Ryan asked:


Unfortunately, chances are there are errors on your credit report that are significant enough to hurt your credit in a way that would not allow you to get a favorable loan. That means your inaccurate credit score could cost you the ability to get an auto loan, rent an apartment, or even get a job. Studies show that 1 in 4 credit reports have false information, but there are ways to quickly fix credit report errors.

The first step is obvious. Get a copy of your credit report. By law, the three credit reporting agencies are required to give you one free copy of your report once a year. You can elect to receive a copy from all three agencies at once, or obtain one report at a time. If you have not reviewed your credit report in over a year, it’s recommended to request them all at once since some information can be listed on one report but not the other. You can always purchase a copy of your credit report later if needed.

Once you receive your credit report, you simply want to look for errors, particularly the negative errors. Look for:

* Open accounts that are not yours

* Notices of delinquent payments that have been on time

* The same loan or credit card listed twice

* The absence of a loan or credit card

You also want to double check that your name, birth date, current address and social security number is accurate. Otherwise information from someone else with a similar name could be confused with yours. Some wrong information, however, is not necessarily a big deal. The use of “street” versus “road” in your personal address, for example, or the correct spelling of your previous employer. These types of things will not affect your credit score and does not really make it any easier for an identity thief to steal your information.

If you find an error, notify the credit agency immediately. They are required by law to contact the lender/creditor and within 30 days.



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buggeredmom asked:


I just closed a mtg refi. My lender found a $3500 chargeoff on my credit report. I called the company who placed the item. They could not find anything with partial acct # provided on the report. Had them cross-reference my social security #–nothing.

I spoke to a rep (in India, maybe?). Was asked to fax all info that I have to them. I don’t have info. I need THEM to provide info since they are the ones who placed this item on my report.

What is the best way to handle this? Deal with the creditor and hope they rescind the item on report. Deal with the reporting agency and hope, since I don’t any documents, that they see merit in this case and proceed. Or, pay a local atty a fee to handle this?

When contacting the creditor about this, I was switched repeatedly to/from different reps. I sensed a run-around and don’t want this to get long and drawn out.

What is the most sensible course for resolution? The path of least resistance? I don’t want a headache.

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Debbie Dragon asked:


There are three major credit reporting agencies within the United States: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. These are the organizations that lenders go through to verify potential borrowers credit worthiness.

Federal Law indicates that individuals are able to receive one copy of their credit report from each of the three agencies annually, and at no charge. It’s a good idea to look it over once a year to make sure there are no errors or omissions.

How do you read a credit report? There are abbreviations and numbers and codes, and for people who are looking at them for the first time, they can be a little confusing.

Obtaining Credit Reports

In order to get your free credit reports each year, you can go to www.annualcreditreport.com, which is the only authorized source for free annual credit reports under the September 1, 2005 federal law. If you go directly to the credit reporting agencies, there will be a charge to view your report- unless you qualify for another criteria to view a free report (being denied credit, for example).

If you want to monitor your credit report more often than annually, you can sign up for reports at any of the three credit reporting agencies, and pay about $10 per report. You will want to view the report at all three agencies, unfortunately, because the information is not exactly the same and you need to check for errors at all locations.

Reading Credit Reports

Credit reports are divided into four different segments: identifying information about the individual, credit history, public records, and inquiries made to the credit file.

Identifying information should include your name and address, and social security number. If you see a few variations of your name or more than one social security number, it’s because one of your creditors has reported it incorrect, but that information should remain because taking it off can hurt the connection between the report and the creditors who use it.

Identifying information also includes your employer(s), driver’s license numbers and sometimes your spouse’s name.

Credit history includes a list of individual accounts and account numbers (which may be encrypted). Information for each account will usually show the date it was opened, the type of credit (mortgage, car loan, installment, revolving), total amount of your loan and the amount you still owe, as well as the status of the account (open, closed, paid as agreed, inactive) and how you’ve been making payments on the account (on time, 30 days late, 90 days late, etc).

