CREDIT REPORTS
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Credit Reports and Repair
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Your Credit Report: A Report Card on Your Personal Finances
Your credit history can affect your daily life — from where you live and work to how much you pay for a loan or insurance.
Credit reports (which summarize your history of paying debts and other bills) and credit scores (which predict risk), both help banks, insurers, landlords and even potential employers make judgments about your reliability.
Unfortunately, many consumers don't understand the significance of their credit history or the simple things they can do to build and protect a solid financial reputation.
A seemingly wonderful solution, credit scores actually introduce a boatload of other new problems, including countless errors. Of course the credit bureaus want consumers to believe that things haven't changed, and your score is carefully reviewed by several professionals. You need to find out more about Credit Repair and how it can save you thousands.
"Credit Reports" are report cards on your personal finances. Credit reports can affect your daily life -- from where you live and work to how much you pay for a loan or insurance. Protect your financial reputation by taking time to check on your credit reports now.
Information in credit reports can affect your ability to get a job, a mortgage, a loan, a credit card or insurance. Federal law allows consumers to challenge inaccurate or incomplete information in their credit reports.
Each day 20,000 credit cards are lost or stolen and over $170,000,000 in fraudulent charges will be made, drastically affecting the credit scores of thousands of innocent victims.
Even a modest improvement in credit reports may be enough to qualify you for a lower interest rate on a mortgage or credit card and save you hundreds of dollars each year in interest payments. On the other hand, poor credit reports could mean consequences associated with becoming a higher risk, including an increase in the interest rate or a reduction in the credit limit on an existing credit card. "Whether you're an A-plus or a D-minus in handling finances, you want to have the best and most accurate credit reports and credit score possible, because even small differences can cost you or save you a bundle of money," says Janet Kincaid, a Senior Consumer Affairs Officer with the FDIC.
Unfortunately, many consumers don't understand the significance of their credit reports or the simple things they can do to build and protect a solid financial reputation. The more you know about you monitor and check your credit reports, the better your chances of protecting your finances and your financial reputation.
What should you look for on your credit reports?
- Check your credit reports carefully to make sure the information is accurate.
- Look for inquiries on your credit reports that you didn't initiate, accounts you didn't open and unexplained debts on your legitimate accounts.
- Check your credit reports for accurate information like your SSN; address(es); name and any variations, including initials, Jr., Sr., etc.; and employers. Inaccuracies in credit reports may also be due to typographical errors. Nevertheless, whether the inaccuracies are intentional or error, notify the credit bureau as soon as possible.
- Inquiries on credit reports from potential credit card issuers do not always mean that some one has tried to get credit in your name. Banks and credit card companies often inquire about consumers' credit reports to help them target their marketing efforts. These inquiries will be in a designated section of the credit reports. Credit Reports monitoring services will monitor your credit reports for activity and alert you to changes.
Credit Repair
How to repair your Credit Reports
- Have you paid your bills on time? Payment history typically is a significant factor. It is likely that your credit will be affected negatively if you have paid bills late, had an account referred to collections, or declared bankruptcy, if that history is reflected on your credit reports.
- What is your outstanding debt? If the amount you owe is close to your credit limit, that is likely to have a negative effect on your credit reports.
- How long is your credit history? An insufficient credit history may have an effect on your credit reports, but that can be offset by other factors, such as timely payments and low balances.
- Have you applied for new credit recently? If you have applied for too many new accounts recently, that may negatively affect your credit. However, not all inquiries are counted. Inquiries by creditors who are monitoring your account or looking at credit reports to make "prescreened" credit offers are not counted.
- How many and what types of credit accounts do you have? Although it is generally good to have established credit accounts, too many credit card accounts may have a negative effect on your credit reports. In addition, it may even matter what type of credit accounts you have. For example, some loans from finance companies may negatively affect your credit reports.
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Credit Reports
News and Info- Soon-to-be-newlyweds advised to review both their credit reports for inaccurate information that could cause problems later in marriage.
- Law enforcement officer advises consumers to regulary check credit reports to watch for early warning signs of criminal activity, such as mysterious shopping charges.
- Employees of Peabody Coals have been victimized. Workers had their credit cards, car loans and home loans have been made in their names across the country, without their approval. Company officials and law enforcement say other workers should check their credit reports immediately to see if they've been victimized, while the investigation continues.
- Michigan finance regulator addresses credit reports concern: claims credit reports can have errors, which can cause insurance rates to rise.
- Financial advisor warns that bankruptcy can give you a new start, but it can also stay on most credit reports for ten years.
- Man suing Hawaiian police department after his supposedly murdered wife found alive. His attorney says all the police had to do was check her credit reports to see current transactions and her new address.
- Credit counseling group recommends checking credit reports before and during and after divorce proceedings, because credit reports depend on someone else's reporting, so mistakes can and do happen.
- Investigators report a growing number of abuse of credit reports in which victims' good credit reports are hijacked by thieves who use their own names with someone else's Social Security number.
- Mortgage professional tells consumers to protect their credit worthiness, unless you're lucky enough to pay cash for everything, like cars and houses. Maintain your credit worthiness by keeping a very close eye on credit reports.
- Financial newsletter gives tips on raising credit scores for better credit reports: pay all bills on time; keep credit balances on your credit reports low; the older your credit accounts, the better; limit the number of accounts on credit reports; only open accounts that are needed.
- Certified financial planner: start establishing credit by opening a savings or checking account in your own name. Then apply for a department store or gas company credit card. Also, you can get someone else to cosign a loan for you. Creating good credit reports requires using credit wisely.
- New Vermont state law will require lenders to verify a borrower's address before issuing a credit card, and starting next summer, consumers will be able to freeze their credit reports due to fraud.
- Federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies considering proposal to require financial institutions to adopt stricter standards for properly disposing consumer information taken from credit reports.
CREDIT REPORTS FYIEmployers can get credit reports if they notify each applicant in writing that their credit reports may be requested. Before rejecting applicants based on info from credit reports, employers must make a pre-adverse action disclosure that includes a copy of the credit reports and the summary of consumer rights under the federal law. Once an applicant has been rejected for employment, The company must provide an adverse action notice if info from credit reports affected their decision.
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