credit report - Why Your Credit Score Is Probably Wrong And What To Do About It

Whether you like it or not, you have a credit score. And equally distasteful is the fact that you have very little say-so into what your credit score is. Actually, that is not true, despite the fact that most people would believe that. The biggest reason that most people believe that is because they see the big three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) as big profit-motivated conglomerates whose job it is to make your life miserable when you are applying for credit or a loan. To a certain degree, you could say that is true but there is more to the story than that. You see, these credit reporting agencies all have to follow rules that have been setup. The unfortunate part is that they can also play dumb, which they do frequently, with the attitude of "we do not MAKE the news, we only report it". Where all of this is going is the fact that the credit report of the MAJORITY of consumers that these companies are reporting on contain ERRORS. Yes, this is a known fact, or at least it is a fact if you follow this industry and understand what they are doing and how easy it is for errors to creep into their systems. It is not necessarily a lack of quality control, it is simply a matter of the tremendous volume of data they deal with. Consider keeping records on about 300 million (or more) consumers and businesses, and if each one only has had 10 instances of credit or a loan in their lifetimes, that is still well over 3 BILLION records they need to keep straight. So let's say that Citibank transposed some digits on a social security number when they reported to the credit bureaus last month, and the transposed number turned out to be yours. Presto, now in the eyes of the credit bureau, you have a Citibank account, which might even be past due, which lowers your credit score. And the fact that some companies only report to one credit bureau, while others report to two of them or all three just compounds the problem further, since you undoubtedly have a DIFFERENT credit score at each credit bureau! Yes it really is as simple as that, and yes, you should be concerned. You have rights and one of those rights is that the data that the credit bureaus keep on you is accurate and reflects the truth. And yes, the law even recognizes that there can sometimes be "extenuating circumstances", and while most consumers do not realize it, you also have the right to have a 100 word statement included in any credit report that is requested. If you missed two months worth of payments because you fell ill to beri-beri or something and are now caught up, by all means add a statement about that to your credit report! Upon reading your credit report, you may also find accounts listed that you know nothing about. You may have just discovered that you are a victim of identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes of this century. To find out more about identity theft and how to protect yourself from it, you may want to visit Protect Yourself From Identity Theft for more information. Take the time to get a copy of your credit report, a separate copy of it from each of the three credit bureaus, and then go through it with a microscope if you need to. Identify each and every item that is not right and then file a dispute with the credit bureau. They are obligated by law to either verify the information or to remove it from your credit report. But it does not happen automatically - YOU need to initiate the dispute, and if you don't, the inaccurate data will remain on your credit report until the cows come home. The more positive things and fewer negative things that are contained on your credit report, the higher your credit score will become. And yes, that part IS automatic. Jon is a computer engineer who maintains web sites on a variety of topics based on his knowledge and experience. You can read more about how to boost your credit score at his web site at Four Ways To Boost Your Credit Score. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Arnold credit report - Personal Loan - Say No To Co-Signing A Personal Loan As it is said, when it comes to money, no body is to be trusted. Co-signing a loan can certainly affect one's credit report adversely, even if the loan is paid on time. The loan that is co-signed by you will show up in your credit report, just like other debts that you have. Regarding this Maxine Sweet of Experian Credit Bureau says, "Whatever the lender reports each month about the status of that account will be reported for each individual whose name is associated with the account". Co-signing a personal loan with your friend or any relative would increase your credit utilisation ratio and this may be an obstacle in getting loans further in life. The loans that you co-sign increase your outstanding debts and hence the ratio of your borrowing limit to existing debts increases that is not good for your credit score. As a result, you might find it a daunting task to get a personal loan. A personal loan is based on the borrower's capacity and character to repay. This is judged by the credit score of the borrower. But, co-signing a personal loan will add to your debts and thus, the lender might reject your loan application on this count. Any late payments by the loan taker can show on your credit report and if your borrower defaults, the lender can ask the outstanding payments from you. So, to safeguard to credit profile and to make sure that you get a personal loan without hassles, never co-sign with anyone. But, if the borrower is a close acquaintance and you have to co-sign on his personal loan deal, study the terms of the loan and the notification rules before signing. Make sure you're getting the same documents as the person you're co-signing for, and require the borrower to provide you with proof of payment each month or give you access to the online account information so you can check the balance and payment status yourself, recommend financial experts.

