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Posts Tagged ‘Credit Scores’

 

Common Credit Report Mistakes

Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Mike Clover asked:


it report is not something to be taken lightly these days. It is almost as important as your social security card. There will come a time where your credit report will be required for credit purposes. We see credit reports on a daily basis, and there typically are issues with that individual’s credit report that was not known. This is all too common due to a lack of staying on top of your personal credit report. Here are some common issues we see that cause loans to get denied.

Credit Report Issues:

- Credit Cards charged beyond credit limit

- Credit Cards charged above 30% of allowed credit limit

- Late payments

- Co-signed for loans

- No Credit

- Credit Score too low

- Your dads credit shows up on your report because you are a junior

- Medical Collections

- Stolen Identity

- Credit card fraud

The majority of the time most people have no idea that the previous information discussed affects your credit report. All it takes is one of these mistakes to have issues getting credit extended to you.

If you are getting ready to make a purchase you can definitely save on interest rates and terms by pulling a copy of your credit report with credit scores. This is a preventive measure so you don’t get blind sided with a credit problem. There is a 1 n 4 chances your credit report has incorrect information on it.

Suggestions to avoid common credit report mistakes

- Pull your credit report every 3 months

- Don’t be late on obligations

- Don’t co-sign for anyone

- Don’t charge more on a credit card than you can pay off that month

- Establish credit if you don’t have any with Secured Credit Cards

- Pay your medical bills

- Shred all document that come in the mail to avoid id theft

It only makes since these days to watch out for the problems that have been mentioned.You have nothing to loose by checking your credit report with credit scores regularly. You would be suprised about how many people have identity theft going on with them and not even know about it, until its too late. Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America. Most identity theft could have been prevented with a little better credit management. If you have not checked your credit in a while, now is a good time to get that piece of mind. This is part of proper credit managment.



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Do You Know What a Credit Reporting Agency Is?

Monday, January 19th, 2009
Free credit report
Court Tuttle asked:


Though many of us may have a pretty good idea of what the credit system is as a whole, the complex details of it are sometimes hard to understand. There are several important aspects of credit that people who have credit debt do not even understand fully. It is important to know and understand what rules we are playing by and who decides what the rules are in the credit world.

One of the bigger questions that may people may ask is, “Who decides what is on your credit report, and who calculates your credit score?” Honestly, you’re the one who controls what goes on your credit report, and you determine your credit score by the way in which you spend the money you borrow, how and when you pay it back, and the amount of time it takes you to pay it takes you to pay it back. But still, who is responsible for actually calculating your credit score and documenting what goes on your credit report, and how do you know that they are doing it right?

The people who do all of the updating of your credit reports and credit scores are members of a credit reporting agency. A credit reporting agency is basically another word for credit bureau, which may be a little bit more familiar term to credit users. But what ARE credit reporting agencies/bureaus, what do they do, and how do they affect the credit carriers in our world today?

The three main credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These are the three that are most reliable when you want to get a copy of your credit report safely, without risk of identity theft or other forms of fraud. They are the ones who are best to call when you have a complaint about your credit report, and they are the ones who can most likely fix it, based on how well you prove your argument.

The credit reporting agencies are given “reports” of the way you manage your credit from several different sources. Whomever you are borrowing money from on credit, like a bank or a credit card company, probably “tells” on you periodically to the credit reporting agencies, so that they can determine your credit worthiness based on factors like how close you come to reaching your credit limit, how many late payments you have, and how much debt you are in at the present time. This can either be a bad thing or it can be an advantage to you, depending on how well you have managed the credit lines that are currently open to you.

Recently, citizens of the United States who have credit have gained the right of getting one free credit report per year from each of the major credit reporting agencies. These credit reporting agencies are each obligated to send you a free credit report once a year, but only if you ask for one by requesting online, over the phone, or through the mail. This means that you can receive three credit reports for free each year altogether, if you request one from each agency individually.



Alvin

 

Do You Need Your Credit Scores With Credit Report?

