Carrie Reeder asked:




Thinking of buying a new home or automobile? Before you shop, make sure you take a look at your credit report. You can be assured that your lender will. It is also important to keep up with the contents of your personal credit reports to reduce the likelihood of identity theft and to fix any errors that show up on your report as soon as possible. You can go to any of the 3 credit reporting agencies and receive a copy of your credit report for a fee. However, there are also a number of free ways to receive a copy of your credit report.

Receive a free credit report from one of the three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion.

First, there are many websites that will offer you free copies of your credit report. This is one area where the Federal Government has actually helped consumers out. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACTA) added new sections to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act that help consumers fight the growing crime of identity theft. As a result of this act, the three large credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have created a website called http://www.annualcreditreport.com where consumers can sign up to receive a free copy of their credit report from all 3 agencies once a year.

Receive a free credit report from an online website.

Another way to receive your report for free online is to use one of the many websites that advertise providing you with a free copy of your credit report. Usually in exchange for this free service, you are also entitled to receive a barrage of spam email and marketing materials. In light of the fact that the large agencies have banded together and now offer their own method to receive a free annual credit report, this method is not recommended.

Receive a free credit report if you have been denied credit.

There are also two other ways to receive a free copy of your credit report. Any consumer that is denied credit for any reason can request a free copy of their credit report from the agency that provided the report. Credit bureaus also provide free copies of your credit report under other circumstances. You are entitled to one report free of charge per year if you certify in writing that: you are unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days, you are on welfare, or your report is inaccurate because of fraud.

Try using one of ABC Loan Guide’s
Recommended Sources For a Free Credit Report Online.

With all of these tools at your fingertips, it should be easy for you to keep up with your credit report, and best of all it’s FREE!

Anthony

Tony Banks asked:




The process of cleaning bad entries from your file is very doable so long as you stick to the rules. Yes, there are rules guiding this process and you can achieve significant improvement on your credit rating if you really follow the procedures.

You’ll be needing a good understanding of how to handle bad accounts such as collections, charge-offs, foreclosures, late payments, court judgments, inquiries and even wrongly spelt names and addresses. You want to be sure you’re doing it the right way, else your effort might be wasted. This is where your restoration kit comes in handy. It is a document that is used by many consumers across the country to clean up negative accounts from their credit files when they switch into a self-help repair mode. It is also known as a do-it-yourself technique. It is the alternative method to hiring an expert repair agency to help in restoring your file.

Some of the things you’ll learn to clean up negatives on your file include the laws of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act among others. This is what the repair agencies can recall without consulting the books and one of the reasons they are considered experts in their job.

To erase negative items from your report, you’ll be drafting letters and sending them to bureaus as part of a dispute process if there’s any account on your report that is believed to have been a mistake of the bureau. However, some mistakes could originate from the information furnisher that sends info to these bureaus. In this case, you’ll discover that even though a bureau may notify you that the negative account on your file is correct upon conclusion of their investigation, repeating the same dispute procedure with the original creditor (or information furnisher) will solve the problem.

Corey

Tony Banks asked:




This is a good question, and the short answer would be all of them! Let me explain… The first thing you have to understand is that a lender that is looking to extend you cash would always find a way to check out your creditworthiness and they do so by turning to one of the three main bureaus.

The problem is that you don’t know which one of them they turn too! So if you spend time only fixing your Equifax credit report, (most popular agency) the lender might turn to transunion because they already have a business relationship with them.

In this case all the negatives accounts that you spent time cleaning from your Equifax report will be useless because the lender is looking and your Transunion report where each of the negatives still remain.

Your best bet would be to work on all three simultaneously. If you are fixing your reports for a mortgage loan, attacking all three is a must because the mortgage banks will request a copy of each of your files before making a decision on your home loan.

Annualcreditreport dot com is still the best place to obtain a copy of each of your three files. This is the website that was created thanks to congress where consumers can get a copy of their reports once a year without having to pay.

The process of improving your files begins with you disputing negative items on your report. This is also your right according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the respective bureaus need to respond to your dispute within thirty days.

