Archive for category Finance

How to Get a Free Personal Credit Report Now and How to Get Credit Reports For Free

Bob Randooke asked:




Getting a free personal credit report has always been an inconvenience to do in the past because it always took alot of time to wait for the 3 big credit monitoring agencies to get their act together to mail you your report. Ever since the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was passed many years back, it has given consumers the best opportunity to obtain their credit reports for free to give all Americans a peace of mind to know if their FICO scores have gone up and down and why.

This is required by law so everyone should take advantage of this. A great score can mean the difference between you getting the house of your dreams, or renting an apartment, or getting the bank loan you want in order to make the business of your dreams a reality or working minimum wage because you couldn’t get the loan that you wanted at the interest rate you wanted.

The best place to get a free personal credit report is on the internet. Going online to get cred reports for free has many distinct advantages over doing it over the phone or through a land based company. First of all there is almost no paper work involved when going online and you will be able to see your report almost instantly after you have finished filling out some basic information. No paper work, ease of use, time and convenience makes the internet the top choice of any consumer looking to stay on top of their credit rating.

Nathan

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Credit Report – Your Personal Financial Profile

David T. Johnson asked:




A lot of people don’t know about their own credit report. Some people even don’t know that it even exists. Because of this, they tend to regularly neglect payments for their loans or their credit card bills. The result: a bad credit score. Basically, you have to remember that your score is your financial profile. It tells a lot about you financially and it is what determines whether creditors or lenders will approve you for the loan or the new credit card you applied for or not.

The credit report is what creditors take a look at in order to determine if you are risky to lend money to or not. This is what basically tells them that you are a good payer or you are a delinquent one. Even landlords take a look at their prospective tenant’s credit report to make sure that their future tenant will be able to pay the rent on time and also make sure that they will never run away in the middle of the night with payments worth 3 months rent.

As you can see, it is very important for you to make a good credit score by making a good credit report. Although the credit bureaus are the ones who make the report, you have to remember that they base the report on what you do financially.

In order to get a good credit report and a good credit score, you need to be able to make payments on or before the due date. By doing so, it will be recorded in the report and will have a positive impact on your credit score.

Basically, you alone are responsible on how your credit information will look like and how much credit score you have. If you are a good payer and you only made late payments once or twice, you will be able to get a positive report and score. In fact, if you are a good payer and you only have one late payment because of an unavoidable situation, then you can even have the negative report removed.

These are the things that you have to remember about credit report. It is your personal financial profile that you alone are responsible for making.

The better you pay off your credit card bills and your loans, the better your credit score will look like. So, you definitely need to take your repayments seriously. If a bill arrives, pay it off as soon as you can and never ever think about paying it off next week because you are lazy to get out of your couch and go to the bank. Your laziness may cost you your credit score and will give you a bad name in the eyes of your creditors.

These are the things that you need to remember about credit score, credit report and why it is very important for you to repay your bills on time.

However, there are times where your credit report might be bad even if you know you pay off your bills and loans on time. It may be caused by credit card fraud or it may be caused by mistakes made by the credit bureaus themselves. Just get a copy of your credit report and if you see any irregularities, dispute it, prove it and it will eventually clear up.

Your score is your financial profile. Always make sure that you have good credit in order for you to have more financial freedom by paying off your bills on time as well as constantly reviewing your credit report at least once a year.

Debra

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TransUnion Personal Credit Report Phone and Related Information

Hector Milla asked:




With credit card agencies fluffing up their marketing strategies to encourage sign up and identity thieves stealing those same offers out of trash bins it’s a wonder anyone has any credit anymore. We all know who the credit reporting agencies are, but seldom take the chance to contact them until it’s too late.

TransUnion is one of the three most notable credit reporting agencies in the country. For more than 30 years they have dedicated themselves to helping consumers across five continents to collect and review the information necessary to build a strong financial foundation.

However, there is only so much the agency can do on its own. It’s up to the individual to obtain a copy of their credit report at least once a year to check for inaccuracies. This ensures that the information that has been assigned to you is truly yours. By going to TransUnion’s website you can perform a variety of activities to not only check your report, but enhance the services that you receive from the agency.

To obtain your free yearly copy of your report:

Call toll free: 1- 800- 888- 4213
Make your request online or download the form and mail it in.

One thing many parents forget is that once their child receives a social security number, they are open to identity theft as well. While you are checking your own credit, take a look at theirs too. Make sure your child does not become a victim of identity theft:

Call toll free: 1- 800- 680- 7289
TransUnion Fraud Victim Assistance Department
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834

It really is important to opt out of those prescreened marketing campaigns made by credit card companies. Mainly is because we fail to dispose of them properly by shredding or otherwise obscuring the validation codes on the offers. These numbers give thieves the opportunity to open up credit cards in your name.

Call toll free: 1- 888- 567- 8688
TransUnion Name Removal Option
P.O. Box 505
Woodlyn, PA 19094

It can take years to recover from the financial devastation created when someone steals your identity. As stated before TransUnion can only do so much from its end to protect you. From there it is up to you as the individual consumer to be sure that there is not someone in Texas claiming to be you as they purchase that $45,000 boat.

Rebecca

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Your Personal Credit Rating Explained

Francine Denson asked:




Your personal credit rating is considered any time you are seeking a loan or line of credit. This is what ultimately determines if you get the loan or not and if so what interest rate you will pay. For this reason, your credit rating is one of the most important numbers in your life. Having a good score can save you money while having a poor credit score will cost you dearly.

