Credit Reports Galore - denied free experian equifax

Stephen Chua asked:


Your credit report contains vital information that affects your credit score. Every time you take up a loan or apply for credit, your lenders will access your credits report to see if you qualify for the it. Thus it is imperative that you constantly monitor your credit report to make sure it is in good health.

Given the monstrous amount of data each credit bureaus process on a daily basis, there are bound to be errors in one form or another. Here are a few common errors found in credit reports:

1. Incorrect spellings

This can happen to your name, addresses, telephone number, email address, social security number and so forth. Misspelling can means your report contains negative records that belong to someone else! Just fixing these minor details can give you a significant boost in your credit score.

2. Information that should not be there

Most negative records should disappear from credit report in seven years or less. The exception being bankruptcy which can stay in the report for up to ten years. Make sure to go over the negative records in your credit report and look out for those records that should not be there.

3. Double listing of loan information

This may come as a shock for many people when they noticed that their mortgage loans (or other loans) have been listed more than once in their credit reports. This will inflate the debt amount artificially and increase the debt-to-credit ratio (which is not a good thing).

Lenders may not notice the double listing errors and instead focus more on the debt-to-credit ratio and debt amounts to make their decisions.

4. Missing positive information

If you review your reports from the three major credit bureaus, you probably notice that they are not entirely identical. If you look closer, you will probably find some positive records that exist in one report but not the others.

Don’t ignore them. List them down for each report and call up each credit bureau to report the discrepancy. Positive records can give your credit score a big boost so make sure all of them are included in the three reports.

The three major credit bureaus handle a large volume of data each day and thus it is inevitable that errors will occur. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that your own credit reports contain the correct data. Review your credit reports once every six month and take action quickly when you find any errors.



DORIAN

Sophie Wilson asked:


Credit report is an important document that reflects your credit worthiness. You might not know about it before encountering any discomfiture of application loan rejection. But those who are well aware might not ruin it intentionally. So if you were not aware till the time about credit report then its time to get free annual credit report and review it.

A credit report plays an important role. Lenders generally check your credit report before issuing you loan and approve your application only if you are found credit worthy. For you also it’s important to know your credit worthiness so that if it is unfavorable then you could improve it easily. Improvement in your report will lead to more credit worthiness and you will be able to qualify for loans.

There are three main agencies offering free annual credit report namely, TransUnion, Equifax and Eperian. All these are reliable agencies that prepare credit reports. According to federal law these bureaus are required to give you one copy of your credit report very year on your impulse. These credit reports are provided totally free of cost.

If your loan application is rejected by any lender then you are also entitled by law to obtain a free copy of your credit report. Lender that you applied with is obligated to give your name of agency from which he acquired your credit information. Also he will have to furnish you with a valid reason for loan rejection. To protect your credit report from being used in fraudulent acts, you can ask for a social security number. The number is different for all credit reports and is placed on your credit card copy.

This credit report can also be entailed online. There are various agencies offering but always check beforehand the reliability of the agency that you are applying with. You can access your credit scores very easily and in a hassle free way.



WILSON

John Mcfadden asked:


A consumer credit report is the annual assessment of each person’s credit standing. By knowing what is on your you can get a lot of benefits when you go to get credit based services like loans, credit cards and even rent and phones.

Each year, by law, American citizens are entitled to obtain a free copy of their annual consumer credit report which basically details their credit risk profile. This allows companies who are considering extending some type of credit to the consumer to make an educated decision on the risk of that transaction. The better the credit of the consumer, then the better chance that company has of being paid back by the consumer.

By having a good credit report, a consumer can gain advantages such as cheaper loans and credit cards and avoid the embarrassment of being rejected for things like rental apartments and telephone contracts.

There are three companies which can offer a free consumer credit report (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) and are legally obliged to offer that annually.

By knowing what is in your credit report, you can negotiate for better credit condition (if you’re report is good) or you can strive to repair your credit by challenging inaccurate or false items on your report.

To do that, you simply need to obtain a copy, unfortunately you need to actually a report from all three credit bureaus. Why, because lenders don’t report to each bureaus, they just report to one with your past financial information - so if you only obtain a copy of one report then you will not have your complete financial position and history, it is recommended that you get all three reports - they way you know where you stand and you start improving nay negative information, it is common for your personal information to be old or incorrect.

