Make sure that you know what is on your credit report.
Do not leave it up to a dealer to tell you, ‘The good news is; we got your loan approved, the bad news is; you didn’t qualify for the special rate that the manufacturer was offering…’.
Know what your credit report says about you before you start shopping for credit. These days your credit amounts to a ‘Beacon score’. Many of the things that you do in your life will influence this score. How many addresses you have had, checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, how many credit cards, whether you have ever had a ‘lien’ filed against you or an unpaid parking ticket all adds, or subtracts from this ‘score’.
Credit granting agencies and financial institutions are not the only ones who use this information, employers and even your insurance company may run a credit report on you to determine whether you they will employ you or cover you with their insurance and at what rates.
Now, more than ever before, it is important and easier, to make sure that what is being said about you on these three reports reflects the truth.
Use the link below to ‘order’ a credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies. Make sure that you print the information out and use it for a reference.
I was able to dispute information on Equifax while examining my report and as a result, seven items were removed within 3 weeks and one account that was being reported as ‘open’ they have since re-categorized as ‘closed’. This is very important as your score takes into account credit lines available to you as part of your possible debt.
I found it also very interesting that I had (a mystery to me) four aliases. Two were obvious ‘typos’, but the other two were just plain mistakes. It is very important that you dispute this information, they may not remove it, but it will show that you have disputed it and that may make some one look at that item a little harder when they are making a decision on whether or not to loan you money and at what rate.
Doctor bills are also very common and also one of the hardest to get removed, in my opinion. Be very nice to the people in their accounting offices as they are the ones who can send a letter to the credit reporting agencies that will make an item disappear!
Warning: If you have ever leased a car and it is now being reported as a ‘repossession’, welcome to the world of the auto lease! When you were looking for that payment that would allow you to drive a car that you otherwise could not afford, did you really think that it would come with NO strings attached? This could happen for several reasons, if you traded in your car before the end of the lease, if your car was totaled or stolen and the insurance company paid the market value or perhaps you just handed them back the keys and thought that you were done…read the small print!
What is the Purpose of This Site?
This central site allows you to request a free credit file disclosure, commonly called a credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
You can also request your report by phone or mail. Monitoring and periodically reviewing your credit report is an effective tool in fighting identity theft.
Investigate disputed information. If you tell a credit reporting agency that your file contains inaccurate information, the agency must promptly investigate the matter with the source that provided the information. If the investigation fails to resolve the dispute, you may add a statement explaining the matter to your credit file.
Correct or delete inaccurate information. A credit reporting agency must correct or, as the case may be, delete from your credit file the information that is found to be inaccurate or can no longer be verified from your credit file. The Credit Reporting Agency is not required to remove accurate data from your file unless it is outdated or cannot be verified.
Delete outdated information. In general, negative information that is more than 7 years old (10 years for bankruptcies) must be removed from your file.
Remove your name from marketing lists upon request. Creditors and insurers may share information in your credit file with marketers who send you unsolicited offers. To request that the three credit reporting agencies not share your information with marketers, call 888-567-8688.
Make sure that you check all three credit-reporting agencies, information that is reported to one, may not be reported to another. This may be good but it also may not be. Since these agencies are subscriber services you never know which one may be used when you desire credit.