Credit Reports Galore

Ray Eddings asked:


The yearly summary of your annual personal credit report, the report which tells how the consumer is basically paying the companies to which he or she owes money, is a major factor to judge your credit worth. The annual credit report for every person is maintained by the financial institutions and the loan providing companies. The various companies include their outputs in the credit reports. These reports are a collective effort of the creditors or the landlords etc. who are a major part as loan providers. The annual personal credit score and report is the indicator of your borrowing habits throughout the year. The annual credit report for any person influences the creditors and the lenders to extend or cancel your loan.

There are lots of uses for which a personal credit report is maintained. The major uses of these reports are:

-By looking at the report, various companies decide the status of your coming loans. The companies decide whether to continue your loan or not. The report suggests the financial institutions about the risks that are involved if the finance group gives you a loan.

-If your existing lenders move away and do not provide you with the loans then finding other lenders can be a tough job if your annual credit report is not good.

-Credit cards also will turn more expensive for you if you are not able to maintain a good annual report. Sometimes a bad report or score would not allow you to access your credit card and even getting a new card would not be possible.

-Sometimes, renting a house would become even more difficult because some house owners check the credit report of the paying guests.

There are a few factors that you need to know so as to maintain your annual credit report and give it a good shape. Keep in mind that FICO system is considered by many financial banks and institutions. You need to maintain a good FICO score. To maintain a good credit score, these scores are required to maintain a good annual report. Keeping a regular check of your annual report can help you maintain a good report and scores.

Many financial institutions provide free credit check for your credit reports. These are provided to any person by these institutions so they can easily maintain their credit scores to a good level.

The importance of annual reports and scores are clear and these are required to you in stages when you need money the most, so also keep your payments on time. Never delay your payments to the lenders. Even your monthly installments and your loan repayments, be it monthly, yearly or quarterly must be paid well in time just to maintain goodwill and also a good annual credit report by a person.

So try and consult financial institutions and maintain a good credit report for your benefit.



FELIX

Allison May asked:


The answer to the above question is yes. You definitely should obtain a copy of your credit report. If you’re asking why, let’s talk about some important points about your credit report.

What is in your credit report?

Your credit report contains significant information about your accounts and finances. In your credit report, you can find your employment history, your salary history, your past and present credit with all your creditors and other legal information.

Also included in your credit report is your complete name, Social Security Number, date of birth, driver’s license number, your past and current home address, telephone number and other personal details. All transactions that you have with lending companies, credit card companies, insurance companies and other financial institutions are all reflected on your credit report.

How much you owe a certain creditor is listed in detail. Also, whether you’re paying your bills on time or not can be traced by looking at your credit report. All these information are included on your credit report.

Who Checks On Your Credit Report?

You may now have an idea why it is important for you to obtain a copy of your own personal credit report. Landlord, potential employers, insurance companies, government agencies, lending companies, credit card companies – all these organizations check on your credit report to know your background and reputation.

A single false information or an incorrect transaction on your credit report can damage your credit worthiness. You can get denied by potential employers just because your credit report seems bad. Creditors can refuse your applications on account that you have bad account on your credit report. Thus, it is your responsibility to check and ensure that there isn’t any false information or derogatory records that can affect your reputation.

Check Your Credit Report

You have the right to know if all the information contained on your credit report is true and accurate. As a consumer, you have the right to dispute information which you think are false, erroneous or fraudulent.

The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act protects consumers from such inaccuracy or possible fraudulent accounts contained in their credit report. In fact, if a credit reporting agency or a credit bureau refuses to give you the appropriate service you need, you may also report it to The Federal Trade Commission.

Every year, all consumers are allowed to obtain a copy of their report from the three major credit bureaus for free. Thus, after making a careful examination on your credit report, you can inform the credit bureaus if you find any disputable records on your credit report. Below are the contact numbers of the three major credit bureaus.

Equifax Options P.O. Box 740123 Atlanta, GA 30374-0123 www.equifax.com

Experian Consumer Opt Out P.O. Box 919 Allen, TX 75013 www.experian.com

Trans Union Name Removal Option P.O. Box 97328 Jackson, MS 39288-7328 www.transunion.com

For a more in-depth discussion on credit report and your rights as a consumer, you may visit the FTC’s website at www.ftc.gov.