Make sure you update them with your correct address. Be sure not to use companies that claim they can quickly improve your credit score, they are most likely to be scammers.

Assess the items on it that are negatively affecting your credit score and challenge those items to the relevant consumer reporting company. That company is then legally obliged to pursue the matter.

The thing is that challenging your credit report takes knowledge and time and so it may often be a better option to hire a credit reporting company to do the leg work on your behalf.

It’s essential you know how lenders will read and give weight to different parts of your Credit Report:

The American company FiCO has a tool that helps credit bureaus determine your credit score - below is the matrix that is used:

Payment History 35%

Amount Owed 30%

Length of Credit History 15%

New Credit 10%

Types of Credit Used 10%

Such companies know exactly what can be challenged as well as how to do it and who to contact about your credit.

By having a good credit report, you can make your own life a lot easier and cheaper in the long run.

Hopefully this article has been helpful for you and you will now know exactly what yours says.



DONNIE

Sophie Wilson asked:


Why is it important to know the credit score and for that the credit report? Well, the answer is that keeping a track of the financial details, will only helps you to know more about your financial credibility. You credit also plays a very determined role while acquiring new loans, credit cards and even while qualifying for jobs. So, when the opportunity comes to know about what and where your credit stands, then you can prefer to avail the annual credit report.

Annual credit report stands as a testimonial to all your major financial dealing, personal details, any outstanding debts, address, your contact number etc. in fact, it can be said that it is a complete dossier of your personal account. The greatest advantage of having credit report is that you get to maintain a steady and good credit score. Further, you can also check for any anomalies or any error mentioned in the report and rectifies the same. Besides, the report is updated continuously and you can best assure that there will be not any identity thefts.

In accordance with the federal law, these reports are issued by 3 credit bureaus namely Experian, Equifax and Transunion. The data is collected from the various lenders and merchants with whom you had made any previous transactions. The reports thus generated will be same but the procedure of assessing your credit is different. So, there are chances that the report issues may have some error or some data have been misinterpreted. So, it is a must to check the credit report on a regular basis.

With the changing times, you can derive the annual credit reports from online providers too. All you have to is to register online by offering the required details. Online application enables you to access the report from anywhere at any point of time. However, you should go through the various aspects of the provider before selecting any. Always prefer those who offer annual credit reports without asking for any fees.

Annual credit reports enables you to understand your financial; position in a better way and enables you to remain away from any credit problems.



REID

Ronnica Rothe asked:


Your credit report is used by lenders to determine whether you are a fit candidate for a loan. If you want to buy a house or car in the future, now is the time to start working on cleaning up your credit report. Obtain a free copy of your credit report and look it over to see what the creditors use to determine your eligibility for loans.

There are probably both positive and negative items on your credit report. The positive items, such as staying current on your accounts, being employed, and having checking and saving accounts, will stay on your credit report indefinitely. You want these items on your credit report because they help to counteract whatever negative items you have. There is no need to act to have them removed. However, if you see that you are missing accounts that you have good history with, even if it is simply a small store card, you should contact the creditor to get them added to your report.

If you have made any financial mistakes in the past, they are probably present on your credit report. Negative items such as credit card defaults, repossessions, foreclosures, and chapter 13 bankruptcies will remain on your credit report for seven years. Chapter 7 bankruptcies will stay on your report for ten years, while any unpaid tax liens will stay on your credit report for fifteen years. These items remain because creditors want to see what risks they may take on when lending money to you.

If negative items have remained on your credit report beyond the limits specified above or if they are inaccurate, it is time to dispute them with the credit bureau. You will need to do so with each of the credit bureaus individually if the item existed on all three credit reports. Disputing items has been made simple and can be done easily when pulling your free credit report. You should expect to hear back from the credit bureau in about a month. When you receive the documentation on what corrections were made, check to make sure that the problem has been completely taken care of. If the report is still not quite accurate, you can do a second dispute by personal letter. Explain the problem fully, providing documentation to back up your case. Make sure to keep copies of all correspondence with the credit bureaus.