credit report - Personal Loan - Say No To Co-Signing A Personal Loan

Get Your Prepaid Visa Today As it is said, when it comes to money, no body is to be trusted. Co-signing a loan can certainly affect one's credit report adversely, even if the loan is paid on time. The loan that is co-signed by you will show up in your credit report, just like other debts that you have. Regarding this Maxine Sweet of Experian Credit Bureau says, "Whatever the lender reports each month about the status of that account will be reported for each individual whose name is associated with the account". Co-signing a personal loan with your friend or any relative would increase your credit utilisation ratio and this may be an obstacle in getting loans further in life. The loans that you co-sign increase your outstanding debts and hence the ratio of your borrowing limit to existing debts increases that is not good for your credit score. As a result, you might find it a daunting task to get a personal loan. A personal loan is based on the borrower's capacity and character to repay. This is judged by the credit score of the borrower. But, co-signing a personal loan will add to your debts and thus, the lender might reject your loan application on this count. Any late payments by the loan taker can show on your credit report and if your borrower defaults, the lender can ask the outstanding payments from you. So, to safeguard to credit profile and to make sure that you get a personal loan without hassles, never co-sign with anyone. But, if the borrower is a close acquaintance and you have to co-sign on his personal loan deal, study the terms of the loan and the notification rules before signing. Make sure you're getting the same documents as the person you're co-signing for, and require the borrower to provide you with proof of payment each month or give you access to the online account information so you can check the balance and payment status yourself, recommend financial experts. About the Author: The author is a business writer and has written authoritative articles specializing on secured loans and personal loans in the finance industry. You can find more information about Loans at our website. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Aisha_Cristal credit report - Maximize Your Credit Score Via Your Revolving Credit Cards Establishing and optimal credit score is definitely a skill worth developing at any time in life and not dependent on your age or amount of credit line available to you. First be sure to obtain a copy of your credit report at least once a quarter if actively trying to build credit. If you are in credit maintenance mode that is not preparing for a major purchase such as a home or car then once a year should suffice. Remember you are entitled to a free credit report if you are ever rejected for any credit application. One factor that the big three credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) use is the amount of credit you are using on your cards as a percentage of your total credit available. In general it is best to keep you balances totaled to less than 50% of your total credit available to you. This is a good reason not to close credit accounts that you have paid off. Just let paid off credit cards gather dust in a drawer or safe! Or just cut them up but do not close the line of credit. This will help keep your total credit line at a fixed amount, then when you pay off balances on your other cards your total credit limit used goes down as a percentage of total credit allotted to you on all of your credit cards. The technique described here of course does not apply to installment debt, such as car payments or a TV you financed through a local or national store. The important thing with these accounts along with all credit accounts is not to be late on payments. However these type of accounts are not factored into the calculations for revolving credit accounts. The example used here is just one of many algorithms or calculations that credit reporting agencies use to determine your ultimate FICO score. Please visit our website at www.securesilver.com for other articles and information. There are many more pieces to the credit score puzzle but they are all worth learning.

credit report - Maximize Your Credit Score Via Your Revolving Credit Cards

Establishing and optimal credit score is definitely a skill worth developing at any time in life and not dependent on your age or amount of credit line available to you. First be sure to obtain a copy of your credit report at least once a quarter if actively trying to build credit. If you are in credit maintenance mode that is not preparing for a major purchase such as a home or car then once a year should suffice. Remember you are entitled to a free credit report if you are ever rejected for any credit application. One factor that the big three credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) use is the amount of credit you are using on your cards as a percentage of your total credit available. In general it is best to keep you balances totaled to less than 50% of your total credit available to you. This is a good reason not to close credit accounts that you have paid off. Just let paid off credit cards gather dust in a drawer or safe! Or just cut them up but do not close the line of credit. This will help keep your total credit line at a fixed amount, then when you pay off balances on your other cards your total credit limit used goes down as a percentage of total credit allotted to you on all of your credit cards. The technique described here of course does not apply to installment debt, such as car payments or a TV you financed through a local or national store. The important thing with these accounts along with all credit accounts is not to be late on payments. However these type of accounts are not factored into the calculations for revolving credit accounts. The example used here is just one of many algorithms or calculations that credit reporting agencies use to determine your ultimate FICO score. Please visit our website at www.securesilver.com for other articles and information. There are many more pieces to the credit score puzzle but they are all worth learning. Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arthur_Kettelhut credit report - How To Read A Credit Report Keeping up with your credit score is one of the most important things you can do to protect your financial well being. How to read a credit report will be a vital skill you will need to develop to do this, however. Before you can learn how to read a credit report, you will first need to know how to pull one. Consumers can pull their reports from all three agencies - Experian, TransUnion and Equifax - once every 12 months. Learning how to read a credit report will follow the process of pulling the free reports. To get your reports and learn how to read a credit report, all you need to do is contact the three agencies and request the reports or visit the Internet and get the job done. There are sites out there that can help in pulling reports. Once you have your reports, you can begin learning how to read a credit report. The first thing you will want to do is separate out all three reports. Learn how to read a credit report from each agency, one at a time. It is important to pull reports directly from the reporting agencies either in writing or online because the resulting reports will be made for consumer, not lending agency, consumption. This means these reports are easier to read and will make it less complicated to learn how to read a credit report. You will see as you learn how to read a credit report that these are broken up into four major sections. The sections are identifying information, history, public records and inquiries. As you proceed in learning how to read a credit report, check all four sections for accuracy. The identifying information section, for example, should have your name and social security number. The next section is your history, which is very important in the process of learning how to read a credit report. Each lender in the report should have basic information about the accounts you've opened with them. How to read a credit report here is vital. The lender entries should include the date the account was opened, the kind of credit it is, if there is a co-borrower involved, the total limit, how much you owe, fixed payments or minimum amounts, the status of the account and whether you pay on time. The history will be the meat of the report and as you learn how to read a credit report, it's also important to make sure you know how to dispute anything that is inaccurate. Contact both the lender in question and the reporting agency to fix errors. Public records will include such incidents as bankruptcy, arrests and so on. It's best to find this section blank when you learn how to read a credit report. The inquiries relates to the hits on your credit history from potential lenders. Learning how to read a credit report isn't a difficult process, but it's one that should be taken very seriously.

