Money Savvy » Credit Report

If I Want, I Can Even Get My Credit Report for Free

Author — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:20:16 +0000

It is always a good idea to think about getting your credit report at least once in a year and though you may need to pay a small fee in order to get your credit report, it is nevertheless money well spent. Mostly, the costs will differ from one credit reporting agency to another and often, it may not amount to more than fifteen dollars for each bureau, though it is also possible to get your credit report at a lower cost, and in some instances it is even possible to get your credit report for free.

Protected by the Law

The fact of the matter is that there are laws in place that will help you to get your credit report. It is always a good idea to take advantage of checking out your credit score because it helps you to avoid identity theft.

You can even get your credit report for free over the Internet. This report is available for you to see for a period of thirty days. If you also can take advantage of a few other factors, you could still qualify and get your credit report for free based on these other factors.

In case you are sure that your credit report contains errors, then you would also be entitled to get your credit report for free from each of the three main credit reporting agencies. However, you do have to ensure that you also review your credit report from at least one major credit reporting agency and then check the accuracy of their credit report. If you notice discrepancies, then you should ask for credit reports from the other major bureaus as well in order to verify that the same mistakes are not repeated in the other reports.

You may even visit the website of Annual Credit Report. There, you can get to review your credit report for reviewing purposes without having to pay any fee for the opportunity – though just once in a year. Otherwise, the major credit reporting agencies from where you can get your credit report are Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian.

It is also possible to get your credit report in case your loan or credit application has been rejected, and the credit bureau cannot charge you to provide you with the credit. You must also take advantage of reviewing your credit report from time to time because it will allow you to discover errors well in time, and then allow you to take remedial action and thus stay on top of your credit report. Thus, you can be assured that you won’t need to suffer because of errors that have gone unnoticed, and which can cause your application for loans or credit to be rejected.

Knowing the Federal Credit Report Laws

Author — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:17:02 +0000

Credit reporting companies have a great deal of control over your life whether you realize it or not. When you need to rent an apartment the prospective landlord first consults the credit reporting agencies. When you are looking to get car insurance you are supposedly run through a credit reporting agency first.

When you need to get utilities your information is sent off to a credit reporting agency. When you look to buy a car or a home the credit reporting agency pretty much decides how much your interest rate will be or if you even get the loan at all. With all of the power it is amazing to think that these credit reporting agencies were not monitored by the federal government for a very long time.

Now there are federal credit report laws that exist not only for the credit reporting agencies but for anyone that uses those agencies as well and these federal credit report laws are designed to make sure the information on your credit report is accurate. It used to be that if you had wrong information on your credit report then that was too bad but now with federal credit report laws the consumer has a recourse if they have been wronged.

No one expects the average consumer to know all of the federal credit report laws by heart and be able to accurately quote and reference the laws when needed. But just knowing that the federal credit report laws exist should be enough ammunition for any consumer that feels that they have information that is being used against them which is wrong. Damaging information on your credit report that is incorrect can greatly affect your life so use the federal credit report laws to make sure you get a fair representation in your credit report.

How do You Find Out More?

Your bank or financial institution will have information on the federal credit report laws for you and they should encourage you to become familiar with them. The various credit reporting agencies also have information on the federal credit report laws that you can easily access either online or you can request to be mailed to you.

Know these federal credit report laws so take the time to become familiar with them.
It is in your best interest to know the laws that affect you and federal credit report laws are very important for you to not only be familiar with but also know how they can protect you.

You Are Entitled to Receive a Credit Report Without a Credit Card

Author — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 05:14:18 +0000

Sometimes, you may need to know where you need to look for if you wish to get a credit report without a credit card. Fortunately, there are a fgood ew places to try out, though before you proceed any further, you will need to understand that there are certain things to look out for. There are also different credit report services to check out if you want to be able to obtain the most amount of information regarding your credit report without a credit card.

According to the Federal law known as Federal Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act or FACTA, credit agencies are obliged by law to provide individuals with credit report without a credit card. If you visit this website, input your personal information regarding not requiring a credit card, and then ask for your annual report, you can get it free of cost.

However, you are limited to receiving just one credit report in a calendar year from the main credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Furthermore, it is also a good idea to get three credit reports from each of these credit reporting agencies.

Simplified Process

Today, anyone can go online and print a credit report without a credit card at any time of the day and for every day of the week at the website maintained by FACT. That website has especially been created by the three major credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The advantage of using this website lies in the fact that the whole process of obtaining a credit report without acredit card is greatly simplified.