Public records is a section that you hope has nothing in it. This section provides details for bankruptcies, tax liens and judgments. This section will lower your credit score faster than anything else can.

Inquiries provide a list of “hard” inquiries- credit you’ve applied for and can affect your credit score- although FICO ignores most inquiries when coming up with their scores for individuals, and “soft” inquiries from credit card lenders who check your file before sending out promotional credit card offers. Soft inquiries do not raise or lower your credit score.

What to Do with Mistakes on Your Credit Report

If you find mistakes on your credit report- such as incorrectly reported amounts on an account, or an account that doesn’t belong to you, you can fill out the dispute form included on a mailed copy of a credit report, or use an online form to dispute the discrepancy online.

The credit reporting agency must then verify the information within 30 days of your filing the dispute (or the mistake must be removed). If they find it to be correct, and you still disagree- you can contact the creditor directly to have it corrected. If they find the information you’ve disputed to be incorrect, they are required to remove the item from your credit report.



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John Mcfadden asked:


You might not realize but finding out the best way to read your credit report can actually save you a lot of time and money - it’s not even that hard to get started, but there are some basics that you need to get your head around all the numbers, abbreviations and unfamiliar terms before reading your credit report.

Before going to a website and getting your credit report you need to be aware that you will need to get more then one create report.

The three main credit report agencies will have a copy of your report but your information will be inconsistent across all three of them - lenders will report your information to maybe only one or two agencies and that information might be incorrect.

Your personal information is no doubt old and out of date as when past lenders reported on your personal information they will only normally report it back to one of the agencies.

You need to get a copy from each one and make sure you do this regularly through out the year, it is recommended that you get a copy from all three first and then get one copy every 4 months - but get one at a time - only by getting your report through this process can you be sure you have the correct information.

The main resign for this is that its voluntary reporting process so the lenders don’ have to by law report your information.

You need to make sure you get a consumer friendly report - don’t ask your friend who may work at a bank to get your copy for you - as you will not be able to read it correctly - you need to get a consumer version.

The Credit report layout

Each report is divided into four sections falling under these categories - Identifying Information, Credit History, Public Records and Inquires.

Identifying information is quote obvious - it’;s all the key information about you but make sure you look t this closely - this is the most common place for your report to be incorrect, especially check you social security number.

Other personal information is your address, phone numbers, date of birth, drivers licenses, your employment information and your spouses name.

The following section is your Credit History - this is the most important information that your new lender will look at to assess your credit worthiness required to make an assessment. You might see that individual accounts are called trade lines.

The accounts will include each creditors name and the associated account number (this could be disguised for security reasons) Note that you may have multiple account kinds with the one lender as they will create a new one if you move.

Here you will have information like the date you opened your account, total amount of the loan, if you’ve paid off the account well and one time. It will also state how much money you owe and the credit limit, and ofcause the account status.

Look out for “charge Off.’s these are big black marks that mean that the lender has given up chasing you and has noted that they did not receive the money they were owed.

Public Recored

You wan this section left totally pristine white - blank as can be. As having a report here will seriously impact your likelihood of gaining credit. bankruptcies, judgments and tax liens activities are listed here.

Inquiries - The Last Section

This the place that will note each inquiry that was made you your account - noted as a soft or hard “call”so if you If you call the credit bureau and ask for a copy it will be on there. It’s great as it’s a very detailed entry record.

“Hard” inquiries are ones you initiate by filling out a credit application - you wan to avoid these as they will have a negative impact on your report if you have too many but the good news is that it also counts two or more “hard” inquiries in the same 14-day period as just one inquiry.

Read your report carefully and report any mistakes to each credit agency so you can get them all fixed and consistent as soon as possible.

I hope you know how to read your Credit Report, so you have a good handle on what your information means.



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* Shon * asked:


My daughter’s social security number may be attached to a family member’s business and I would like to check. I tried to run a credit report under her information, but her year of date is not available in the drop down since she is not even a teenager. How can I get a credit report for her?

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