Sunday, January 18th, 2009
Free credit report
Mike Clover asked:


I was real excited after I went to annualcreditreport and got my free credit report. But to my surprise there were no credit scores. I started asking myself since everyone looks at your credit score shouldn’t I know what my scores are? I would assume there is a reason for a credit score to begin with, and some very important purpose behind this magical number that everyone closely looks at these days. In this article I will discuss why you need to know your credit score and by not knowing it how it can affect your personal life.

Reasons for knowing your credit score:

When you apply for a loan, all lenders look at your credit score to determine what type of loan they will put you in. Your score will also determine the rate and terms as well. This magical number also will dictate how much money you need to put down on the purchase too. The lower your score the higher your risk, and the uglier your loan terms are. This is just one example of why you need to know this 3 digit number.

When applying for that higher paying job, guess what most companies are doing now. They pull your credit, and if your score is low I am sure they may consider hiring the applicant with the same credentials but higher score. You might ask yourself why, and the answer would be risk. Your score gives anyone that requests your report the type of risk you are. This employer may think you are an irresponsible person by having low scores. This could cause them to pass you up on the position.

Maybe you are trying to get insurance for a car, house, or a boat. All insurance agents pull your credit, and determine your premium based on your credit score. The software that spits out this number will even affect your insurance cost. This is amazing if you think about it. Even utility companies are pulling your credit report now, and if you have bad credit they will require larger deposits, just incase you skip out on the bill.

Since everyone is looking at your credit score to determine your credit risk, maybe its time to learn all three of your scores. With the current credit crunch that is taking place, matters will only get tough to get loans. There has never been a more important time to learn what is being reported about you. So the answer is yes, you need to know all three of your credit scores. It is recommended that you pull your credit report every 4 months, since anything can change within a 30 day window on your report. Below is a example of what is considered good scores according to my FICO.

* Excellent: Over 750

* Very Good: 720 or more

* Acceptable: 660 to 720

* Uncertain: 620 to 660

* Risky: less than 620



Joann

 

5 Best Credit Repair Tips Will Fix Your Credit Report And Score Now!

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
credit report
Helen Hecker asked:


Today having good credit reflected in your credit report is important in every financial situation you find yourself in as you probably know and knowing a few tips about credit repair can solve a lot of your credit problems. In our world credit determines just how much interest you’ll end up paying on your house, car, truck, etc.

Your credit scores, called FICO, are used by your landlords, your employers and the insurance companies to determine whether you can get an apartment and/or job and even what your insurance rates will be. Yes your insurance agent will make use of your credit information. Your credit report and score will indicate whether you have good credit or bad credit and whether you have to pay a deposit for a cell phone.

Assuming you already have a copy of your credit report, here are a few of the best credit repair tips if you’re having credit problems. If you don’t have a copy you can easily get a free credit report online. You won’t be able to get the score along with the free report though. There are other ways to get your FICO score that you would have to pay for but there are ways to get your score for free.

1. Get a copy of the ‘Fair Credit Reporting Act’ from the federal government. It may sound boring but you don’t have to read the entire legal portion, just understand the basics of the Act. You’ll be well-armed if you plan to fix your credit report. But it’s very important that you get it and read it. It won’t take long.

2. Did you know that any information on your credit report can be disputed? That includes any personal information - public records, any accounts you have of course, even any inquiries. You can dispute anything.

3. Consider credit repair to be a gradual process. Look over the information, your credit card accounts and other accounts. Let’s say you have 15 accounts that you’d like to dispute. Pick just 3 or 4 or so to dispute. Otherwise if you dispute them all at one time the credit bureau or credit reporting agency will not consider your requests seriously.

4. You want to keep your letters of dispute on the simple side. You don’t need to go into the laws, procedures any court rulings or even threaten them with lawsuits if they don’t fix your credit report. Just make it simple.

Just dispute the accounts you have decided to start with - those that need to be removed, updated or changed. Now if your letter is too confusing, there is a good chance it will get tossed. You don’t need to go into any personal tales. Just keep it simple and short.

