Free Credit Report

If you’ve ever applied for a credit card or loan, you’ve probably had
your credit report reviewed by the lender. Your credit report has a huge impact on your financial future, so it’s well worth your time to be sure that you understand what your credit report says about you. Even if you’re not interested in obtaining credit, your credit report can impact other areas of your life. Potential employers view your credit report to assess your trustworthiness as an employee. Landlords frequently check the credit reports of their tenants before allowing them to sign or renew their lease.

So whether you knew it or not, your credit report can have a major impact on
your quality of life. With this said I’m sure you can now see that there is a
benefit to obtaining and then verifying that the information on your credit
report is accurate and true.

You can request copies of your report from the three major credit bureaus:
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act requires each of these national consumer-reporting companies to
provide you with a yearly free copy of your credit report upon your request.

Basically, your credit report is a summary of how you pay your bills; repay
loans; how much credit you have available; what your monthly debts are; and
other types of information that can help a prospective lender decide if you are
a good credit risk.

Your credit report is made up of several sections. The first section contains
personal identifying information such as your name, current and previous
addresses, social security number, telephone number, birth date, and your
current and previous employers.

Your bill paying history with banks, retail stores, finance companies,
mortgage companies, and others who have granted you credit is one of the most
important parts of your credit report. Public records that might indicate your
credit worthiness, such as tax liens, court judgments, and bankruptcies are also
included in the section detailing your credit history.

Your credit report includes a comprehensive listing of all credit granters
and other individuals who have received a copy of your credit report. In
addition, lists of companies that have received your name and address in order
to offer you credit are also included in your credit report.

Most credit bureaus allow both the consumer and the creditor to make
statements if there is a dispute about something on the report. If applicable,
your credit report will include these dispute statements.

Your credit report does not include bank account balances, race, religion,
health, criminal records, driving records, or annual income. You’ve probably
heard about a FICO credit score as well. Credit scores are based on formulas
that use the information in your report, but they’re not considered part of
your credit report.

Problems with your credit report will result in you either being denied
credit or receiving a higher interest rate. Red flags on your credit report
include excessive applications for additional credit, a short credit history, a
high debt ratio, and late payments to previous creditors. In most cases,
negative information will stay on your report for seven years. However,
bankruptcy information stays on your credit report for ten years.

To help improve your credit report, always remember to close unused accounts,
pay your bills on time, never use all of your available credit, and don’t
apply for unnecessary credit.

If you would like to get more free
credit report information you can visit our website which contains many credit
report resources. http://www.my-credit-report.info

This article is copyright 2005, but can be freely reprinted, as long as no
changes are made, including hyperlinks.

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Most people are familiar with the term credit report but not everyone has a clear picture of exactly what a credit report it is. Your credit report can be viewed as a report card of your financial and credit activities. You are “graded” on your payment timeliness and credit activity. The fewer late payments you have made and the fewer delinquent accounts you have, the better your grade will be. Your credit score is basically a cumulative grade of your credit report. It is important to know what is on your credit report to ensure that your credit activity is being reported correctly.

But unlike a regular report card, you will not receive a copy of your credit report unless you request one. There is more than one way to go about when requesting a copy of your credit report. For a fee, you can receive a copy directly from one of the major credit bureaus. Or you can obtain a free copy from one of the many companies available on the Internet. There are many reputable companies that will provide you with a copy of your credit report completely free of charge. Visit www.credit-report-credit-score.com to learn more about credit reports and how to get a free copy of your credit report.

Some people may be a little skeptical about requesting a copy of their free credit report and may wonder if it is as good as a copy that you would pay for. But rest assured that a free credit report contains the exact same information that you would receive if you had paid for a copy directly from the credit bureaus.

You may be wondering why would companies provide you with a free copy of your credit report and is there a catch? Most companies that will grant you a free copy of your credit report require that you sign up for a credit monitoring service of some sort. But as long as you cancel the service before the free trial period ends, then you never pay a penny and still get to keep your free credit report. However, there are some really good credit services out there if you choose to keep the service. Many people have greatly improved their credit situation with these types of services. So make sure that you know all of the benefits before canceling a credit service that may accompany your free credit report.

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Note: This article may be freely reproduced as long as the authors bio paragraph at the bottom of this article is included, the article is published “as is” (unedited) and all URL’s are made active hyperlinks with no syntax changes.

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About The Author

This article was written by Beth Pardue who has over 10 years of experience in the financial industry assisting clients with assorted financial needs. To learn more about credit reports or to get a free credit report online please visit: http://www.credit-report-credit-score.com

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Christmas (yes I said the ‘C’ word — Ho! Ho! Ho!) is just around the corner and consumer spending is once again at an all time high. For those of you that are struggling from the effects of bad credit the holiday season offers a small window of opportunity which, if acted upon, could open many possibilities for you in the New Year.

People often ask me why the holidays are the best time to repair their credit. Well, I have a theory. In preparation for the flood of holiday credit applications creditors shift gears and temporarily transfer dispute resolution staff to other divisions to handle the unusually high volume of new business. Being that the creditors make much more money increasing their customer base it seems understandable that they justify slacking off in the dispute department for a month or so each year. This temporary trend allows for your disputes to go unanswered which results in the items being deleted.

Another more obvious reason is that the holiday season is a time of vacation, cheer, forgiveness, charity and new beginnings. This combination tips the scales in your favor in a measurable way. It is common knowledge among credit professionals that this time of the year is perfect for disputing credit items on your credit report. The law states that if you dispute something on your credit report the credit bureaus have thirty days in which to verify that the item is valid or remove it. The vision of an understaffed creditor’s office with phones ringing off the hook and overworked employees surfing the net for last minute gift comes to mind. Your chances are great.

Now comes the hard part. Where do you start? Allow me to point you in the right direction. While each major credit bureau (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) has online disputing methods we have found them to be more trouble than they are worth, often taking hours to dredge through and providing dismal results when you do. Besides, you want a paper trail and return receipt snail mail is still the only way. What we recommend you do is obtain an inexpensive how to book or even better, an e-book with templates and devote an hour to doing it yourself. We have one featured at our website (link below) that is a 1,2,3, kit designed to have you finished in about an hour.

You may also choose to pay money for a company to assist you. This is also a good option. There are many reputable credit repair companies online. Before you do that and commit to $50 to $100 per month for twelve to eighteen months do yourself a favor and check out how easy it is to do it yourself.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Copyright December 2005, yourcreditcures.com, USA

Tad MacPherson is a credit specialist with years of experience assisting consumers with repairing, restoring and reestablishing their credit. Get free advice and valuable credit tools at http://www.yourcreditcures.com.
ATTENTION Ezine Editors/Site Owners Feel free to reprint this article in it’s entirety in your ezine or on your website as long as you leave all the links in place, do not modify the content and include our resource box as listed above.

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