If you search the Internet you will come across a number of agencies that provide free credit report without a credit card, though you may need to pay membership and even application fee. In addition, before checking out a particular agency, you would do very well to investigate the agency and be sure that the services provided by it are what you need.

Otherwise, you would end up paying them for something that will not be of much use to you. The most important thing to remember regarding this process is that you should only trust reputable websites. So, now that you have learnt a bit about how to get credit report without a credit card and its benefits, you should apply for your credit report and improve your credit.

Do Your Own Credit Report Repair and Improve Your Credit Score

Author — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:57:13 +0000

When applying for credit, you need to understand at the very outset that it is the level of credit that you are assessed with that will play an important role in deciding whether you get a low interest credit, or one that carries a high interest. Thus, there are no doubts that the better you are able to manage your credit, the more you will enjoy establishing credit. In addition, you will also get to save many thousands of dollars over a lifetime and also have enough saved for your retirement years.

Finding a Balance

If your credit score happens to be low, you must then think about using proper means to affect proper credit report repair and, in the process, hopefully even improve your credit score by as many as fifty points. This is good enough to allow you to save about thirty-three thousand dollars during the life of your mortgage.

By affecting proper credit report repair, you can avoid paying high interest rates when you apply for your car loan. Credit will also be available at more reasonable rates. Thus, it will allow you to save a tidy sum of money with which to retire gracefully.

However, before you do anything else, you must ensure that you don’t fall for clever advertising gimmicks. In fact, make it a point in avoiding using credit report repair companies just like the plague, because you will only suffer rather than benefit from their services. That, of course, is not to imply that all credit report repair companies are scammers, but only to highlight the fact that most of them are – which has given the legitimate companies a bad name.

To affect credit report repair on your own, you would first of all need to ensure that you ignore all solicitations that come your way from different credit bureaus. Next, you need to validate your debts with different collection agencies. In case you come across a debt that is more than seven years old, these must (by law) be removed by the credit bureau. In addition, you also need to be on the lookout for duplicate collection, which can happen when collection agencies package and then sell off your debts to a different company and conveniently forget to remove their original report.

Finally, in case of erroneous information appearing in your credit report, you must dispute these errors with the different major credit bureaus. So, whether it is late payment, collection or even adverse remarks, you will need to fire off a dispute letter to the concerned bureau that are required by law to prove within reasonable times that debts owed by you are, in fact, legitimately yours to pay.

Of course, the entire process of credit report repair is a lot more complicated than these simple steps. So, you will need to do your own research to find out what the best course of action for you is and then act accordingly.

Learn More About What Placing a Credit Report Fraud Alert Involves

Author — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:50:38 +0000

Obtaining a free copy of one’s credit report once in a year is the right of every American who is in fact, protected by US law. Though this should be good news for the average American, unfortunately the laws that were meant to protect the American citizen have in fact given rise to a lot of confusion, and even, in some instances, to credit report fraud scams.

One of the most common instances of credit report fraud scams is the websites that proclaim that they will provide you with free credit reports provided you part with your credit card details. Of course, if you did not already know a thing about how to obtain your credit report, this may actually sound like a reasonable request.

File a Fraud Alert on Your Credit File

However, in case you have been made a victim of identity theft, you need not lose all hope because you can still take some steps to reduce the harm caused to your finances and also to your reputation. One such step that you will need to take is to attach to your credit file a fraud alert that will inform credit issuers about your having been made a victim of identity theft. The placing of the fraud alert will then force the issuer into verifying with you before allowing fresh credit.

Thus, the credit report fraud alert acts as an impediment that can be likened to a roadblock, since it will force creditors to check with you before issuing credit. So, they will thwart the identity thief’s ability to do any mischief in your name. A corollary of filing a credit report fraud alert is that it will result in your being sent a free credit report from each of the three main credit reporting agencies.

Also, by placing a credit report fraud alert, it will make the fraud alert to kick in. Thus, it will put a stop to those pesky credit pre-approval letters that would otherwise have bothered you – at least, till a decent time interval has passed. Thus, your name will no longer figure on lists of credit marketing companies for at least two years. Though it is mainly a good thing, in case you needed what those credit offers were offering, you would not be able to partake of the offers.

To be sure, the credit report fraud alert only protects new accounts. If the thief was clever enough to have used your current credit, then the credit report fraud alert would actually prove to be ineffective. In addition, the credit report fraud alert can also end up delaying any applications you may have made to get credit or loans. This is because the whole procedure would involve many more hurdles than is the case of not having placed a credit report fraud alert.

