Wednesday, November 14, 2007

credit report - When You Are Eligible For A Free Credit Report

By Federal law, you are entitled to one free credit report per year directly from a credit-reporting agency only if you certify that:

1. You are unemployed and seeking employment in the next 60 days.

2. You are receiving public assistance.

3. You believe there are inaccuracies in your credit report due to fraud

4. Also if you have been denied credit on the basis of information in a credit report, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from the credit bureau that supplied the credit report.

5. Residents of Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont are entitled by state law to one free credit report from a credit-reporting agency per year. Residents of Georgia are entitled to two free credit reports.

To obtain the excellent credit report service, get FREE online Credit Report, make your Credit Score higher, avoid becoming a Victim of Identity Theft, or correct your credit visit Legalhelper.ws.

Your credit score is important for obtaining credit. Your credit score is important to know, whether you need a new credit card, an auto loan, or a mortgage. Lenders use your credit scores to decide whether you are a good credit risk. If you have a high credit score, you are more likely to obtain the best rates.

Bad credit costs thousands of dollars!

About The Author

Virginia Broobin is a financial security specialist that helps people to solve their financial issues and be happy and successful within their life.

Website: www.legalhelper.ws, vbroobin@legalhelper.ws

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Virginia_Broobin

credit report - How to Get Your Credit Report Corrected

Are you troubled by a poor credit rating? You clearly know how important a good credit standing can be. If you have a bad credit score, you might not be able to qualify for loans, and that may prevent you from buying a house or a car, or getting an insurance policy or a credit card. And a bad credit report may not even be your fault, if there are inaccuracies in your report, or if your credit score was affected due to identity theft and fraud. Whatever the reason may be for your bad credit report, you cannot just let it be. For the sake of your future, you have to try to repair your credit.

The road to credit repair begins with obtaining a copy of your credit report. With it, you can determine if there are any discrepancies in your report that you can dispute. You can obtain of a free copy of your credit report in some circumstances. For example, if you have applied for credit, insurance, or employment and have been turned down, the company is bound to provide you with your report if you ask for a copy within 60 of receiving notifice of the denial. There are a number of other cases in which you are eligible to get a free annual credit report, such as being unemployed, being on welfare, or being the victim of credit fraud. You are also entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the three major consumer reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. If you have to, you can also obtain your credit report for a fee from a consumer reporting company or an online credit report provider.

Once you have received a copy of your credit report, examine it closely to spot if there are any discrepancies. Be sure that you have documentation that can support your claims. Mail a dispute letter to the consumer reporting agency that authored the report, and include copies--not originals--of the documents that will help your case.

Know that the law places on credit reporting agencies and credit information providers the responsibility of guaranteeing the accuracy of your credit report; thus they are required to correct your report if it should contain any inaccuracies. So they must investigate your dispute, and that will save you the expense and trouble of dealing with every one of your creditors by yourself. And you should not be charged for the investigation; the law says that you cannot be charged a fee for filing a dispute claim over your credit report with the consumer reporting agency. So go ahead and file it and expect an investigation to be made.

Friday, October 26, 2007

credit report - How to Get Your Credit Report Corrected

Are you troubled by a poor credit rating? You clearly know how important a good credit standing can be. If you have a bad credit score, you might not be able to qualify for loans, and that may prevent you from buying a house or a car, or getting an insurance policy or a credit card. And a bad credit report may not even be your fault, if there are inaccuracies in your report, or if your credit score was affected due to identity theft and fraud. Whatever the reason may be for your bad credit report, you cannot just let it be. For the sake of your future, you have to try to repair your credit.

The road to credit repair begins with obtaining a copy of your credit report. With it, you can determine if there are any discrepancies in your report that you can dispute. You can obtain of a free copy of your credit report in some circumstances. For example, if you have applied for credit, insurance, or employment and have been turned down, the company is bound to provide you with your report if you ask for a copy within 60 of receiving notifice of the denial. There are a number of other cases in which you are eligible to get a free annual credit report, such as being unemployed, being on welfare, or being the victim of credit fraud. You are also entitled to a free credit report once a year from each of the three major consumer reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. If you have to, you can also obtain your credit report for a fee from a consumer reporting company or an online credit report provider.

Once you have received a copy of your credit report, examine it closely to spot if there are any discrepancies. Be sure that you have documentation that can support your claims. Mail a dispute letter to the consumer reporting agency that authored the report, and include copies--not originals--of the documents that will help your case.

