Personal Finance, Loans & Insurance

Credit Report Detailed Information

In addition, a credit report might contain the following information about you:

* Personal Identifying Information: full name, any known aliases, current and previous home addresses, social security number, date of birth, employment history and if necessary, the same information about your spouse.
* Credit Information: accounts with banks, retailers, credit card companies, utility and phone company accounts and other lenders with whom you have credit.
* Information of Public Record: state and county records regarding bankruptcy, any taxation liens and/or monetary judgments.
* Recent Creditor Inquiries: a list of names concerning who has obtained copies of your credit record within the past 365 days, and within 24 months for employers.

It is important to make sure all of the information contained on your credit report is accurate, because errors are quite common. You could be a victim of mistaken identity, inaccurate information or other errors and not even realize it, and this can have a direct impact on your ability to secure a loan or credit card when you need it the most.

If you realize there is an error contained within your credit report, there are things you can do to rectify the situation and regain good credit. You must contact the reporting credit agency as soon as possible, then the company becomes liable for researching, correction or removing erroneous information. Keep in mind, this is a process that can take up to 45 days to complete, so you must remain patient.

Once the incorrect information has been removed or absolved from your credit report, a new copy with the proper information will be forwarded to the parties who have received an incorrect copy of your report within the last 6 months.

If you are denied credit because of an inaccuracy on your credit report, the lender must provide you with the information about the credit bureau that furnished the credit report. You have a period of 30 days within which to request a free copy of your credit report and the credit bureau must provide you with all the information appearing on your credit record.

If you have a history of missed or late payments, it will most likely show up on your credit report. Information of this nature can prevent you from receiving a credit card, car or home loan, life insurance and in some cases, even employment. For these reasons alone, it is important that you as a consumer know about your rights and are aware of all the information that shows up on your credit report.

All of your credit history information, whether it is good or bad, stays on your credit report for a period of 7 years. If you have ever filed for bankruptcy or had a wage garnishment, the information will likely remain active for approximately 10 years.

In the United States there are three main credit bureaus, Experian, Trans Union and Equifax. You are entitled to receive one free credit report from each agency within a period of 12 months.  You can contact the agencies via telephone or U.S. Mail. You must provide specific information such as your name, current or previous address, phone number, social security number and date of birth and you will have to verify the information by providing a copy of an ID card, drivers license or bank statement.

Maintain Credit Report

Most people probably take their credit report for granted, not really bothering to make sure that all the information inside the report is accurate and up to date. This is actually very important because there is more than likely information that is out dated and accounts that were settled or payed off long ago.

The easiest way to start is by ordering a copy, free, from annualcreditreport.com or any of the other free credit report providers. Federal law allows each individual to order a copy of their report each year and the website above was put together by the top three reporting agencies in the country. Once you receive your copy, go through it and make sure that all of the information within is accurate and current. If you find information that is out of date or any other discrepancy, you can then contact the appropriate credit agency and ask that they dispute the information in question with whichever credit provider it may happen to be. Disputes are free to do, however; you may need to actually request another copy of your report at a later date to insure the information has been removed, which if required will cost you a small fee of less than forty dollars usually. This fee is a small price to pay to insure that all of your credit information is accurate. The cost of not maintaining a clean credit history could mean the difference in points on interest rates.

So lets talk a little about the three credit agencies and which one ranks the highest and is used most often to base credit decisions by lenders. I’m putting them in alphabetical order but this doesn’t mean that’s how they rank.

Equifax

Experian

TransUnion

Actually that’s exactly how they do rank. Most lenders and even some employers take the information in your Equifax file as the basis for the decisions they make about you. The credit score from equifax is generally lower than the one you may have with the other two agencies, experian and transunion. Normally, transunion is the high score. Experian the middle score and equifax the low score. Kind of interesting how that is the exact opposite of the weight each one carries and how that affects the decisions made as to loan applications or even employment applications.

Unfortunately, we live in a society where everything revolves around credit. The lower the score the more costly it can be to you in terms of your living conditions and even employment. How ironic. With that in mind, remember to check your credit report at least once a year mainly because you are entitled to do so at no charge.

If you have made a mess of your credit history, its your job to clean it up. There are several ways available for you to accomplish this. Firstly, do it yourself. You will find that it is not that difficult and its actually an education in itself. Secondly, if there are just to many discrepencies in your file or if you just dont have the time, there are companies that will clean your file and credit history for you.

