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.
Sometimes, you may look at your free credit scores and credit information only to find it rife with errors. First, get your free credit scores online from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion at www.AnnualCreditReport.com, then print them out and highlight any negative information. Circle disputed records. Check the expiration dates of the records. Bankruptcy filing records should have expired 10 years after the first filing date, charge-offs should be gone within 7 years, collection records should expire within 7 years and 180 days after the last late payment, closed accounts should be removed in 7 years, foreclosure records last for 7 years, inquiries will remain on your credit report for 1-2 years but will not hurt your overall score, judgments/court decisions will remain for 7 years after the filing date, late payments of more than 30 days remain for 7 years, repossession records persist for 7 years and tax liens can remain indefinitely, if unpaid, or else 7 years from the paid date.
To file a dispute about your credit information, you can write a dispute letter to all three major credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. On the letter, put the date, your name, address, 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 all previous communication, account records or statements that will help prove your version of the truth. By letter is the best way to dispute with Equifax and TransUnion, although Experian only allows online disputes. The credit bureaus then have 30 days to check and repair your credit info. Once it’s finished, they will write you a letter infoming you what was or was not updated. If you’re not happy with the results, then you can try again with different documentation or go directly to the creditor to try and resolve.
Often, checking your credit information is the only way to bring to light an identity theft if you are don’t use one of the identity theft products such as Life Lock who monitor your credit information for you and look for any unusual activity. If you find unusual in your credit information that you have absolutely no explanation for, a new credit card, a new TV on credit etc. get in touch with the bureaus immediately and police for help. Without any type of protection, monitoring your credit information is probably the only chance to avoid identity theft running out of control with your finances. It won’t prevent it from occurring 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.