Learning your personal credit rating is not difficult. There are many services online that offer a free credit report, and some that also offer a credit score. Be aware that these are two different things. A credit report is a look at your credit history and accounts where as a credit score (also known as a FICO score) is a numerical representation of the risk you represent to a lender.

It is a good idea to keep tabs on your credit especially if you are looking to buy a home, car or even if you are seeking a job as employers are looking at this data these days as well. Another good reason to mind your credit is that you will be able to detect fraud and identity theft before it destroys your credit. Unfortunately, identity theft is becoming more and more common and it is costing innocent people countless sums of money and time.

So what can you do? Your first step is to order a free credit report with credit scores. Its very important that you choose a provider that offers the ability to see your scores and not just your report. Your scores are what lenders are mostly interested in, so you should know those as well. Some free credit report services offer this and some don’t. Your best bet is to use a comparison tool like the one linked below to find out which services offer the scores as well.

Maintaining and improving your personal credit rating is easier if you use a credit monitoring service. These are often offered as free trials when you request your credit report, so you will get a chance to see how it works before they bill you and you can decide if it’s something you want to keep or not. Overall, they are incredibly useful because they watch your credit for you and alert you to changes on your reports. This is good for those who are actively repairing their credit and also good for detecting identity theft early on before the damage sinks in.

As you can see, learning more about your credit rating is as simple as taking a look at your current credit report and credit scores. This information is available for free from a number of services and it will give you great insight in to your current borrowing power.

Fernando

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Do Credit Inquires Hurt Your Credit Score?

Mike Clover asked:




A credit inquiry is an item on your credit report that shows with permission a creditor requested your free credit score report.

Not all credit inquiries affect your credit score:

You may notice when you pull your credit report there are inquiries on there from a business you are not familiar with. The only inquiry that affects your credit score is the one where you are applying for credit. This is considered a hard pull on your report.

Inquiries that affect your credit score:

There is only one type of inquiry that affects your score. This type of inquiry is applications for a mortgage, auto loan and other credit, by you authorizing these creditors to access your credit report. This type of inquiry prompted by your own actions ends up on your personal credit report and affects your score.

An inquiry that does not affect your credit score: Checking your own personal credit report or any business that offers goods and services that requests your report. A business that you already have a account with that requests a check. A potential employer that does credit checks. Some of these types of inquiries might show up on your report but do not affect your credit score.

Checking your credit report does not affect your score:

Checking your credit report on a regular basis to ensure it is accurate and error free is recommended by Fair Isaac the inventor of the FICO Score. Maintaining a error free report is part of credit management which will improve your credit rating over time. Ordering your credit report at CreditScoreQuick.com does not hurt your credit score.

How credit inquiries are factored in your Credit Score:

There are five types of information used to calculate your credit score. Each category accounts towards a percentage of your score.

Payment History – 35%

Amounts Owed – 30%

Length of Credit History – 15%

Types of Credit in use – 10%

New Credit – 10%

Don’t let inquires scare you. There is nothing wrong with shopping for a better rate, or better terms on a loan. As you can see in the about chart, payment history is the biggest factor in calculation process of your credit score. The second biggest factor is how much of your approved credit limits are charged up. But of course you don’t want to go out and start applying for every credit offer out there either. Be responsible and have a good mix of credit, but stay away from too much credit as well You really on need 3 lines of credit reporting on your report.

Example:

1. credit card

2. car note

3. installment loan

This type of credit mix accounts for 10% of your score.

Alvin

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Personal Credit Report – Credit Reporting Data From Many Sources

Hector Milla asked:




A personal credit report is a document that every person over the age of eighteen with a social security number has. When people open accounts or get issued loans their social security numbers are placed on file so that the history follows them for many years to come. In order to survive long term financially, people need to ensure that the data that is coming from sources is accurate or problems can arise.

Many sources report consumer data to the three major reporting credit bureaus about consumer credit information. Credit card companies, banks, courts, collection agencies, student loan lenders, mortgage servicing firms, etc. When a person makes a payment, this is directly reported within a few days of the check being cashed by the financial institution.

Every payment that consumers make or miss typically gets reported because most people have consumer accounts, loans, and other liabilities that need to be paid on time every month. A person’s financial rating depends on their amount of debt, open accounts, delinquencies, bankruptcies, and payment history. If a person has let too many payments lapse then their scores will be considerably low and they will be considered a risk to lend to. Many financial institutions pull their customers’ credit data report on a monthly basis. If a person has a bad rating then these companies can reduce money borrowed, increase interest rates, and deny additional cards from being issued. This can really impact wallets and checkbooks everywhere.

If people find inaccuracies in the data that is reported then they should dispute the negative items to the company that has issued the report. It is important to keep apprised on if the negative items were resolved because a few errors can reduce the overall score. Now even opening a cell phone account, getting Internet and cable access, and moving into a new apartment or home require a check of credit history so staying organized is crucial.

If you want to improve your scores you need a credit reporting service. This also helps to protect consumers from identity theft because it lists all the accounts that a consumer has in their name. Identity thieves commit fraud by stealing social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and other forms of personal information to open new accounts without their victims’ knowledge. Prices are completely reasonable and negligible $15-25 per month for consumer reports and it is well worth the financial investment to ensure financial solvency.

Stella

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