Know that the law places on credit reporting agencies and credit information providers the responsibility of guaranteeing the accuracy of your credit report; thus they are required to correct your report if it should contain any inaccuracies. So they must investigate your dispute, and that will save you the expense and trouble of dealing with every one of your creditors by yourself. And you should not be charged for the investigation; the law says that you cannot be charged a fee for filing a dispute claim over your credit report with the consumer reporting agency. So go ahead and file it and expect an investigation to be made.

You can get tips about DIY credit repair and read other articles that can help you with your credit at http://creditrepairinsider.info

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Ducat

credit report - Steps to Take Should You Become a Fraud Victim

While having a credit card can be liberating, being a fraud victim can certainly max out your credit card limit, give you a bad credit rating and at the same time cause you to lose your rights to low APR rates. Therefore, the moment you find out you are a victim of fraud, you must act quickly and take the following steps:

Contact your credit card company and banks

You should always have the phone number of your credit card provider at hand in the event of credit card theft or forgery. The company can then freeze your credit card access instantly, thereby cutting their losses as well as yours. Normally, you will just have to make a minimum payment of probably $50 to cover any amount that has been charged to your card in between the time you discover your loss, till the time you report it.

Lodge a police report

A copy of your police report is a requirement to verify the crime that has been committed against you. This police report will aid in any financial requests made to your bank, insurance company or credit card companies. Even though certain officials may put down this loss as a minimum-impact crime as you may have not lost anything yet, you have to remember that you could be affected in the long term.

Close any affected accounts

It is important to close any accounts that are accessible by your credit card(s) and open new accounts. Always close the account at your own request. Try to avoid stating 'credit card stolen' as the reason for closing your account as this will show irresponsibility on your side and would reflect badly in your credit report. Closing your account will also avoid further disputes with unauthorized purchases made to your card.

Contact the Credit Bureau

Report the loss of your credit card and request for your account to be flagged to avoid unauthorized access. Be sure to contact the fraud unit of any of the three credit reporting companies: Trans Union, Equifax and Experian and notify them of your loss. You should also request for a credit report periodically to detect any activity in your credit history that has been made without your knowledge.

credit report - Steps to Take Should You Become a Fraud Victim

While having a credit card can be liberating, being a fraud victim can certainly max out your credit card limit, give you a bad credit rating and at the same time cause you to lose your rights to low APR rates. Therefore, the moment you find out you are a victim of fraud, you must act quickly and take the following steps:

Contact your credit card company and banks

You should always have the phone number of your credit card provider at hand in the event of credit card theft or forgery. The company can then freeze your credit card access instantly, thereby cutting their losses as well as yours. Normally, you will just have to make a minimum payment of probably $50 to cover any amount that has been charged to your card in between the time you discover your loss, till the time you report it.

Lodge a police report

A copy of your police report is a requirement to verify the crime that has been committed against you. This police report will aid in any financial requests made to your bank, insurance company or credit card companies. Even though certain officials may put down this loss as a minimum-impact crime as you may have not lost anything yet, you have to remember that you could be affected in the long term.

Close any affected accounts

It is important to close any accounts that are accessible by your credit card(s) and open new accounts. Always close the account at your own request. Try to avoid stating 'credit card stolen' as the reason for closing your account as this will show irresponsibility on your side and would reflect badly in your credit report. Closing your account will also avoid further disputes with unauthorized purchases made to your card.

Contact the Credit Bureau

Report the loss of your credit card and request for your account to be flagged to avoid unauthorized access. Be sure to contact the fraud unit of any of the three credit reporting companies: Trans Union, Equifax and Experian and notify them of your loss. You should also request for a credit report periodically to detect any activity in your credit history that has been made without your knowledge.

Adam Goldman recommends Find Credit Cards to find a Citibank card offer.

Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Goldman

credit report - 3 Reasons Why Your Credit Scores Change

Basics Your credit score is affected by three main factors

  • Credit balances
  • Number of credit lines
  • Payment history
Credit Balances This is the amount of money you owe on different credit lines. Each credit card, auto loan, or other form of credit is known as a "credit line" or "trade line".

If you have two mortgages on your property each one is a separate trade line on your credit report.

Each trade line has a maximum available credit or initial size. Your car loan for $30,000 has an initial loan size of $30,000. A credit card may have a $10,000 limit with $1,000 in charges on the credit card.

