There are a number of tools available to consumers that can be used to remove derogatory credit items from a credit report. One such tool is the goodwill deletion letter. The goodwill deletion letter is a simple request to a creditor such as a credit card company or auto lender or bank that request the creditor remove a negative reference regarding an individual credit history as a matter of good will. Unlike a pay for delete letter, in which the request to delete a derogatory account … [Read more...]
Judgments, Bankruptcies, Public Records and Credit Scores
July 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Bad credit comes in a number of different flavors. Late payments on a credit a card, collection accounts or a charged off medical debt can all fall under the heading of bad credit leading to a bad credit score. While these accounts and trade lines are all contributing factors to bad credit, there are some items in your credit report that are more damaging than others. The biggest contributors to poor credit and a low credit score are judgments, bankruptcies and other public records. A … [Read more...]
Getting a Free Credit Report When You are Denied for a Loan
June 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Under the current credit reporting laws, consumers are entitled to receive a free copy of their credit report for a number of different reasons. Consumer are entitled to receive a free credit report from one of more of the three major credit reporting agencies when they are denied credit based on information in their credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the law that covers credit report access based on loan and credit denials. The law allows the consumer that is denied … [Read more...]
Credit Report Dispute Letter
April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The credit dispute letter is the foundation for credit report repairs and the number one way to improve a credit score. After reviewing your credit report, if you find something incorrect in the report, you should notify, in writing, the credit reporting agency that provided the report. This is the process to dispute credit report information. The error that is to be covered in the credit dispute letter can be small or large, the account balance, payment history or date last paid. As … [Read more...]
Improve Your Credit Score by Identifying Errors in Your Credit Report
April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
One of the first steps to improving your credit score is locate the problem areas. To identify the problems in your credit report you first have to review a current report and find the individual tradelines, accounts or other data that poses a problem. This requires more than just obtaining your credit report and highlighting the inaccurate data. Inaccurate data that is not causing your credit score to fall is of little importance unless you simply want your credit report to reflect the … [Read more...]
Debt Settlement Letter
March 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Making arrangements to clear up collection accounts in your credit reports should involve a debt settlement letter to spell out the terms of paying the outstanding debt. Working with a collection agency or any collection account directly with a creditor can be a difficult chore, writing a debt settlement letter is an important tool to ensure that the best arrangement you can make is established in writing. There are certain guidelines you should keep in mind when approaching a debts … [Read more...]
Credit Report Security News with FTC Actions
March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Credit Report security and identity theft is big business for both the crooks stealing consumer data and the U.S. governments efforts to stop the thieves. The Federal Trade Commission has recently taken action against some businesses that engage in reselling credit reports but failed to take proper security precautions to safe guard the consumer credit data. A number of credit reporting agencies act as resellers of credit data that is mainly derived from the big three credit reporting … [Read more...]
Buy a Credit Score
February 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The process to buy a credit score can be a little confusing. A credit score can be calculated by a number of different methods and can be offered by more than one company. An individuals credit score may be based on different credit score models using different credit reports. It certainly does sound like a complicated mess of information. Thankfully it appears more complicated than it really is. Consumers need a little advance knowledge to be aware of their credit score and credit … [Read more...]
Charge Offs, Avoid This at All Costs
February 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Being late paying your bills is not unusual and happens to the best of us. If a situation arises where you suddenly cannot pay your bills – loss of a job or a medical emergency – it is important to understand just what will happen if you find yourself delinquent on a loan or other debt. The last stage of a delinquent debt is generally identified as a charge off and this item, when it is recorded in an individual’s credit report may very well be one of the most damaging items impacting … [Read more...]
What is a Judgment
February 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
A judgment is the legal document stating the final decision on the outcome of a lawsuit. For many consumer credit cases the judgment involves a debt that is owed. In these cases, the judgment is frequently a monetary award to the plaintiff which is usually a creditor such as a credit card company or bank. The judgment in debt disputes may include a formal document issued by the court ordering the defendant to pay a certain amount of money to the credit card company or bank or whomever who has … [Read more...]