Erik

Tony Banks asked:




If there’s any one particular thing that many consumers want other than increasing their score and cleaning negative accounts from their credit report, it is the need to know what the reporting agencies use to churn-out the figures on their reports.

A step by step approach will do here. FICO represents Fair Isaac Corporation and it is the company that is responsible for developing the method used by the credit agencies to translate data fed to them by creditors into numbers.

Equifax, Transunion, and Experian are the big three bureaus that keep records of loan applications you make, debts owed, unpaid collections, missed and late payments, repossessions, foreclosures, inquiries, bankruptcies and other types of financial delinquencies. They are licensed to operate and are regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Even though the FICO standard is what these bureaus use, they have modified the method to suit their organizational standard and this is why it is possible for you to get your report from annualcreditreport.com. You will notice that your three scores are not the same. It is also another reason why you should not work on only one or two, but all three reports when repairing your file.

The three bureaus derive your score from the percentage of your financial activities and this is stated below:

Your pay history: 35%
The amounts you owe in debt: 30%
The duration of your credit history: 15%
Types of credit you use: 10%
New lines of credit: 10%

This is an account of the aspects of your file and their percentages will tell you their potential impact and importance in how your FICO score is calculated.

The law, however, enables a consumer to repair his/her own file as some people will prefer mending their own fence than calling a bricklayer to do it for them. Getting one’s hands on a complete credit repair kit will help you clean off errors and negatives off your file, increase your score, and more…

Milton

Peter Emerson asked:




In the United States, legislation in the form of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires the three nationwide consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to provide you with free credit reports once every twelve months. Credit reports are documents that contain information as to your credit worthiness by providing information categorized under four categories.

These four categories include your identifying information (name, address, date of birth, social security number, etc.); your credit information (your banks, credit cards, and other lenders); your public record information (reported bankruptcies if any, tax liens, and monetary judgments); and new debts that you have incurred. The credit report will also include a credit score, which is a three-digit number that may determine your credit worthiness. A high score can mean lower interest rates and better terms. This score is calculated based on the data that is in your credit reports and is provided to your potential creditors. This information is very helpful to those who are applying for loans from different lending institutions because this document can serve as an easy way to prove credit worthiness.

To access these companies, you can go directly to a website that has been developed by all three organizations (www.annualcreditreport.com), call a hotline number 1-877-8228, or send mail to Annual Credit Report Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, Georgia, GA 303-5281.

If you visit the website, after completing the necessary forms and providing the right information, you can expect to receive your credit report immediately; on the other hand, it will take up to fifteen days for you to receive your credit repot if you requested it through the mail. Having a system that gives access to your credit reports is a good step in making loan application processing less arduous and more practical.

Nicholas

Tony Banks asked:




Writing a letter to the credit bureaus is the first and most important step to repairing your credit. When writing to the credit bureaus you will have to write a letter to each bureau per negative and/or incorrect item.

An example of a situation in which you would have to write a credit repair letter to the credit bureau(s) is if you are analyzing your credit report and you see accounts that are closed, negative, and more than seven years old. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, accounts that are older than seven years must be deleted from your account.

Remember when you write a letter to the credit bureau you want it to be yours. Copy and pasting a letter from another website is not recommended! A sample of a good credit repair letter looks like this:

Equifax Consumer Services

To Whom it may Concern,

Good Afternoon my Name is First Last. My address is 9999 Address street, City, State. My SSN 999-99-9999 and my birth date is January 01, 1900.

I have critically analyzed a copy of my credit report and I noticed that there are two accounts on my report have been closed for seven years. As you and I both know the Fair Credit Reporting Act states that accounts more than seven years old are to be deleted from my credit report.

Listed below are the details of the accounts that I mentioned above:

Bank of America MasterCard:
Account Number: XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-1745

HSBC VISA
Account Number XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-5690

In order to expedite this process I included a copy of my driver’s license and social security card in case you all need proof of identity. I would also appreciate it if you would send me a copy of my updated credit report once the correction as been made.

Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
First Last

When sending your letter to the credit bureaus you want to include a copy of your driver’s license with your letter. Please do not forget to send your letter registered mail. By doing this you allow your letter to be tracked. That way you have proof when it was received by the credit bureaus.

Steve

H. Scott Miller asked:




Every consumer is entitled (by law) to receive a free copy of their credit report when:

1. Your request for credit is denied. By law, the creditor must issue you a denial letter stating the reasons for denial—forward a copy of the denial letter with a request for your free credit report.

2. Your request for insurance coverage is declined. It’s a normal business practice to issue either a insurance denial or cancellation notice—forward a copy to the credit bureaus and request a free credit report.

3. Your rental agreement by a landlord is rejected. According to the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act), landlords must issue formal denial letters when they reject your tenant request—forward a copy of the same with a request for your free credit report.

4. You are current unemployed but intend to rejoin the workforce within a 60 day period beginning from the date of your free credit report request is made.

5. You are currently receiving public assistance. Forward proof that you are recieving public assistance to the credit bureaus for a free credit report.

6. You think your report contains inaccuracies as a result of ID theft.

7. Every consumer is entitled to one free copy of their credit report once per calendar year (every 12 months).

To retrieve your credit report online, you can visit www.annualcreditreport.com (this is the central site set up by Transunion, Equifax and Experian to distribute the annual free report to consumers online).

Even if you can’t get it for free, you can still get it for a low fee by contacting the bureaus directly at:

Equifax

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

800-685-1111

www.equifax.com

Experian

P.O. Box 2104

Allen, TX 75013-2104

888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742)

www.experian.com

TransUnion

P.O. Box 1000

Chester, PA 19022

800-916-8800

www.transunion.com

This is what it will cost you when ordering it direct from the credit bureaus:

Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont- Free

Maine and Minnesota $3.00

Connecticut $5.00

California $8.00

Montana $8.50

All other states $9.00

Want a way to check your score and report anytime you want?

Glen

Thomas Morva asked:




The fair credit-reporting act makes it mandatory for the three organizations (Equifax, Trans Union and Experian) to submit a credit report at least once a year to anyone who requests for the same. Typing ?annual credit report? in a search engine, which provides credit reports online and at free of cost, can give access to the appropriate online site.

A free government credit report is also available by phone or by mail and reaches the concerned person within fifteen days of requesting. The government agency that provides free credit reports is located in Atlanta (Georgia) and can be contacted via mail or telephone.

The prerequisites that are required for obtaining a free credit report are ? the person?s name, address, social security number, and date of birth. There are some other ?imposter? credit reporting companies that try to mimic the actual agency?s website by deliberately misspelling it. This is a common tactic used by companies who try to extract money from unsuspecting credit report mongers.

Under the federal law, a person is permitted to obtain a free credit report if a company takes unfavorable action against him, such as rejecting his application for credit, insurance, or employment then the person can demand a free credit report within sixty days of receiving the notice. The notice will give the name, address, and telephone number of the consumer reporting company. A person is also entitled to one free report a year if he is unemployed and plans to search for a job within 60 days if he is on welfare or if his report is inaccurate as a result of swindling, including identity theft.

A credit report can make or break a company or a person because all the financial data and history of the report holder is clearly mentioned in this report. The most important fact to be noted about a credit report is that any negative comment or remark on the report will literally leave an indelible mark on the person?s financial record. This is because a bad credit remark is not removed from a credit report for at least ten years.

Louise

Tim Irish asked:




It’s funny, you never hear any lunch room conversations about credit repair, or fixing bad credit, however there’s this huge population of consumers searching the Internet search engines looking specifically for those terms. For example, just a quick two minute query of a popular keyword tracker proved these daily search results:

The term “delete bad credit” was searched 21 times just yesterday in one minor search engine

The phrase, “bad credit” was searched a whopping 557 times in one 24 hour period, on one search engine.

The worst part is, if you run over to your friendly neighborhood search engine of preference, and you seek answers of whether or not its possible to repair your credit legally, you will be simply amazed at the contradicting advice. So, rather than speak about what others have written, and claimed, let me share with you what I know to be true from actual results I’ve experienced.