5. Lastly the ‘procedural request’ - asking for the method of verification. If you get some accounts deleted that’s good. But for those that came back “verified” you can ask for a ‘procedural request.’ The credit reporting agencies and credit bureaus are obligated by law to provide you with the exact method your creditors used to verify the information that they are reporting to the agency on your credit report. Requesting this information, forces the credit bureau to provide you with the information they received from your creditor as valid proof.

The creditor needs to have proof of why if they replied to your dispute stating that your account should remain on your credit report. The creditor rarely ever provides the credit reporting agency or credit bureau with this information. So, by doing this you’re putting pressure on them to prove it. Otherwise they will have to remove it.

Make sure to keep records of everything the bureaus and your creditors send to you in case you find some day that you have to sue them for violating your federal rights. If you follow these credit repair tips you should be well on your way to fixing your credit for good!



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How Can I Repair My Credit Report?

Saturday, October 4th, 2008
credit report
John Cena asked:


There are a number of legal and effective credit repair techniques that have been used by individuals and credit repair companies to improve credit scores. Number one is removing negative items from credit reports is Credit Repair Software.

Personal credit report repair is a major concern for many people. It can be a long and frustrating process. There is no really quick fix. A leading credit repair company will advise you that it take time. There are techniques used by individuals and professional companies to achieve results. This article briefly covers one of the most frequently asked questions about personal credit report Software which is; how do I repair my credit.

The answer to the question; how Can I repair my credit; seems to depend on who you ask. If you ask Fair Isaac or one of the credit bureaus, they will tell you that it takes time and patience. Some “experts” say that only time can repair bad credit. A leading credit repair company says that bad credit can be deleted. In response to disbelief, they show tens of thousands of deleted listing, including bankruptcies.

When you ask; how Can I repair my credit, the most common answer is review the information on your credit report. Due to a recently enacted law, consumers can view and print copies of their credit reports at no charge by visiting www.creditrepairsoft.com. If information on your credit reports is inaccurate, obsolete, misleading or unverifiable, you can dispute the items with the credit bureau. You can write to the creditor that made the report and ask that the information be removed. You can do this on your own or you can hire a leading credit repair company to do it for you.

Often depending on the products that they sell, different companies will give you different answers to the question; how do I repair my credit. For instance, companies that offer credit cards to people with bad credit tell people that these credit cards will improve their credit. However, this may not be the case. Typical unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit charge fees that are nearly as high as the initial credit limit. According to Fair Isaac, inventors of the FICO credit scoring process, amount of “available” credit is a big determining factor in your credit score. Simply having a credit card will probably not improve your credit score. A leading credit repair company says that removing negative items from your credit reports will have the single biggest impact on your FICO credit score.

Disreputable credit repair companies may advise you to apply for an EIN, if you ask them; how do I repair my credit. This is a technique that is not recommended by a leading credit repair company. An EIN or employer identification number is a number used by the IRS to designate a business. If you do not own a small business, you should not apply for one. Some companies which advertise personal credit report repair recommend that a person apply for an EIN and use that number instead of their social security number when applying for credit. It is illegal to provide false information on a credit application.

So, after you look at the many answers to; how Can I repair my credit, you will probably see that there are many ways. Some work. Some do not. Some are illegal. You can choose to do it yourself or you can hire a leading credit repair company to do it for you. If you wait for bad credit to be removed from your personal credit report, then it will take a long time and you will not improve your credit scores. Even people with the worst credit can obtain a secured credit card, have a friend or family member with good credit list them as a co-applicant and work to achieve personal credit report repair. If you do nothing, your scores will not improve. There are companies that sell software programs, credit repair kits, books, CDs and DVDs on the subject of credit repair. You are not the only person asking; how do I repair my credit. There is also a lot of free information. It will take time and patience if you try to do it on your own, but it can be done. You may see quicker results if you hire a leading credit repair company and for certain problems a credit repair software is best.

Having good credit is important to everyone. People that have good credit may say that there are no effective credit repair techniques. People who have once had bad credit and now have good credit, because of the credit repair techniques used by the credit repair law firms would disagree. Credit repair is possible and it can be effective. Credit repair techniques that are legal and effective do exist.



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