Even so, in case you suspect that your personal information has been compromised, you will have to add the credit report fraud alert as soon as possible. In this regard, you must get in touch with the Fraud Victim Assistance Department of Trans Union, the Consumer Fraud Division at Equifax, or Experian’s National Consumer Assistance at Experian.

Credit Report Agencies Thrive on Selling Information About Consumers

Author — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:40:23 +0000

Did you know that soon after you have made your application to obtain mortgage credit, the information that you have provided in your application is being shared with lenders and only just twenty-four hours after having made your application. The fact of the matter is that credit report agencies thrive largely by selling information related to consumers – both individual and businesses – and that the amount of money transacted by various credit report agencies in making available these credit reports to interested parties is estimated to run into many billions of dollars.

Selling Trigger Lists

It is also common for these credit report agencies to sell what they call ‘trigger lists’ of individuals who have recently got into touch with lenders for obtaining loan pre-approvals and who have also permitted the loan officers to check on their credit standing. In fact, credit report agencies are thriving on the demand for such information that is usually required by companies that will market such data further and who resell information such as credit information to companies and individuals that in the main are interested in lending money.

A company such as Mortgage Inquiry Data provides lenders with access to information pertaining to virtually every potential credit seeker who is applying for mortgage loans. In a similar vein, another company that deals in selling information is Intellidyn which is famous for its IntelliAlert that provides interested parties with information about borrowers just twenty-four hours after the borrower made their application for loans.

Both Experian and Equifax which are two of the top three credit report agencies have also admitted that they sell these trigger lists just twenty-four hours after applications are received from borrowers. The third credit report agencies which is TransUnion has not yet made its stand on this issue public. However, it must also be mentioned that selling of such trigger lists by credit report agencies is not in any way a violation of existing laws. These trigger lists are actually quite similar to pre-approved credit lists that have for long been sold to lenders and which has really been quite common practice over the years.

However, from the point of view of the borrower, the disturbing thing about the fact that credit report agencies sell trigger lists is that even if the borrower does not wish their credit information to be made public, they have little option and they can’t stop the same from happening. The only bright side to this picture is that now-a-days, many consumer protection agencies are reviewing this practice and maybe some protection may be forthcoming that can benefit borrowers. Nevertheless, they can still let the Federal Trade Commission know that they disapprove of their credit information being shared through trigger lists.

UK Credit Report Can Prove to be Beneficial to You

Author — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:25:48 +0000

Anyone can ask for and get a copy of their UK credit report, and free of cost. Once they get this report they then need to understand how they can benefit from it. They especially need to know how letting others view the information on their report can be an advantage. Also, it is certainly a good idea to understand who needs to use this credit report and the reasons why.

Mostly, it is financial institutions that will ask to see your UK credit report, especially after you have applied for credit cards or loans or even mortgages. In addition, certain companies with whom you have applied for some service or product may also ask to see this credit report. This is especially true in case you are buying on credit. A good example of such credit purchase could be the contract on your mobile phone.

Since these financial institutions and other companies need to know about how good or bad your credit standing is, they will ask to see your UK credit report. This can be obtained from any of the three main credit bureaus in the UK. In case your UK credit report shows that you have failed a credit check and you are refused a loan or credit, you may not be informed about the reason why or told the name of the credit bureau that issued your UK credit report.

You can, however, find out details of your UK credit report in order to understand the reason behind your application being refused. In case the reason is not valid or is due to some error, you can dispute the refusal.

Interest Rates

Of course, if the credit score on your UK credit report is high you won’t face any problem with your applications for loans or fresh credit. It will also help you to obtain better interest rates as compared to what you would be given if you had a low credit score.

In order to ensure that your UK credit report shows a high credit score against your name, you would do well to ensure that all of the information mentioned on your credit report is accurate as well as up to date. To ensure this, you would need to get a copy of your UK credit report so that you can catch errors and have them rectified.

Since it is possible to gain instant online access to your UK credit report, you can get one without much delay from each of the three main credit bureaus and use it to resolve issues. If you ensure that you are effectively managing your UK credit report, you stand to save much money as well as time. It will also help reduce the chances of your credit being refused in times of need.

All About the Consumer Credit Report

Author — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:34:53 +0000

When it comes to buying a home or a car, the most important thing is not how much money you have in the bank but what your consumer credit report says about you and how worthy you are of getting credit. There is nothing else like the consumer credit report when it comes to making a breaking a financial deal. Those who take care of their bills properly will reap the benefits through an excellent score on their credit report. But too many times people fail to realize just how important that report is and will allow things to slip and affect their credit.

