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...]
Identify Credit Report Problems
December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
One of the first steps to improve a credit score is to fix the credit report that is the underlying problem directing the low score. An individual’s credit score, whether it is good or bad, is based solely on the data found in that individuals credit report. To improve a credit score therefore requires an improvement in the underlying data in the credit report. In order to repair any issues in a credit report that is the cause of an individual’s low credit score, it is necessary to … [Read more...]
How to Increase Your Credit Score
November 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
In order to improve your credit score, it's important to know where your credit stands currently. By understanding how your credit report looks now, you can see what factors are driving down your credit score and what aspects of your credit needs work to increase your credit score. Your credit score is calculated based on the information in your credit report. Any errors or negative information in the credit report can push your credit score lower as can limited credit or limited … [Read more...]
Contact Credit Reporting Agencies
October 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There are generally two reasons consumers need to contact credit reporting agencies. Credit reporting agencies can be contacted to obtain a free credit report or the credit reporting agencies may be contacted to handle a credit report dispute. To contact a credit reporting agency in order to obtain a free copy of your credit report, the best method is to use the website set up to make these requests for all three of the major credit reporting agencies. The three major consumer credit … [Read more...]
Credit Report Dispute
October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
To help fix your credit score or credit report, the process that often has the quickest and biggest impact is the credit report dispute. To dispute the information in your credit report you must send a dispute letter to each of the major credit reporting agencies. A dispute letter is a consumer’s means to challenge the accuracy or validity of information in their credit report. The value of the credit report dispute letter comes from the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA … [Read more...]
Review on how to Get Free Credit Score with myFICO
October 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Obtaining a free copy of your credit report has become very easy task thanks to government intervention and the establishment of the FACT Act. The destination on the internet to go to for a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com. The service is entirely free; unfortunately, a free credit score is not included with that site or service. There are several options to review when it comes to getting a copy of your credit score. Whether it is a free credit score or not is … [Read more...]
Remove Inquiries from Credit Report Sample Letter
September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
When trying to improve a credit score, removing inquiries from the credit report can help. Inquiries, as a rule, have very little impact on a credit score but they can shape the score if there are a number of credit report inquiries in a short period time recorded in the credit report especially when the individual credit report has a limited credit profile or credit history. Before a consumer pursues the process of trying to remove the inquiries from a credit report they should be … [Read more...]
Remove Inquiries from Credit Report
September 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Since the Fair Credit Reporting Act allows only authorized inquiries to appear in a consumer credit report, consumer can remove inquiries from a credit report. To remove inquires from a credit report a consumer should first be fully aware of the credit inquiry and credit score process. According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, businesses with a permissible purpose may review the information in your credit report. Every time you apply for credit whether it is a mortgage or credit card, … [Read more...]
Credit Report Inquiries
September 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Credit report inquiries are recorded in credit reports every time a business that is authorized to view your credit report does so. Although credit report inquiries are often necessary, too many credit inquiries can reduce a credit score. A credit score can be lower as a result of too many inquiries which is an indication that you have been applying for multiple new credit lines in a short period of time. By federal law, your credit report must list all parties that have made an inquiry … [Read more...]
Debt Validation Letter Sample
September 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Debt validation, which can also sometimes be referred to as debt verification, is the process of challenging the validity of a debt being collected by a debt collector. The right to dispute the debt and receive debt validation from a collection agency is part of the consumer's rights under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Consumers that want to a debt validation or dispute the actual debt and/or the amount of a debt must send a debt validation letter within the first … [Read more...]