Yes, you can delete bad credit from your credit reports, and do it legally. Here’s how:



Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act passed by US congress, you and I as consumers are entitled to a 100% accurate credit report. In other words, all data contained within your credit reports, by law, must be verifiable, accurate, and fit the time lines of reporting guidelines. You have the right to dispute any outdated, unverifiable, or incorrect information with the credit bureaus. They in turn have 30 days to contact the original creditors and reply with investigation results. If the original creditor is unable to respond with verifiable evidence validating their reporting, the item must be deleted from your credit report, or updating per your demands.

Step 1: Obviously, first thing you’ll want to do is order your credit reports and you can do this for free from www.annualcreditreport.com. This site allows you to access your Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax credit report 1 time each for free, every 365 days. If you’ve already used your free access within the last year, the option to download your reports is available at a nominal fee.

Step 2: You’ll review your credit reports side by side. By looking at Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax side by side (note, this is not the tri-merged 3-in-1 credit reports, but rather a separate credit report from each credit bureau), you are able to view at a glance inconsistent, account reporting information.

For example, if you have ABC Collections account reported on all three credit reports, you can quickly review the data of that account for differences in how it is reported between each of the three credit reports. You may find that one report shows the balance due of $582, and another credit report shows the balance as $992. This is not unusual, and many times can result in poor data integrity when dealing with so many parties involved in reporting it. (e.g. Original creditor, collections division, collection agency, and credit bureau.)

Now that you’ve quickly found some obvious inconsistent, and erroneous reporting of that trade line, that is grounds for challenging the credit bureaus for reporting verifiable, accurate data. A great majority of the time, when challenging granular level data, such as wrong balance, or last date of activity incorrect, etc, rather than dispute the account as “not mine” as so many ebooks, and services promote.

You challenge only real factual inconsistencies recorded in the data, that makes the original creditor check real specific data and hold them to responding within 30 days. This is much more successful, and completely legal. You are entitled to a fair and accurate credit report, and if in making sure your report is accurate that you end up deleting bad credit, who are we to argue?

Follow a systematic action plan, tailored to your credit files, and you’ll see results faster than any other credit repair method. My entire system was built around this model, and I’ll never look back. Create your own credit repair blueprint today!

Regina

Josh D Paul asked:




Credit reporting agencies collect credit-related information and sell it to businesses and consumers. They are also commonly called credit bureaus in the United States.

There are many of these agencies in the country, but the three main ones are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Most creditors and lenders will report their data to one or all three of these bureaus.

The largest and the oldest credit reporting agency is Equifax. The smallest is TransUnion. Experian is headquartered in Ireland. It started its operations in the U.S. when it purchased TRW Information Services in 1996.

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion all have their own bureau credit reports. These reports are compiled from the consumer credit histories gathered from lenders. Because creditors do not always submit their data uniformly to the same bureaus, credit reports will may be different.

Each agency also has its own credit score. Equifax and TransUnion use the FICO score algorithm to calculate their scores. The FICO scoring model is the most prevalent one used in the country. Over 90% of banks and other financial institutions use a FICO score to access a person’s credit worthiness. Experian uses its own proprietary scoring model.

The United States government has a federal law that protects consumers from unfair credit reporting business practices. This law is called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Federal Trades Commission (FTC) oversees the enforcement of it.

One stipulation of the FCRA is that it allows consumers to request a free copy of each of their bureau credit reports once every 12 months. Requests for Equifax, Experian and TransUnion reports must be made at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Free access to bureau credit scores are not included as part of the FCRA. They can however be purchased for a nominal fee or are often provided for free with certain online promotions.

It is important to periodically check one’s credit report for reporting errors and fraudulent activity. Such instances can hurt one’s credit profile. Regularly diagnosing one’s report may also lead to better management of one’s finances.

Knowing one’s credit score is equally as important. Because many financial institutions use scores as risk indicators, preventing a low assessment of one’s score and open doors of opportunities for a better lifestyle.

Paula