Free Credit Bureau Report

Samantha Monroe asked:




People who are keen on maintaining high credit score know the importance of a credit report. Having a very detailed credit report is the first step towards ensuring your credit score remains high.

Getting a detailed report from any of the bureaus may cost you some money. If you are really serious about keeping a check on your report, then you would know you need a real report and won’t find it difficult to spare $20 to get a very detailed report.

After getting a detailed report, you should continue in that same vein by going through the report with a fine comb and identifying EVERY wrong entry no matter how small. Every entry that is incorrect should and must be corrected for the sake of your credit score. NEVER over look anything.

Now you have all the wrong entries you have found and are ready to dispute. One important thing to bear in mind is that your letter MUST be concise because the bureaus have a huge amount of letters to treat so they do not need long letters as any such letter stands a risk of not being processed.

One big problem you may face is using the right identifying information for a given bureau as different bureaus have different identifiers. Send the right information to the right bureau.

Another sad truth here is that many people have tried to dispute without success and have had to repeat a number of times. Your letter may not even be processed so you should be ready and willing to keep sending.

Disputing a credit report, removing a judgment or generally repairing your credit does not have to be such a drag or a mission impossible. You can engage the services of professionals to take the burden off you while achieving results you may never be able to achieve on your own. Save yourself the heartache and disappointment of having you credit bureau dispute letter rejected or not processed by allowing professional handle it for you.

Dana

Duwayne Mcclendon asked:




When you are repairing you want to make sure all information is correct and there are no duplicate items on your credit report. I had noticed an old HSBC Tax Advance showing on my report twice, one was listed as being current with a $0 balance and the other had a balance of $441 and 120 days late! I had seen this on my report and at first was just going to wait it out until the 120 day late listing was updated to current with hopes my score would be higher with two accounts listed as current.

Today my patience got the best of me, I called Transunion which was the listing agency for the duplicate accounts and requested a deletion. At first the operator said “ok sir I will place the duplicate account for dispute,” I immediately told him I did not want to place a dispute but for him to delete the duplicate listing now. It was in my favor that both accounts had the same account number and that the 120 day listing was updated 11/2007 and the current listing was showing updated 12/2007.

After about 5 minutes the representative for Transunion confirmed the duplicate listing had been removed and if I needed any more assistance. I kindly thanked the representative of Transunion and proceeded to complete my daily credit pull from TrueCredit. WOO HOO! Account deleted and my score jumped 14 points!

When you are repairing your credit be persistent and make sure you have all your facts regarding the accounts when you call or write any of the three credit bureau (Equifax, Experian, Transunion). You have to legitimately prove the account is reporting improperly for the credit bureau to remove the listing for them to remove it.

Virginia

Reality Check asked:


I am in the process of repairing my credit. I already have the most up-to-date credit reports from the 3 major bureaus which I got for free from http://www.annualcreditreport.com

While repairing my credit, having debts deleted or paid off, etc…I want to be able to see the changes happening. I can only order my credit reports for free once per year…so cannot check to make sure that collectors are erasing the debts as being requested in negotiations. I was wondering if anyone uses a “realtime” credit monitoring service (preferably that is updated daily, or everytime a change is made to the report), so that I can validate my requests are happening.

I’m not so much concerned about the scoring…but if it’s included, then I suppose that’s a bonus. Any suggestions? Is there a way to request my FREE credit report more than once per year (e.g. tell the CRA’s that I am repairing credit, and need a fresh copy, etc) without having to pay each time?
Micki…you did not read my question at all. I am talking about online monitoring services, not a debt consolidator or debt management service. I am doing the work myself.
Sgt Big Red, thanks for the response. Are you referring to “they” as the CRA’s (Equifax, Experian, TU)? “They” make changes all the time to reports, without sending you an updated report, thus why you have to request it. Otherwise, every time someone inquires into my credit file, or reports me (adversely or positively), I would get a new credit report in the mail. I’m not so sure who you’re referring to…

If you mean the collection agency will send me an updated report, I wouldn’t count on that either…they just want their money to settle the debt, not send me an updated report.

Ron

Mandy Jacobson asked:




A lot of people usually simply ask, “How can I repair my credit?” You must be one of them. Well, there are a lot of ways to do so, such as hiring a credit repair agency to do the fixing for you, or repairing your own credit by yourself.

Perhaps the right question to ask is, “How can I repair my credit by myself?” You may find yourself in a situation where you need to desperately repair your credit. Even in extreme circumstances, or even in cases where your problems seem to be quite big, don’t be easily pushed into hiring a credit repair agency. Aside from the fact that it’s hard to find a credit repair agency that you can completely trust, hiring one will probably cost you a considerable amount of money. Besides, why do you have to shell out a lot when you can repair your credit by yourself.