Your credit score is affected by how close your balances are to your limits. If your credit cards are close to the limit, that will start affecting your credit.

Number of Credit Lines If you have too many credit lines your credit score may decline.

It also may not be possible to get additional credit even though your credit is good.

For example, if you have a mortgage and you co-sign on someone else's mortgage then you both mortgages will show up on your credit. Although both may be paid promptly and your credit is otherwise good, you may have trouble getting a car loan. A lender will see both mortgages on your credit report and think your debt burden is too high. The fact that you co-signed on someone else's loan may not help you much, because you are still liable for the payment.

Payment History Your payment history is one of the most important factors in your credit.

When you are past the grace period on a bill the payment then becomes late.

Credit reports track how late you are and in which months you have been late.

You may be late by:

  • 30 days
  • 60 days
  • 90 days
  • 120 days
  • More
A lender will treat an occasional 30 day late on a credit card as an honest mistake. Repeated lates or a late payment on a mortgage are viewed in a much worse way by mortgage lenders.

Summary Your credit is critical to your financial well being. You should monitor your credit on an ongoing basis to makes sure there is no fraud being committed against you and prevent errors from remaining on your credit report.

credit report - 3 Reasons Why Your Credit Scores Change

Basics Your credit score is affected by three main factors

  • Credit balances
  • Number of credit lines
  • Payment history
Credit Balances This is the amount of money you owe on different credit lines. Each credit card, auto loan, or other form of credit is known as a "credit line" or "trade line".

If you have two mortgages on your property each one is a separate trade line on your credit report.

Each trade line has a maximum available credit or initial size. Your car loan for $30,000 has an initial loan size of $30,000. A credit card may have a $10,000 limit with $1,000 in charges on the credit card.

Your credit score is affected by how close your balances are to your limits. If your credit cards are close to the limit, that will start affecting your credit.

Number of Credit Lines If you have too many credit lines your credit score may decline.

It also may not be possible to get additional credit even though your credit is good.

For example, if you have a mortgage and you co-sign on someone else's mortgage then you both mortgages will show up on your credit. Although both may be paid promptly and your credit is otherwise good, you may have trouble getting a car loan. A lender will see both mortgages on your credit report and think your debt burden is too high. The fact that you co-signed on someone else's loan may not help you much, because you are still liable for the payment.

Payment History Your payment history is one of the most important factors in your credit.

When you are past the grace period on a bill the payment then becomes late.

Credit reports track how late you are and in which months you have been late.

You may be late by:

  • 30 days
  • 60 days
  • 90 days
  • 120 days
  • More
A lender will treat an occasional 30 day late on a credit card as an honest mistake. Repeated lates or a late payment on a mortgage are viewed in a much worse way by mortgage lenders.

Summary Your credit is critical to your financial well being. You should monitor your credit on an ongoing basis to makes sure there is no fraud being committed against you and prevent errors from remaining on your credit report.

Get Mortgage Rates, 25+ Free Mortgage Calculators, Mortgage Quick Tips and Much More

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Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ben_Afzal

credit report - What your Credit Score Means to your New Car Finance Rate

There are three kinds of people when it comes to credit scores. The first group of people can tell you exactly what their credit score is because they check it religiously. The second group of people has a vague idea of what their credit score is, but they aren't too worried because they generally pay their bills on time and don't exceed their credit limits. The third group of people has no idea what their credit score is other than knowing it's probably pretty bad, and they feel it would simply be better to not know.

Eventually, people from all three groups walk into a car dealership with the intent of purchasing a new car, and one of the first things the dealer will do is pull a credit report. The dealer is looking to establish what sort of interest rate will be available to each particular person, because a credit score basically defines if a buyer is a good financial risk or a dangerous one.

A credit score is comprised of many factors, including past and present payment histories, credit balances in relation to available credit, and the amount of credit available. The reason why it is important to keep a high credit score is because it is these people who are offered the best interest rates. The 0% financing offers which are so widely publicized by dealerships are actually only available to a minority of buyers whose credit is immaculate. Everyone else gets offered a higher interest rate, and, for some with poor credit, these rates can be up into the double digits.

This is why it is so important to not only know what your credit score is, but to keep close tabs on your financial health. A couple of missed payments can damage your credit score considerably and may wind up adding hundreds of dollars in finance charges to a high interest car loan. Having a high credit score will pay off when financing a new car.