Archive for February, 2010

A question about credit score/report?

† I’m Not Tired † asked:


Let’s just say that someone was to pay off all of their debts at once.

Once debt-free, how long would it take for the credit bureaus to update one’s credit score to show a vast improvement?

Sherry

 

Can anyone tell me the best credit reporting site?

aizend1985 asked:


I am looking to cleanup my credit; I need a credit reporting site that will show all three bureaus. I am not looking for anything free, but if it is free that would be amazing, lol. Regardless, I would really like to know the best sites for reporting :D

Gertrude
 

Philadelphia Free Credit Report – Philadelphia Pennsylvania Credit Report

Jamie Mathis asked:


Click Here to Get Your Philadelphia Free Credit Report Now!

Get a Philadelphia Free Credit Report today. If you are a resident of Philadelphia, you owe it to yourself to sign up for a free credit report. A Philadelphia Credit Report will help you learn about your credit score and other important financial information – a free Philadelphia Credit Report will also protect you from identity theft!

Philadelphia Residents – Click Here & Sign Up to Receive Your Free Credit Report

A credit report is a record of an individual’s or company’s past borrowing and repaying, including information about late payments and bankruptcy. In the U.S., when a customer fills out an application for credit from a bank, store or credit card company, their information is forwarded to a credit bureau. The credit bureau matches the name, address and other identifying information on the credit applicant with information retained by the bureau in its files. That’s why it’s very important for all Americans to know and understand their credit score. This information is used by lenders such as credit card companies to determine an individual’s credit worthiness; that is, determining an individual’s willingness to repay a loan.

These factors help lenders determine whether to extend credit, and on what terms. With the adoption of risk-based pricing on almost all lending in the financial services industry, this report has become even more important since it is usually the sole element used to choose the annual percentage rate (APR), grace period and other contractual obligations of the credit card or loan. Don’t wait – click on the link above to get your Philadelphia Free Credit Report now!



Gary
 

Credit Report – How Do Late Payments Affect My Credit Report and Score?

Helen Hecker asked:




Of course you don’t want to make any late payments on your credit cards or loans and affect your credit report and score unless you absolutely have to, but what happens if you’re unable to avoid it? It all depends on whether you’re 30, 60 or 90 days past due. If it’s only one late payment you may be able to dispute it and get it removed from your credit report but if it’s more than one that may be difficult to do. And it depends on whether it’s currently past due or long term past due, and other factors.

Understanding how FICO credit scoring works for late payments will help you avoid late payments and understand which late payments will show up for the long term and which payments won’t.

Put simply, FICO credit scores are used by credit card companies, loan and mortgage companies, utility and insurance companies etc., to predict how reliable you’ll be as a customer and how much they can trust you make the payments.

If you’re 30 days late on a payment it will affect your credit score only when it’s reported to the credit bureau. The same applies to 60-day late payments. However these are considered short term and may not cause any lasting damage to your scores. If this happens over and over then this will not be the case. Also a one time late payment of 30-60 days may never be reported to the credit reporting agency. You can avoid a lot of worry by finding out if the creditor reports a currently 30 or 60-day late payment or not. Many do not.

If you’re 90 days late it’s another matter. This can damage your credit report and score for seven years, unless you can get it removed. If it was in error or you had some special circumstances and your credit history has been good then it is worth a try by writing a letter to the credit report company. The three main credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.

Credit card companies and other creditors look at 90-day or 120-day late payments as a red flag. They can no longer trust you to make your payments on time so your credit score will go down. Their purpose is to determine whether you’ll be able to make your payments on time or at least before 90 days have passed. It doesn’t matter if the payment was for $25 or $1000, they will look at it the same way.

Also sometimes late payments may cause a rise in the interest rates on your credit cards.

If you can avoid making any late payments you’ll dramatically improve the scores on your credit report. And if you haven’t gotten your copy of your personal, annual, free credit report online yet then get one now. Study it and then find out how your current creditors look at late payments. Call them up and find out if they report a 30 or 60-day late payment to the credit reporting agency.

Best of all find some emergency ways to completely avoid making any late payments. Try making your payments online a few days early to avoid payments getting lost in the mail. If at all possible find things you can sell or do some small part-time work from home and try to make a small emergency fund.

