Posts Tagged Credit Reporting Act
The Importance of Credit Reporting Laws
Credit reporting laws in the United States can be rather difficult to understand if you are not an attorney or don’t happen to work in finance. When it comes to your personal credit, understanding credit reporting laws is important.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is one law every consumer should know. It was originally signed into law in 1970 and it guarantees the confidential, accurate, relevant and proper handling of all consumer information collected and recorded by the credit bureaus. It also gives consumers the right to request a copy of their credit report and scores. The only provider that is legally authorized to give you this report once a year is annualcreditreport.com.
This law also requires that written disputes be investigated within 30 days by credit bureaus. Here, any information deemed inaccurate or unverifiable shall be removed and kept from reappearing on your credit report.
Another important credit reporting law is the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. This law was enacted in 1977 in an effort to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors and to ensure that those debt collectors who refrain from using them are not competitively disadvantaged. It also promotes state action that is consistent in protecting consumers against such debt collection abuses. It prohibits several activities considered to be deceptive or harmful to consumers such as: lying, misleading or harassing. This law is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and annually reports to congress regarding any issues that involve it. Here, a debt collector is defined as any person who uses any method of interstate commerce of the mail in any business for the purpose of collecting debts.
This means the rules of this law do not apply to the company who extended the original credit line, but instead are only relevant for collection companies who were hired or contracted by the initial creditor involved.
When it comes to how your credit is reported and what the scores mean, you need to have a rough idea of how it all works so you will be able to interpret any problems and come up with a solution for repairing them. After all, your credit is a very important part of your life in general as it affects many different aspects all at once.
Pamela
Simple Ways To Order Your Three Free Annual Credit Reports From The Credit Reporting Companies
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates each of America’s credit reporting companies to provide each and every citizen with a free annual credit report on request – the three companies being Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. These three financial organizations have jointly hosted a common website from where consumers can order their free report online. There are many websites that offer free credit reports but they are never absolutely free – they will offer this as part of some other service for which you will be charged. You need to be aware of some devious tactics followed by some of these companies – in fact, if you make a spelling error in the website address, you are likely to be led to a site that will actually charge you for your credit information before they actually release it to you!
The three credit agencies also provide the annual credit report for free through a toll free telephone number 1-877-322-8228 and also through a mail request if you send a filled-in annual credit report request form to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-528. You can get your credit history and information for free only through the above avenues – any other way, including contacting the three companies independently, would most likely involve some form of payment or charges.
Having learned the ways to get an annual credit report absolutely free, you might want to know what use the information will be to you. A credit report is necessary for you to get information about your credit worthiness; that is, how the lenders in the financial market perceive you in terms of being a financial risk to them should they loan you money. It lets you keep a close watch on your credit score which actually determines how much credit you can get and what interest rates you will be charged. If you have a high score or above average rating it stands to reason that you can command higher loan amounts at lower interest rates compared to a person whose credit rating is not so good.
Using the personal information provided in your report, you can also make sure that no identity theft has happened using your personal identity. The list of your debts, along with your payments details, late payments and pending payments will be provided in great detail in the report. By keeping a track of this, it is a simple task to spot an identity theft that may have taken place. In case your identity has been stolen and has been used to get loans other than what you own, you can flag it and then report it to the credit agency immediately.
You can get three credit reports using one of the ways stated above – one report from each of the credit reporting companies. You can choose to order them simultaneously or at different times. Ordering them at three different times through the year is a good idea because you can track your credit rating through out the year. If you order the your history after taking a particularly heavy credit or after paying off a heavy debt, it can prove to be very useful. You will know the exact impact the latest transaction has created on your rating, by comparing the current credit report and the previous one.
Now that the uses of a credit report are apparent and you know that there are simple ways to order three credit reports absolutely free on an annual basis, you should reap maximum benefits by making use of the free service.
Jean
Disputing Credit Report Information
Information obtained from your credit report enables creditors to gauge the risk factor in lending money to you. Credit report usually provides information on your identity and on how regularly you pay your bills. Credit report is used as the deciding factor by creditors when you apply for credit facility.
Thus, it is vital that you maintain a good credit report consciously. Incorrect information on your report could be damaging in the long term and will affect your buying power drastically. It is therefore necessary to monitor and make sure your information with the credit reporting agencies is updated and accurate.
