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Your Credit Information And How It Effects Your Life
By plrprousers | September 16, 2008
When you ask for a student loan, try to get financing for a car or apply for a mortgage, the lender will look at your credit information. They will look at the numbered score in the credit scores range from 300 to 850, high scores being the best, then at the rest of your profile. They can look back over the past seven years to see if you’ve missed a cell phone bill payment, defaulted on a previous student loan, let a medical bill slip into collection or made a settlement offer on a past credit card. By assessing this financial information, the lender will determine how much risk you pose as a client and will determine the conditions of a loan based on that profile. Therefore, it is important that you take a look at your free credit scores at www.AnnualCreditReport.com to find out if improving credit scores should be your focus.
To improve your credit information, you’ll need to obviously pay off all existing debts, but this is easier said than done, isn’t it? Some people like to go through a credit counselor or debt relief agency, while others do it on their own through responsible planning. After looking at the credit report services files, you can write down all the balances and interest rates you need to keep track of. Write down your monthly income after taxes and deduct your rent or mortgage payment, as well as other monthly expenses like utilities, insurance, loan payments and groceries. Then you’ll know how much you have remaining to pay off your debts. Consider ways to reduce your spending, such as car-pooling to work, eating out less often or turning off your cable for a little while. Also, brainstorm whether you can make supplemental income somehow. To develop a good plan, pay off your minimum monthly debt payments first and then use the remaining to pay off the highest interest rate and highest balance. Soon you’ll be on your way toward improving credit scores.
To file a dispute about your credit information, you can write a dispute letter to each of the three of the credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In your letter, put the date, your address and name, phone number and social security number. Just write “The following data is incorrect and should be updated,” then list each inaccuracy, explaining why it’s wrong and what it should be updated with. Attach a marked copy of your credit score report and include any communication, account records or statements that can help prove your version of the truth. By letter is the best way to dispute with Equifax and TransUnion, but Experian only allows online disputes. The credit bureaus then have 30 days to investigate and repair your credit information. Once they are done, they will write you a letter infoming you what was or was not updated. If you’re not satisfied with the contents of the letter, then you can try to resubmit with different documentation or go directly to the creditor to try and fix at the source.
Sometimes, checking your credit information is the only way of discovering an identity theft if you are don’t use one of the identity theft products such as Life Lock who continually watch your credit information for you and watch for any strange activity. If you find strange in your credit information that you have positively no explanation for, a new credit card, a new computer on credit etc. get in touch with the all 3 bureaus straight away and police for advice. Without any form of protection, taking a look at your credit information is really the only way to avoid identity theft running amok. It will not prevent it but at least it stops it.
To get more credit information, you can check out www.Credit.com. Here you can look up info on popular credit cards, like the Chevron credit card, learn how to plan to buy a house or a car, learn about overcoming challenges and poor credit scores, and get tools on planning for retirement. You can download money management worksheets and check out online finance calculators, as well as gain access to registered credit experts.
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