If you want to know what is on your consumer credit report, you can request one free copy each year from each of the reporting agencies. There are three major ones that lenders will use to get information on you. It is important to understand just what all is on a consumer credit report so you know what these lenders will be looking at. It is also vital that you make sure that you are up to date with what is being reported about you in order to make sure that mistakes are corrected promptly and that no one is using your name to obtain credit illegally.

What’s on it

Your consumer credit report will have such things like your personal information, which is used to identify thieves who are trying to use your credit. You will find your social security number, your previous and your current address, and your history of employment. Also, there will be a list of your credit history and all of the accounts you have opened up. It will describe how many days late your payments have ever been, how much your current balance is and how much credit you still have open.

Your consumer credit report will also give a list of all credit inquires that has recently been made for credit or credit history. Sometimes these inquires are made at the request of the individual because they are trying to obtain more credit. Then there are other times when companies you currently have credit through does a check up on you without you even realizing it. These are called soft or hard inquiries and the ones, which are just check ups on you, do not affect your score on your consumer credit report. Your credit report is important so make sure you take it seriously.

Don’t Get Cheap When You Order a Credit Report

Author — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:22:58 +0000

In this world you get what you pay for and that is true of anything. It is also said that you should never look to skimp on the important things in life like a home and a car. The things you rely on the most are the things you should always be prepared to invest the most into. That is extremely true when you order a credit report.

Today there is a growing number of people that are being vigilant about watching for irregularities on their credit report and to appease those growing masses there are companies popping up that claim to allow you to order a credit report for you to look over. As with any other internet business ever created, there are plenty of people out there looking to scam unsuspecting consumers.

While they may look like they are offering you the ability to order a credit report for a very reasonable price, the fact is that many of these new companies that allow you to order a credit report are scam artists and criminals out to get your credit card information and as much of your personal information as you can get. If you really want to order a credit report then the best advice is buy from the credit reporting companies and do not try and get a cheap deal.

It is a very good idea to order a credit report once in a while to monitor it and see what is on there. Keep in mind that if you order a credit report too often then that begins to reflect negatively on your credit which, aside from being the biggest form of irony on the planet, this is also an easy way to damage your credit. If you want to order a credit report just do it once a quarter, or once every six months, and make sure you get them from one of the credit reporting agencies.

Why do People Still Fall for Emails?

It cannot be emphasized enough that clicking on a link in an email and then giving your personal information at the website you are sent to is a very dangerous thing to do. But yet there are criminals out there offering you the chance to order a credit report by clicking on a link in the email they send you and then asking for your credit card information and your personal information.

Be smart and just delete these emails rather than giving the criminals the information they need to ruin your life. The act of ordering a credit report should not be something that causes you financial pain and hardship. Be smart and make sure you are getting your credit report right from the source.

What Makes Up the Best Credit Report?

Author — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:29:22 +0000

With identity theft and internet crimes being a huge priority right now there has been an industry emerging that is benefitting from all of this concern over one’s identity and financial status. There has been a surge in companies that either offer to help you keep a watch on your credit reports or help you keep your credit reports even more secure than they already are.

Some are even running regular radio and television ads that have catchy jingles and funny plots to them. But your credit report is not something you want to take lightly because, believe it or not, constant access to your credit report can reflect negatively on your credit. So when you get a credit report you want to get it once and you want to get the best credit report you can get.

When I say the best credit report you can get I mean the most complete credit report available to you. Many of these free credit report companies do not offer the best credit report because for free they will only allow you access to a limited amount of your credit report. To get the best credit report available to you then you need to go right to the sources of your credit reports and that is the major credit reporting agency.

If you want the best credit report but do not want to spend the extra money to go through all of the credit reporting agencies then you can do well, and get the best credit report you can get, by just dealing with Experian. Experian is rapidly becoming the credit report of choice and it is not too far off to say that if something is on your Experian report then it is on the rest of them and vice versa for items not on your Experian report. If you have the resources you should still deal with all of the major credit reporting agencies to get the best credit report and the most complete one.

What is the Point?

In the last decade or so the credit report companies have switched from a letter based system to a number based system to give an overall snapshot of your personal credit. The best credit report is going to give you your credit number and this is the number that creditors use to decide how much of a loan they will give you, how much of a line of credit they will give you, and what interest rate you will pay. Having knowledge of this number can help you save thousands of dollars in interest payments down the road.

Keep a close eye on your credit reports and make sure you alert the credit companies to anything suspicious. When you get a credit report make sure you get the best credit report, and the most complete report, you can possibly get.