- Fair Credit Reporting Act
- Lets introduce this right off the bat because this is very
important, in fact, its your stronghold of credit repair. The Fair
Credit Reporting Act is a law that states a consumer should have fair
rights to proper credit reporting. This law allows a person to dispute
any errors in his/her credit report.
- You have a right! - If you have been denied financing,
employment, or any other matter that may involves a credit check, you
have the right to send a letter in writing to the credit bureau
explaining your denial and you will receive a free copy of your credit
report. You must do it within 60 days of the denial. If you find any
discrepancies in your report, you have the right to dispute them in
writing also.
- The three major credit bureau's - When you send any letters
to the credit bureau's, you'll need to know which one to send to.
Sometimes a lender, or other persons requesting a credit check, will
only request the check from one bureau...or sometimes, all three. When
denied credit, you will receive a letter in the mail stating why you
were denied and who supplied the credit check. You can speed up the
process by asking the lender, or other persons requesting a credit
check, who they obtain their reports from. The three major bureau's are:
Equifax, 800- 685-1111,
www.equifax.com; Experian, 800-682-7654,
www.experian.com; and
TransUnion, 800-916-8800,
www.transunion.com.
- Don't ask the lender for details. - Well, you can ask the
lender details about your credit report, but, they won't tell you. Why?
Well, its not just cause they're mean...it's the law. That's right, as
frustrating as it might be...they are not allowed to share any details
of that credit report sitting right in front of them. So, just ask them
what bureau they got it from...they are allowed to tell you that.
- Be aware of scams! - There are many scams nowadays for credit
repair. Some state that you can create a second, fresh and clean record.
This is not true at all. Some also say that they can "erase"
items off of your record. This is not true at all either. Each
person has credit reports based on their social security number. Unless
you have two of them...you're not getting a second credit report. And,
the only way to have something erased off your credit report is to
dispute it, and prove it, then it will be removed. Otherwise, it will
remain on your record for 7 years. Even if you have a loan, with a bunch
of late payments, and then pay it off...the late payments will remain on
your report for 7 years.
- Not denied credit? - If you don't qualify for a free credit
report, due to a denial within the last 60 days, you can still obtain a
copy of your credit report. In this case, it is not free. They are
fairly inexpensive however. There are some agencies that do sell
"packages" such as a 3 in 1 report with other features. These are
usually not a very bad deal, it sometimes can save you time and
sometimes have other benefits included. These agencies are not necessary
however. You can simply contact the bureaus yourself.
- Tips and Tricks. - There are some useful tips to improve your
credit. 1.Before you attempt any kind of repair, the best thing
to do is to contact the party you owe money to. If you have an
account that has not been paid on, or is late often, contact them and
arrange some kind of deal. If you have a delinquent account,
lenders will frown more on the fact that you are paying nothing at all.
2. If possible, pay ahead!! If you can pay ahead a month or two,
this is usually major bonus points. If you do, make sure not to just
send a regular check to go towards your pay off...instead send them for
your monthly payments. For example, if your April payment of $300.00 is
due now and you want to pay ahead a couple of months...don't just send a
check for $1200.00. Instead, write 3 different checks and write the
payment on each one (April payment, May payment, June payment). Also,
stagger them out when mailing...try to leave a week gap between each
check. 3. The best rule of thumb to maintaining a good credit
report is to not be late on your payments...be on time, and they'll love
you!
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