Just be sure that you choose a reliable, reputable, and legal credit repair firm.

Credit Scores and Credit Report

I recently logged on to annualcreditreport.com to get my once a year free credit report but to my surprise there were no credit scores. In case you didn’t know, everyone is entitled to their free credit report once every twelve months at http://www.annualcreditreport.com/. If you too have been there then you know that your credit report did not come with your credit scores. Just about everyone these days is looking at your credit so shouldn’t you know what they are? This magical three digit number is formulated to predict how you will pay your bills. Why should you know them?

When you make an application for credit your lender will use your credit or FICO to make a quick on the spot decision as to whether or not you will be approved. The actual credit history is important but the FICO makes it easier for the lender to reach a decision. Before you make application with a lender you should check your FICO score to see where you stand. You’ll go in knowing what your fico’s are before the lender does. If you have a good one, its advantage consumer. If it is low, then you’ll need to spend some time improving it before making a loan application.

While watching TV the other night I saw a commercial for Home and Auto insurance. The man on the commercial says he’s looking to put you with an insurance company that’s a little smarter than the one you’re with now. He goes on to say that some insurance companies base your premiums on your FICO score. “Isn’t that dumb?” he says. Well, it may be dumb but it’s a reality. Through years of experience and studying the claims history of millions of policy holders the data reveals that people with bad credit are more likely to file a claim than people with good credit. As a result, the better your credit the lower your insurance rates. You can even be denied insurance if your scores too low.

You may not know it but almost every employer is now obtaining FICO scores as part of the interviewing and hiring process. If you are currently out there looking for that better paying job better hope you have good credit. Your credit rating will give the potential employer an idea of what kind of person you are. Just like applying for credit, a lower score could mean higher risk. You could get passed up by another applicant just because of your credit rating.

I would say it is definitely time to know and get acquainted with all three of your credit scores. With credit markets tightening up it’s become more difficult to get credit unless you have a decent score. We’ve just discussed a few different scenarios that affect each and every one of us. What’s good?

720 or better is very good

680 average

620 marginal

580 poor

Make a Deal with a Credit Report Judgement

A credit report judgement is a court order ordering repayment of a debt. A judgement on your credit report will affect your credit scores and generally will have to be paid before you can acquire a mortgage. The court order will require repayment during a specific period of time.

The majority of lenders will not allow you to close on a mortgage with a judgement on your credit. The judgement will need to be paid in full and released before you will be allowed to close on your mortgage. Once you have paid the judgement off and had it “released” the judgement will still be showing on your credit report. This can still be detrimental when it comes to applying for any other forms of credit.

Removing your credit report judgement can be as simple as writing a letter to each of the credit reporting agencies that the credit report judgement is being reported on. Usually, the judgement will be reporting to all three of the major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. If the judgement has been paid, you should dispute the accuracy of the way the judgement is reporting…i.e. the date or the original amount.

If the judgement is not verified within a certain time period, the item will be removed from your credit report. If it does comes back as verified, then you should write another letter disputing another part of the judgement as being inaccurate. You will need to follow up until your dispute has worked at all the credit bureaus that the credit report judgement is reporting on.

If this all seems a little complicated for you or if you are dealing with more than just a credit report judgement, I suggest contacting a professional credit repair law firm such as Lexington Law. They deal with removing items from credit report judgements and other items daily.

Reviewing Your Credit Report

The process for obtaining your credit report may sound a bit confusing, but the process is relatively quick and simple, especially if you’re obtaining free reports from the Annual Credit Report Request Service or purchasing reports from one of the three major credit reporting agencies.

After obtaining your reports, the next step is to review the information included within each of them. Make sure all of the information is up-to-date and accurate. If you notice errors in any of the three reports, it’s important to take the necessary steps to correct the error(s) as quickly as possible. If the error involves information provided by a creditor, begin by contacting the creditor directly. The creditor’s name and contact information should be listed on your credit report. If you’re unable to correct the error or initiate a dispute directly with the creditor, contact the credit reporting agency that provided the report with the incorrect information.

If you notice errors in the personal information section of your credit report, such as the spelling of your name, your date of birth, or address, contact the appropriate credit reporting agency directly to correct these errors.

Errors in your credit report can be disputed online, by calling the credit reporting agencies, or in writing. For the quickest response, dispute errors online. Visit each credit reporting agency’s web site and follow the appropriate links.

Make sure you stand up to them. Make sure they know you know what your talking about so they correct the problem.