if they get caught?I am torn about whether I should report it.

CLAIR

majorie asked:


Is there any way possible to get a totally free credit report online with no strings attached? How can I get a truly free credit report online?

CRAIG

puppiesnmarshmellows asked:


I just did my credit report online, and my debt to credit ratio is 83%. I know what debt to income ratio is but when i googled it it told me that debt to credit is how much of your credit you have used up. Now i went back to my credit report and saw that my mortgage is 94%, my installment is 88% but my revolving is only 7%. On further look i saw that installment is just my car paymetn, and revolving is all my credit cards. I was under the impression that only credit cards were calculated in your debt to credit ratio. So when a lender looks at that am i being punished for my mortgage and my car payment? I mean 7% of my credit cards is pretty damn good. At least i thought it was. My debt to income ratio is only 36% and last i checked that was good too. I’m so confused when it comes to this stuff. I’m wanting a private student loan and now i’m worried i won’t get it. I have never missed a payment ever, everything paid on time and in good standing.

HUGO

Mercedes asked:


My husband requested his annual credit report from all three bureaus. We noticed something was wrong when two of the credit bureaus (Equifax and Transunion) refused to show his report online stating that further verification was needed, or we had the option to request the report through the mail. Experian showed us a report but it was not my husband’s. They had mixed my husband and his Dad’s credit histories. My husband is 22 and the report stated he was born in 1955. It has over 15 years of accounts mostly very high balance delinquency accounts (over 40 accounts). None of which were opened by my husband. I requested reports from the other two agencies by mail and transunion sent me a correct report, but Equifax said that either I had not submitted enough identification or my husband had no history on file (which he shouldn’t because he as never applied for credit himself). The action I have taken so far is to mail Experian a dispute letter in which I identified every account individually and told them it was not his debt and that it was the debt of his dad which has a very similar name. As documents I sent a copy of the Transunion report, which is correct, an enlarged copy of his license, a W-2 form, and a pay stub. Of course I wrote the letter as my husband. I sent it three weeks ago and have had no response. What should I do at this point. This “mistake” has caused us to be denied for apartments, cell phones, and for home loans. We are stuck if this isn’t corrected

ANGEL

Thomas Boston asked:


Every consumer should want to keep track of their credit score, and the best way to get a full rundown on your credit and your financial standing is to get a copy of your credit report from one of the major three credit services (Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax). Because of a law passed by congress, every single person has a right to one copy of their credit report once a year, and there are states that have passed even more laws giving consumers even more rights. Even beyond the once a year, there are other options.

Some credit card companies offer a monthly service that provides copies of one, or even all three, of your credit reports by adding a small monthly fee that is usually less than $10. If you want to keep a constant track of your credit score, these are a great option and allow you to do business with a company you can trust, and one that has great security. This is often a great option, as the three main companies that keep track of your credit have been known to have different information, meaning different scores. More than one person has been surprised, knowing they had a 720 credit score, only to be denied because a bank used a different company and came up with 550.

This is especially important if you have ever been the victim of identity theft. You could have one report that shows everything fixed, and another that has you as a terrible prospective borrower.

Another way to get your credit score is to request a copy from each company. If you go this route, you will probably ask for your credit score reports only a few times a year, since FICO scores are not free. Each company will charge you a small fee, but as long as you pay that fee they are required by law to send you a copy of your credit report so you can see everything that’s on your record.

Some lenders will have all three of your credit scores, and many times they will throw out the top and bottom, choosing the middle. This still makes it important to make sure your information is correct and up to date on every one of your credit reports. Generally scores run from 300 (beyond terrible) to 850 (incredibly good). Knowing what your credit score is gives you a much better idea of where your credit worthiness is, and what type of terms you can expect from lenders.

These are some of the best options for getting your credit score. Getting your credit report through other companies is generally not recommended. Why give sensitive information like your social security number to a company you don’t know anything about when you can just get this information directly from the credit reporters themselves or your own credit card company? That doesn’t make any sense and there are enough scams out there that the risk just isn’t worth it.

Those are the various options you have for checking, and receiving a copy of, your credit report.



ULYSSES

purplerose asked:


I looked at my credit report. I just want to see if anyone looked up experian online and got the full report! Let me know ASAP

HAL

Life Explorer asked:


What are some of te better online forums where I can discuss and ask questions about personal finance, bankruptcy, dealing with unruley collectors and cleaning up my credit report after filing bankruptcy?

I know it will take YEARS to rectify my credit report but there are always dirty collectors who refuse to make the appropriate reportings and i’d like to talk with people who are having similar experiences that i am having…

ERVIN