WILBUR

Noreen Ruth asked:


So you’ve followed the advice of the financial experts and requested copies of your credit reports. And low and behold you find an entry that raises questions and concern. The idea of having to head-to-head with a credit bureau probably ranks up there with root canals in things you want to do. But the process in either case isn’t as dire as imagined but does require immediate action to avoid further damage.

Here are the steps you’ll need to take to effectively dispute credit report errors.

Confirm Errors and Inaccuracies:

Immediately investigate any unauthorized accounts or activity you find on your report. Contact any institution that is involved; collect and document all communication that is relevant to your dispute. Include documentation from banks, credit issuers and financial institutions that are part of the disputed issue.

Contact the Credit Reporting Agencies:

It is the obligation of credit agencies to investigate any dispute. When you’ve gathered all the documentation you can, it’s now time to contact the credit reporting bureau(s) to dispute the information.

Mark up a copy of your credit report with a highlighter to reflect the disputed parts of the report. Explain in your credit report dispute letter why the information is inaccurate, in as much detail as possible. Include copies of all of the supporting documents and send them, via certified, return-receipt mail to the credit agency. Request that the credit agency remove or correct the error on your credit report. (Be sure to keep a copy of your letter, and keep all original documents stored safely.)

Be Aggressive and Proactive:

The credit agency to investigate your dispute within 30 days of your complaint. While you’re waiting for a response, contact the bank, credit card or other company that supplied the wrong information that is part of your dispute. Send copies of your dispute documents to each company via certified, return-receipt mail. Be sure to include your credit report dispute letter and ask them to investigate the disputed the data they gave the credit bureau, too.

Credit Agency Reports to You:

When the credit agency investigation has been completed, they are required to report back to you in writing with the results. If your dispute is proven correct, the credit agency must remove the incorrect information from your file. The bureau also has to give you a free copy of your report, along with the name, address, and phone number of the company that provided the erroneous information.

Follow Through after the Investigation:

Request that the credit agency send a notice to anyone who received a copy of your credit report in the past few months to notify them of the correction. If your dispute is denied, you should ask that a statement of the dispute be included in your file and in future reports. You also can ask the credit bureau to provide your statement to anyone who received a copy of your report in the recent past, although credit bureaus can charge you for this service.

Visit ftc.gov/credit for more information on how to dispute credit report errors.



HUMBERTO

Dave Joa asked:


Instant Online Access.

Today in the UK you can now have instant access to get your free credit report online.

But what are the benefits of being able to see this record of your credit history and the other details that the credit reference agencies hold about you on your personal credit file.

In order to look at every potential benefit that your credit report could give you, we need to look at what your credit report is used for.

Who Uses Your Credit Report And How?

Your free credit report in the UK will be used by financial institutions whenever you apply to them for credit cards, loans or mortgages and by other companies when you apply for any product or service that requires you to sign up for some form of credit, such as a mobile phone contract.

All these companies want to know your current credit rating and they will determine this using your credit score, which they calculate with their own company formula using information on your credit history and current credit status from a copy of your credit report.

This credit check will involve checking your credit report from one of the three credit reference agencies in the UK all of which gather relevant credit and personal ID information about you to create your credit file.

Failed A Credit Check?

If you fail a credit check and don’t get the loan or credit you applied for, you usually won’t be told why or which credit reference agency was used.

However, the details held on your credit report can help you find out what is causing your application to be refused.

The reason may not even be a valid one as it is very easy for a mistake, typing error or old inaccurate information to be held on one of your three credit reports.

Such errors may relate to your credit history or the other personal data on your credit record, which is used to confirm your identification and what you put on your application form.

Major Benefit

A higher credit score will help ensure that you get the loans or credit you want and that you will get a better rate of interest than if your credit rating were lower.

To ensure that your credit score and therefore your credit rating is as high as it can be you need to make sure that everything on all three of your credit reports is accurate and up to date.

You therefore need to get a copy of your credit report from each of the 3 credit reference agencies. Don’t assume that if one is correct that the others will be!

Fortunately you can get instant online access your credit report at each agency for free as all agencies are currently offering a free trial of their UK credit report service.

You should take advantage of this to check all three of our credit reports and fix them if you find any problems. Just talk to the relevant agency about how to get issues with your credit report resolved.

Remember however that this could take time so start as soon as possible, especially if you are planning to apply for a loan or other credit some time soon.