In case of any discrepancies in your information or rating, you can dispute the credit report information with the help of the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA.
Review Your Credit Report
The first step in verifying your credit report is to obtain a copy of one. According to Federal law, you are eligible to one copy of credit report from each of the agencies annually. After obtaining your credit report, go through it thoroughly to ensure that the information reported is correct or not. In case of incorrect information, you can dispute the same with the help of the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA.
File A Credit Report Dispute
Upon finding incorrect information in your credit report the first step should be to alert the credit bureau and the source of your information in writing. Doing this puts you on the path to dispute the wrong information.
The next step involves attaching proof supporting your claim. This includes statements or checks which have been canceled. Along with this it is a good idea to include your personal details like name, current postal address, and information on dispute and explanation on why the information is incorrect. To provide a clear picture, you could include a copy of the credit report highlighting the disputed information.
These documents have to be then dispatched through certified mail requesting for a return receipt. This will make sure you have proof your mail has been received by the credit bureau. It is very important to keep a copy of all the documents you send them.
The Credit Bureau Responds To Your Dispute
The credit bureau usually takes about thirty days to respond to your claim after checking all the necessary information and facts. Credit bureau sends the disputed facts to the information provider which in turn investigates the same and reports back to the bureau.
Upon completion of the investigation, the credit bureau provides you with the results. In case the dispute has been accepted and facts altered, the bureau provides you with a free copy of the changed report. Credit bureau can also be requested to send the correction to any other company which may have accessed your credit report in the past six months.
After all this, it is a good idea to check the other credit bureaus as well and set right the information.
Javier
Credit Reports Demystified
Anyone who has ever applied for any type of credit like a credit card, a mortgage, or even a cell phone has likely had their credit report checked. If the report says that you are late paying bills or have a ton of debt, you could have to pay a higher interest rate or even get turned down altogether.
Scott Mitic, CEO of an Identity Theft Protection service, says it quite well: the “credit bureaus are at the center of our credit-eco system in the U.S. And it’s hard to think about a set of companies that are more instrumental in the life that we live”.
What is a Credit Report?
A credit report is basically a file that a Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) keeps on you. Despite what many people think, your credit score does not say whether you have “good credit” or “bad credit” and if you are a risk. That determination is made by the lenders. All a CRA does is collect the information and then sell it. The information on your credit report is an important factor, but may not be the only one that determines whether the loan is made.
Another misconception is that your credit report is a “credit score” (you’ve probably heard of FICO). The credit score is a tool that lenders used based on a special formula that does use the information in your credit report, but the score itself is not part of the report.
Who can access your Credit Report?
Who can see your credit report is outlined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Anyone who accesses it must have a “permissable reason” to do so. The groups that can see it are:
Potential Lenders – Credit card companies, mortgage lenders, landlords, and other lenders are the most common. Whenever they request to see your report, a note of that becomes actually part of the report (called a “hard inquiry”). More on that later. Potential employers – A special (less detailed) version of your report. They must have written permission to do so. All they are able to see is how you make payments and handle debt, which (theoretically in their mind) shows your trustworthiness. This is a “soft inquiry” which does not show up on your report. Pre-approved credit card offerers – They can not actually see your credit report (thankfully), but they can pull a specially screened list to see if you qualify. This is also a “soft inquiry” which does not appear on your report. You – Obviously, you are able to see your own report.
What is on a Credit Report?
Credit history – Bill paying history (late payments etc.), balances, credit limits, open or closed accounts Personal information- Name, address history, work history, social security number Public information – Information from public records such as bankruptcies, court orders, tax liens, etc. Inquiries – Any company who has done a “hard inquiry” shows up. This is why you want to be careful in how many credit cards you sign up for or loans you request, because every time a company runs a credit check, that becomes part of your report (whether you take the loan or not). Disputes – If there is a dispute over something on a report, both your statements and the lender’s will be noted.
What do creditors look for?
