Posts Tagged Misinformation
Don’t Pay For Your Free Personal Credit Report
Tim Parker asked:
All over the Internet, advertised on TV and radio, and saturating magazines are reports for services that will help you obtain your free personal credit report. Here’s the bottom line: Although I don’t have personal experience with these services, if they are charging you fees, they are banking on the fact that you don’t know that you can get it for free.
As you probably know, you are entitled to view your free personal credit report from the three reporting agencies for free once every 12 months. Notice that I said, FOR FREE three times. You don’t have to pay anything if you view it online. It’s extremely easy to obtain but you don’t do it by going to one of those advertised sites. Instead you go to a site that isn’t advertised. It’s the official site to get your free credit report called Annualcreditreport.com.
The process is very easy. Go to the above site, select your state and answer the questions. Select all three credit reporting agencies and get each report. Make sure to print each report and go over it with a fine tooth comb. If you see any errors, go to each reporting agency’s website and follow the instructions to dispute the misinformation.
While you may be tempted to close out your unused credit cards that have been sitting idle, the credit experts recommend not closing these accounts. Apparently it is better for your credit score to keep these accounts open By closing your cards, it decreases the amount of credit available to you which increases your debt load. Also, keep track of your FICO score. Your FICO score is what qualifies you for a loan and sometimes a job.
The most important thing to take from this article is this: Do not pay for your FREE personal credit reports. It’s quick, it’s painless, and it’s free when you go to the site that is set up by the government.
Philip
All over the Internet, advertised on TV and radio, and saturating magazines are reports for services that will help you obtain your free personal credit report. Here’s the bottom line: Although I don’t have personal experience with these services, if they are charging you fees, they are banking on the fact that you don’t know that you can get it for free.
As you probably know, you are entitled to view your free personal credit report from the three reporting agencies for free once every 12 months. Notice that I said, FOR FREE three times. You don’t have to pay anything if you view it online. It’s extremely easy to obtain but you don’t do it by going to one of those advertised sites. Instead you go to a site that isn’t advertised. It’s the official site to get your free credit report called Annualcreditreport.com.
The process is very easy. Go to the above site, select your state and answer the questions. Select all three credit reporting agencies and get each report. Make sure to print each report and go over it with a fine tooth comb. If you see any errors, go to each reporting agency’s website and follow the instructions to dispute the misinformation.
While you may be tempted to close out your unused credit cards that have been sitting idle, the credit experts recommend not closing these accounts. Apparently it is better for your credit score to keep these accounts open By closing your cards, it decreases the amount of credit available to you which increases your debt load. Also, keep track of your FICO score. Your FICO score is what qualifies you for a loan and sometimes a job.
The most important thing to take from this article is this: Do not pay for your FREE personal credit reports. It’s quick, it’s painless, and it’s free when you go to the site that is set up by the government.
Philip
Keep An Eye On Your Credit: How Often Should You Review Your Credit Report?
Jay Delgado asked:
There is no doubt that your credit report contains a lot of information that can have a direct impact on your lifestyle. It is also true that other people are reviewing your credit file and making judgments about you and your ability to repay. What do they see? Should you be at all concerned about the information is included in your credit report? You should be very concerned with the information included in your credit report because it has a direct impact on your life. The information on your credit report can break you or make you and it does not go away overnight.
Regularly reviewing your credit report is not only a great way to keep tabs on how well you are doing financially; it is also a great way to protect yourself from identity theft and credit reporting errors. Did you know that 25% of credit reports contain errors that are serious enough to cause a denial of credit? Keep in mind that these are just the serious errors. More than three quarters of credit reports contain errors due to typing mistakes, misinformation and human error.
Credit reporting agencies know that their system is not fool proof, so they have set in place avenues that people can use to have incorrect information removed from their credit report. But you can not have information removed if you do not know it is there in the first place.
Most financial advisers recommend that you should review your credit report every 90 days or four times per year. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three major reporting bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, each year. So, that is three out of four, right? Not exactly.
You see not all lenders report to all agencies. This means that your report from Experian could look completely different from a report issued by Equifax. One report might contain errors while the other is spot on. The only way to know for sure is to pull all three reports and compare them at the same time. This should be done every 90 days.
If you absolutely cannot afford to purchase reports from the agencies three times a year, you can stagger your free credit reports throughout the year. Keep in mind, though, that you may not be seeing the whole picture.
How much do credit reports cost? Depending on the bureau, you can be charged up to $10.50 for your credit report. So you are looking at roughly $90 a year to keep tabs on your credit. Remember; these fees do not include your credit score. You will also NOT be supplied a credit score along with your free reports. If you want to know your credit score, you can request it but it will cost you about $5 to $7.
Ninety dollars a year may sound steep, but not knowing could be costing you much more. You could be overpaying thousands of dollars in interest payments each year because of something on your credit report that you do not know about.
ESTEBAN
There is no doubt that your credit report contains a lot of information that can have a direct impact on your lifestyle. It is also true that other people are reviewing your credit file and making judgments about you and your ability to repay. What do they see? Should you be at all concerned about the information is included in your credit report? You should be very concerned with the information included in your credit report because it has a direct impact on your life. The information on your credit report can break you or make you and it does not go away overnight.
Regularly reviewing your credit report is not only a great way to keep tabs on how well you are doing financially; it is also a great way to protect yourself from identity theft and credit reporting errors. Did you know that 25% of credit reports contain errors that are serious enough to cause a denial of credit? Keep in mind that these are just the serious errors. More than three quarters of credit reports contain errors due to typing mistakes, misinformation and human error.
Credit reporting agencies know that their system is not fool proof, so they have set in place avenues that people can use to have incorrect information removed from their credit report. But you can not have information removed if you do not know it is there in the first place.
Most financial advisers recommend that you should review your credit report every 90 days or four times per year. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three major reporting bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, each year. So, that is three out of four, right? Not exactly.
You see not all lenders report to all agencies. This means that your report from Experian could look completely different from a report issued by Equifax. One report might contain errors while the other is spot on. The only way to know for sure is to pull all three reports and compare them at the same time. This should be done every 90 days.
If you absolutely cannot afford to purchase reports from the agencies three times a year, you can stagger your free credit reports throughout the year. Keep in mind, though, that you may not be seeing the whole picture.
How much do credit reports cost? Depending on the bureau, you can be charged up to $10.50 for your credit report. So you are looking at roughly $90 a year to keep tabs on your credit. Remember; these fees do not include your credit score. You will also NOT be supplied a credit score along with your free reports. If you want to know your credit score, you can request it but it will cost you about $5 to $7.
Ninety dollars a year may sound steep, but not knowing could be costing you much more. You could be overpaying thousands of dollars in interest payments each year because of something on your credit report that you do not know about.
ESTEBAN