Do anything you can to avoid making a late payment. But if it happens, make it as soon a possible so it doesn’t go into a 90-day problem. Ninety days is the point where it’ll be difficult to turn things around and seriously affect your credit report and score and future borrowing opportunities. It’s best to spend a little time learning about credit reports, how you can fix or repair your credit report and scores now and how you can raise your credit scores fast. You may be doing some things you had no idea would cause your scores to drop.

Johnny
 

Fix Bad Credit – 3 Amazing Insider Secrets That the Credit Bureaus Don’t Want You to See!

Mark J Garcia asked:




The Credit Bureaus exist for one reason, and one reason only…to make money! Each and every one of the bureaus is a publicly traded company. They make most of their revenue by selling information to lending institutions, insurance companies, utility companies, credit card issuing banks, and employers.

They DO NOT make money by researching your disputes…in fact, it costs them time, money, and resources to investigate them. Is it any wonder then who the bureaus ultimately serve?

Bureau Secret #1 Credit Bureau Reports – Your 92 Scores

Reports and scores are created “on the fly” whenever they are requested by you, a creditor, or a lender. In fact, you can have up to 92 different scores…23 different scores for each Bureau: Trans Union, Experian, Equifax and don’t forget the little known “other” bureau named Innovis.

Remember your credit scores can vary drastically depending on who pulls the report and the particular profile applied to you. This Bureau process is especially problematic if you are thinking of getting a home loan or mortgage. The score you see if you request it from a major reporting bureau or an on-line service WILL be different – and probably much higher than the score you receive from a Mortgage Broker.

Why?

One reason is that when you pull a report from an online service 18 elements of identification have to match exactly. For example, all of the letters of your last name need to match. That means you are more likely to get accurate information.

When the bureaus pull reports for lenders, usually only 9 elements have to match, for example only 2 letters in your last name. So, more errors and erroneous information will appear on your score – lowering it. Why do the Bureaus provide different – and LOWER – scores to lenders?

Because they’ve decided that by reporting lower – more conservative scores to lenders, they would be less likely to be sued by lenders if the borrower defaults on the loan.

Do you think the major reporting bureaus care about showing lenders your true credit worthiness? I am here to tell you that they don’t! Matter of fact, if you would like to find out more information about how the bureaus are royally screwing over the American Consumer, I have created a newsletter that details shocking news about the 3 Major Bureaus

Bureau Secret #2 Credit Bureau Reports – Your Scores are NOT Accurate

Did you know that your score is probably inaccurate? According to a recent Public Interest Group Research study, more than 70% of Reports contain errors. Oh sure, the Bureaus say to the public that only 20% of reports contain errors, but that’s a bunch of Bureau bologna, because when they are in court under oath they admit that more than 50% of reports contain errors.

What kind of errors are probably on your report – and making you pay more for your home, auto loan, insurance, credit cards and student loans? The study found that 29% of reports contain serious errors that don’t belong including; false delinquencies that can kill your score.

41% of reports contain personal demographic information that was incorrect, outdated, or misspelled. 20% of credit reports – 1 in 5!!!! were missing major loan mortgage or other information to demonstrate the worthiness of the consumer. 26% of reports contained accounts that were in incorrectly listed as open (or) “closed by credit grantor.” When your account is “closed by grantor” it looks like you did something wrong and that’s bad for your scores.
Bureau Secret #3 What Is Your Real, Accurate, and True FICO Score?

Did you know that over 90% of the financial institutions in the world will use scores from one organization only? The name of that company is Fair Isaac Corporation or as they are more commonly known FICO.

The location where I recommend that you purchase your credit scores from is from the Fair Isaac Corporation at their main website. Now, I recommend going to a certain section of their website where you will get a true picture of why your scores are behaving the way they are

This website will not only give you the most current status of your reports, but it will also show you your FICO Scores from all 3 bureaus.

This is the only place you should ever get your scores, because your FICO scores are the ones from where most lenders will base their acceptance of your credit application.

I find it interesting that the major bureaus also have their own version of scores that they try to sell to you and I. However none of the people you are trying to get to extend you a loan will even look at those scores! It is just another example of the greedy bureaus trying to squeeze more and more money from us.

Let’s Wrap This Up…

So as you can see, there are many myths disguised as truths when it comes to credit and credit repair. There are also hidden secrets that the credit bureaus don’t want you to know. I hope that since you are now armed with this knowledge, you won’t fall victim to false information that exists out there.

Your Credit Score Insider, Mark J. Garcia

Kathleen