credit report - How To Read A Credit Report

Keeping up with your credit score is one of the most important things you can do to protect your financial well being. How to read a credit report will be a vital skill you will need to develop to do this, however. Before you can learn how to read a credit report, you will first need to know how to pull one. Consumers can pull their reports from all three agencies - Experian, TransUnion and Equifax - once every 12 months. Learning how to read a credit report will follow the process of pulling the free reports. To get your reports and learn how to read a credit report, all you need to do is contact the three agencies and request the reports or visit the Internet and get the job done. There are sites out there that can help in pulling reports. Once you have your reports, you can begin learning how to read a credit report. The first thing you will want to do is separate out all three reports. Learn how to read a credit report from each agency, one at a time. It is important to pull reports directly from the reporting agencies either in writing or online because the resulting reports will be made for consumer, not lending agency, consumption. This means these reports are easier to read and will make it less complicated to learn how to read a credit report. You will see as you learn how to read a credit report that these are broken up into four major sections. The sections are identifying information, history, public records and inquiries. As you proceed in learning how to read a credit report, check all four sections for accuracy. The identifying information section, for example, should have your name and social security number. The next section is your history, which is very important in the process of learning how to read a credit report. Each lender in the report should have basic information about the accounts you've opened with them. How to read a credit report here is vital. The lender entries should include the date the account was opened, the kind of credit it is, if there is a co-borrower involved, the total limit, how much you owe, fixed payments or minimum amounts, the status of the account and whether you pay on time. The history will be the meat of the report and as you learn how to read a credit report, it's also important to make sure you know how to dispute anything that is inaccurate. Contact both the lender in question and the reporting agency to fix errors. Public records will include such incidents as bankruptcy, arrests and so on. It's best to find this section blank when you learn how to read a credit report. The inquiries relates to the hits on your credit history from potential lenders. Learning how to read a credit report isn't a difficult process, but it's one that should be taken very seriously. Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Credit Repair and runs a highly popular and comprehensive Credit Repair web site. For more articles and resources on Credit Repair related topics, Refinancing, Credit Counseling and much more visit his site at: =>http://credit-repair.need-to-know.net/ Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Milos_Pesic credit report - California Bad Credit Mortgages If you know that your credit is bad, but you really want to buy a home in California, before you check various bad credit mortgage options, the best thing that you can do is to improve your credit score in order to get the best interest rates you can under the circumstances. Although this can be a long process, it is wise to fix some credit issues before filing any mortgage application. These slight credit improvements will help you find better mortgage options because your credit has a big role in the loan approval process. If you have bad credit, the chances of getting a high priced home with reasonable interest rates are slim. However, there is a chance, with the many programs that are available that you may qualify for some type of loan. There are people who have been through bankruptcy, collections and foreclosures who still obtain financing. The secret is to find those lending companies that will approve you or find you a lending company that will. The first thing you need to do is find out what your credit rating is. You can to this by going online to one of the three major credit bureaus and ask for your free credit report. Once you have your report, make sure it is correct. If there are mistakes that go against you, report them immediately, as this will positively affect your credit score. If there are little bills that show up as being past due, pay them immediately. This will also help your score. Before going to a lender, check what you have for a down payment - the more the better. If you don't have enough, ask to borrow money from a relative to put towards a down payment. You can always pay them back by refinancing your home after you've been there a few years. California bad credit mortgages may be the answer to your problems. But you must spend time shopping around and comparing quotes from various lenders before choosing one.