Other Benefits

Your credit reports are a great asset and should be checked and maintained just like you check you bank statements. If you don’t check them they could easily become your greatest liability.

Effective management of your credit report could save you a lot of money over time and ensure that you are not refused credit when you need it.

If you are going to apply for a loan or mortgage then it makes sense to check you credit reports before applying as failed applications will be recorded on your credit file and can lower your credit score making your next credit application even more likely to fail.

When you fix your credit reports and get your credit score to be as high as possible you will be able to borrow more money from lenders and get more credit and all at lower interest rates.

Checking you credit report regularly is a great way of making sure that your identity has not been stolen and used in fraud to steal money or pay for products and services using your personal details and your money.

Compare reports from different credit agencies to make sure that they are all the same because when you apply for credit you have no way of knowing which credit reference agency your potential lender will use.

So What Next?

It is very easy to check your UK credit reports and you can do this online for free.

So do it now before you forget to make the most of this opportunity.



LOUIS

John Ritchie asked:


This is the third in a series of articles which will increase your awareness about  Identity Theft.

 

 

All of us know the importance of credit reports in our lives. Your credit report shows your personal information including your legal name, alias names, addresses, current and previous employers, social insurance number and date of birth.

 

It also shows details of most credit enquiries carried out by financial institutions, retailers and many other credit reporting agencies including:

 

Current and past credit status

Total number of open and closed accounts

If the balances of our accounts are current or delinquent

Public record information such as federal bankruptcy records local government court records, liens, judgments, and child support records (information that can stay in your record for up to 10 years)

Credit inquires that are used when you apply for a credit card, bank loan or retail financing.

Detailed account history - very up to date information about your loans, financing and credit card payments

Credit score.

 

Your credit score is a number ranging from between 330 and 830 in most states of the U.S. The higher the number assigned to you, the better your credit is. The higher your credit score, the better your chances are of obtaining additional credit cards and or loans.

 

Your credit report will also include information provided to Auto insurance companies, who usually obtain a credit report as part of their process when applications are made for auto insurance. Sometimes employers may also request credit reports as part of their hiring or promotions process.

 

In the United States, the Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax are the major credit bureaus that collect, maintain, and distribute this credit information. You are permitted, by law, to obtain one free copy of your credit report each year from each of these reporting agencies. However, when you apply for a copy of your report, you will usually see that fees apply to all requests for this information. Usually the free report is only available if you apply by mail and you must follow the requirements of the reporting company to obtain your free copy.

 

The information contained in your credit report, thus reflects your credit and consumer habits. Unless you obtain a copy of your credit report, you may never know your credit worthiness. Another more vital reason to obtain a copy of your credit report is to check to see if you have fallen victim to Identity Theft.

 

Verifying and checking your credit report is a vital means to make sure no one has obtained your identity. You may think that it may not happen to you, but there is nothing wrong by making absolutely sure. If you see any transactions on your credit report that do not make sense to you, immediately make enquiries to satisfy yourself whether the entries are legitimate or not. If they are not legitimate, it could be a mistake made by the credit reporting agency, and they will advise you very quickly if this is so and make the necessary correction. If the information is correct but not known to you, then you need to be on guard because you may have seen the beginnings of your identity being stolen.

 

You must take immediate action if you wish to avoid major loss and or damage to your personal reputation that presumably took you so many years to establish.

 

Here are some suggested ways to check your credit report.

 

Carefully examine your credit report upon receipt. Look into the section dealing with inquiries on your report. If you do not know what some of these relate to then make immediate enquiries. Remember, however, that any time you apply for credit, especially at the retail level, there will be a credit enquiry made upon your account, but you may not recognise the name of the company asking for the information as retailers seldom do their credit checks using their company name.

 

If you notice errors, such as a bill paid off but still show as outstanding on the report, then notify the agency and request for it to be removed. You must follow up personally on these corrections and make sure that your specific request has been acted upon.

 

Watch out for accounts opened in your name that you do not know about. Sometimes, maybe a family member has opened an account without letting you know. If this is not so, then maybe a stranger has opened the accounts and that puts your credit and finances in danger. Be alert always and take the issue of Identity Theft as a serious threat to your good name. Make sure that your personal and financial information never get into the wrong hands.

 

John Ritchie,

 

Copyright to this article belongs to John Ritchie.    

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EMILIO