Potential lenders make the decision whether or not to extend credit based on the contents of the report. Here are some of the things that they look for:
Missed payments – Payment history is a large factor. If you have a bunch of missed or late payments, lenders would be less inclined to take a risk of the same thing happening to them
Debt/Income ratio – Lenders want to make sure that you have enough income to handle debt payments
Inquiries – As mentioned, whenever a lender checks your credit using a “hard inquiry” a note is made on your report. If a potential lender sees a lot of hard inquiries over a relatively short period of time, they get concerned that you might be racking up the debt
Open accounts – If you have a bunch of credit cards or loans, even if you don’t use them all, lenders are concerned. They want to make sure that if you were to borrow all the amount that you theoretically could, you would still be able to handle it
Maxed-out credit – Do you typically max out your credit cards or lines of credit? That is a signal to lenders that you need to rely on credit to make ends meet
What do you do if you see errors?
According to the Public Interest Research Group, 79% of credit reports have errors, and 25% have errors significant enough to make lenders refuse credit.
It’s recommended that you check your credit report at least on a yearly basis. If you find a mistake, it can be a long and arduous process to fix it, but it’s important that you do. To correct the error:
Collect and prepare as much documentation as you can to support the correction Contact the relevant credit bureau, explaining what the error is. I recommend doing this via registered letter and including copies of all the documentation just to save back and forth later. Send a similar letter to the creditor as they will need to be involved sooner or later
Remember that neither the CRA nor the creditor have any vested interest in correcting the report, so expect some frustration when going through this process. Make sure you make note of every interaction with them and record dates, times, and who you talked to.
Legally, the CRA has 30 days to investigate your claim, so keep on them and be persistent.
Your credit report is one of the most important files in your life, and no one has motivation to make sure it is accurate but you. The more you know about it, the more power you have.
Theodore
5 Best Credit Repair Tips Will Fix Your Credit Report And Score Now!
Today having good credit reflected in your credit report is important in every financial situation you find yourself in as you probably know and knowing a few tips about credit repair can solve a lot of your credit problems. In our world credit determines just how much interest you’ll end up paying on your house, car, truck, etc.
Your credit scores, called FICO, are used by your landlords, your employers and the insurance companies to determine whether you can get an apartment and/or job and even what your insurance rates will be. Yes your insurance agent will make use of your credit information. Your credit report and score will indicate whether you have good credit or bad credit and whether you have to pay a deposit for a cell phone.
Assuming you already have a copy of your credit report, here are a few of the best credit repair tips if you’re having credit problems. If you don’t have a copy you can easily get a free credit report online. You won’t be able to get the score along with the free report though. There are other ways to get your FICO score that you would have to pay for but there are ways to get your score for free.
1. Get a copy of the ‘Fair Credit Reporting Act’ from the federal government. It may sound boring but you don’t have to read the entire legal portion, just understand the basics of the Act. You’ll be well-armed if you plan to fix your credit report. But it’s very important that you get it and read it. It won’t take long.
2. Did you know that any information on your credit report can be disputed? That includes any personal information – public records, any accounts you have of course, even any inquiries. You can dispute anything.
3. Consider credit repair to be a gradual process. Look over the information, your credit card accounts and other accounts. Let’s say you have 15 accounts that you’d like to dispute. Pick just 3 or 4 or so to dispute. Otherwise if you dispute them all at one time the credit bureau or credit reporting agency will not consider your requests seriously.
4. You want to keep your letters of dispute on the simple side. You don’t need to go into the laws, procedures any court rulings or even threaten them with lawsuits if they don’t fix your credit report. Just make it simple.
Just dispute the accounts you have decided to start with – those that need to be removed, updated or changed. Now if your letter is too confusing, there is a good chance it will get tossed. You don’t need to go into any personal tales. Just keep it simple and short.
5. Lastly the ‘procedural request’ – asking for the method of verification. If you get some accounts deleted that’s good. But for those that came back “verified” you can ask for a ‘procedural request.’ The credit reporting agencies and credit bureaus are obligated by law to provide you with the exact method your creditors used to verify the information that they are reporting to the agency on your credit report. Requesting this information, forces the credit bureau to provide you with the information they received from your creditor as valid proof.
The creditor needs to have proof of why if they replied to your dispute stating that your account should remain on your credit report. The creditor rarely ever provides the credit reporting agency or credit bureau with this information. So, by doing this you’re putting pressure on them to prove it. Otherwise they will have to remove it.
Make sure to keep records of everything the bureaus and your creditors send to you in case you find some day that you have to sue them for violating your federal rights. If you follow these credit repair tips you should be well on your way to fixing your credit for good!
PABLO