If you have defaulted on a credit card or other loan, you may want to talk to the creditor to negotiate a deal to get your account up to current. However, if you do not plan on paying the debt, do not contact the creditor because it may restart the clock for having the item dropped from your credit report.

There are several other steps you can take to build your credit. Open a checking or savings account with a bank or credit union. If you have enough self-discipline not to rack up debt, get a credit card and use it sparingly, always paying off your balance in full each month. Using credit responsibly can go a long way to proving that you are capable of handling larger purchases.

It is a good idea to check your credit report on a yearly basis to make sure that everything is doing well. Take advantage of the free yearly credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus. If you have further questions on how to build or clean up credit, talk to a credit counselor.



HARVEY

Sophie Wilson asked:


Are you curious about your credit report and would like to know if it needs repairing? The free annual credit report helps you take into account, whether the scores have gotten better or worse. Hence, you can come to know when you need work better on your credit score. This report keeps a track of your financial transactions.

One can get this report by credit reporting agencies, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. One can order this report through internet. If you are going to view your free annual credit report online, you need to make sure that the website you are viewing is official.

This report will keep you updated with your good or bad scores. When you are viewing your report, you shall make sure that everything is being kept up to date and your information is not being used by someone committing identity fraud.

The free annual report lets you know your annual credit rating with accounts that you currently have opened and the ones that have been closed recently. In order to avoid your personal details being misused, you can ask for a social security number, which is placed on copies of your credit report, and is unique to all individuals.

If in any case you have been denied for loans, you are entitled by law to obtain a copy of this report. The lenders with whom you have applied have to give you with the name and contact data of the credit bureau they acquired your information from. This way, you could contact this credit bureau within 60 days to obtain your free credit report.

The free annual credit report will help you see where you are when it comes to your credit scores. It is a great way to keep a check at your credit rating. There will be a side of the bar online, which is green, which will indicate that, you have a high credit rating, but there is also a red side of the bar, which indicates that you have a bad credit rating.



CHASE

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

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

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

John Mcfadden asked:


Getting your free credit report online is not easy straight forward you you might think, there are plenty of things you need to know - like being aware of the current scams in the targeting consumers, you need to get the 3 credit reports from all three major Credit Bureaus, you need to get your report every four months, you need to know about identity theft, and more.

A credit report is essential - you know that you need to have a good one - or a good credit score to be able to access credit, but do you know the key information that banks or lenders look at on your report when they are assessing gif they will lend you month or not?

The American company FiCO has a tool that helps credit bureaus determine your credit score - below is the matrix that is used:

Payment History 35%

Amount Owed 30%

Length of Credit History 15%

New Credit 10%

Types of Credit Used 10%

So you need to go though your report and look at these areas and concentrate on the ones at the top of the list. If they don’t look that healthy then maybe leave applying for a loan for at least six months - in that time frame you can look at areas to improve your credit score.

Current Credit Report Scams

There are a few scams on the internet at the moment - they will advertise a free credit report and then slug you will a service fee. Be sure that when you apply for you credit report you are sure about the additional services that they are selling to you - make sure you read all there documentation and be sure not to sign up to anything you are not sure about. Also, watch out for this one where you can get caught by supplying personal inforamtion. It works by you providing information via an online form requesting to receive a credit report. What actually happens is that your personally identifiable information is captured by the Scammers who pose as a business.

Get your correct Credit Report Information

You need to get a report form all three credit report bureaus, why you asK? because your past loan and debt information may only be on one of the reports - by law lenders have to report you financial info but only to one bureau, so if you get your report form another bureau then you don’t have access to all your financial history - so you will not be able to firstly correct wrong information but you wont get a clear assessment of where you stand, so when you apply for a loan you could be rejected. You need to get your report form all three bureaus and also make sure you keep getting the reports every 4 months - as different information will come in at different times, the best way to get your info is first apply for your report at all three bureaus and then get an addition one for each agency one-by-one every four months. This way, after a year you will be sure to have a full picture of where you are at.

I hope this information on getting your credit report was of value and you see the importance of your credit report and credit score.



DEREK