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...]
Credit Reports are the Foundation for Credit Scores
October 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A credit score, often referred to as a FICO score, is a number based on the information in an individual’s credit file or credit report. Because your score is constructed from the information in your credit report it is always worthwhile to review your credit report to find out what is causing either a low credit score or a good credit score. In fact, it is hard to improve your credit score numbers if you don’t know what is in your credit report causing the low numbers. Since a … [Read more...]
Changes to Credit Score Calculations
February 27, 2010 By 1 Comment
In 2007 Fair Isaac Corporation, creators of the FICO credit scoring system announced that they would change how their credit score models evaluate credit report data. The new credit score, referred to as FICO 08, was delayed in its implementation until the second half of 2009. The FICO score model is kept under wraps by the company that created it, but it is always a good idea to obtain a general understanding as to what makes a good or bad credit score. With the knowledge of what drives … [Read more...]
Fair Credit Reporting Act
February 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a United States federal law that provides consumer protections and regulates the collection, distribution, accuracy and privacy regarding the use of consumer credit reports. The law was originally passed in 1970 and has been amended since. Companies that gather and sell information about consumers regarding where they work and reside, how they pay their bills, and whether they have public records filed make up the credit reporting industry. The FCRA … [Read more...]
Credit Repair Scams Halted by FTC
February 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
In October, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission sent out a press release regarding charges brought against another credit repair scam operation. Credit report repair services that offer to repair credit for consumers have popped up across the nation. Unfortunately, many of these organizations fail to help consumers and in some egregious cases, violate the law by taking money in advance and deceiving consumers regarding the services they perform to improve credit histories and credit … [Read more...]
How to Read a Credit Report
January 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Understanding how to read a credit can be important when it comes time to review a credit report that may have been ordered as a free credit report or when credit report is ordered through a credit reporting agency to review the report and credit score or when someone may have to discuss the contents of their credit report with a creditor. How the information is displayed in a credit report will be different depending which credit reporting agency produced the report. However, the … [Read more...]
Severe Negative Information in a Credit Report
October 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment
One of the four main components of credit data in a credit report includes public record information. Public records include items such as bankruptcies, tax liens, legal judgments and other legal proceedings recorded by a court. These records are often the biggest drags on a credit score. Some of these accounts may be able to be cleared up or removed from the credit history or credit report with a little bit of work. Most of these public records unfortunately, can not be altered or … [Read more...]
Beware of the Little Things that can Hurt Your Credit Score
August 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Countless articles regarding credit inform consumers about the big events that can have a negative impact on their credit score. But, many consumers fail to realize all the little transactions or little known transactions that may have a fairly significant and harmful influence on their credit score. We all now the importance of good credit and a good credit score in our society with its wide ranging impact from credit and borrowing to employment to insurance and housing and more. Most … [Read more...]