How exactly can you repair your credit? Here are the simple steps in repairing your credit by yourself. The first step in repairing your credit is to get your credit reports and review them. It is better to obtain credit reports from more than one credit bureau, and get reports from the bureaus that are well-known and reputable in your country. The difference is that these credit bureaus are most likely the ones from which companies will get your records.

When you are reviewing your records, list all the items that you think will not look well on your records. Aside from simply listing down these items, as you run through them, come up with reasons why you are disputing them. When you dispute these items with the credit bureau, you will need to give a reason why you are doing so. It is also important to rank each item according to their effects on your credit rating. The first item should be the most detrimental to your record. Mostly, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and repossessions, if you have these on your records, should be on top of your “questionable” list.

Once you have identified which items you want to dispute, and why, you can write a dispute letter to the credit bureaus. It is better if you send the letters through registered mail. Before sending, make sure you have your own copy of the letter on file. Collect copies of all documents regarding as you repair your credit, including dates when you performed specific actions. This may come in handy in the future. After sending the dispute letter, wait for feedback. There is no telling how long it will take, but you can be sure that a response will come. Credit bureaus are obligated under the law to conduct an investigation following a request or a dispute.

Once you receive the results, analyze them properly. Go back to your records and check whether you’re all disputes received responses. If not, you can send another dispute and ask for another investigation. You can do so until you are satisfied with your credit rating. Just remember to clearly state that you are going for deletion, not just minor adjustments, of the questionable items.

So, in answer to your question, “How can I repair my credit?”, you can do so by paying someone else to do it, or doing it by yourself. And if your next question is “How can I repair my credit by myself?” well, you just found out how.

Samantha

Justin Smith asked:




Raising your credit score can be a fairly simple and straightforward process unless you have derogatory marks that need to be disputed (which will be explained below).

The reasons for bad credit can be as follows, high balances, bankruptcies, late payments, and many others. The most significant thing you can do to raise your score is to change your financial habits. Chances are that if you have a bad credit score, you did something to make it that way. Here are some of the best ways to quickly raise your credit score:

1. The most obvious: pay off your debt! This doesn’t include a home mortgage, but revolving balances such as credit card debt, a car loan, etc.

2. Make every payment on time. This is the most important factor in your credit score rating. If you have had late payments in the past, it will take some time to see real results from your on-time payments, but keep it up, sooner or later the credit bureau will notice the change in your payment habits. Develop the mentality that no late payment is acceptable!

3. If possible, pay over your minimum amount. This is especially important with credit card balances, and will reflect a slight boost in your score.

4. If you have paid off all your debt, and your credit score seems to be at a stand still, you might want to make small purchases each month with your credit card and pay them off immediately. Often times the credit bureaus like to see at least some kind of activity. Otherwise, they have no way to gauge how you are doing financially.

5. Be patient! Sometimes repairing credit can be a long and arduous process. Especially if you have had a bankruptcy. It can often take the better part of a year or more to see any significant raises in your score.

Clearing a derogatory mark on your credit report:

This is probably the most difficult in regards to credit repair. If you have requested a copy of your credit report, and notice a problem (an example would be a late payment mark), that shouldn’t be there, you need to take action to get the derogatory mark cleared as soon as possible. It is extremely important to get your credit score cleared before you attempt to get prequalified for mortgage.

Here are the steps you should take:

First of all, if you are in contact with a loan officer, you may want to describe the problem you are having to them. They can be very helpful when it comes to credit repair, and should know exactly what to do if you have a bad mark on your credit that is a mistake. In some cases, they may even call the creditor for you to address the situation.

Second, you should call your creditor and each credit bureau to find out which course of action you should take. In most cases, writing a letter will do. Here is an example letter:

Date 00/00/00

Dear Big Credit Bureau,

This letter is a complaint that you are reporting inaccurate and/or incomplete credit information on my credit report.
I am displeased that you have included the below information in my credit profile that includes the following errors. Credit reporting laws ensure that bureaus report 100% accurate credit information.

The following information concerning my credit report needs to be re-investigated. I respectfully request to be provided proof of this alleged item on my credit report. If this cannot be provided, the item must be deleted from my report as soon as possible:

CREDITOR AGENCY, acct. 123-34567-ABC

The listed item is inaccurate and/or incomplete, and is a serious error in reporting. Please delete this information, and supply a corrected credit profile to all creditors who have received a copy within the last 6 months, or the last 2 years for employment purposes. Also, please provide the name, address, and telephone number of each credit grantor or other subscriber.

Under federal law, you have 30 days to complete your re- investigation. Be advised that the description of the procedure used to determine the accuracy and completeness of the information is hereby requested as well, to be provided within 15 days of the completion of your re-investigation.

Sincerely,

your signature

Your Name

SSN# 123-45-6789

Unfortunately, you will need to write 3 separate letters to each of the 3 major credit bureaus. Here are the contact addresses for each:

Trans Union

P.O. Box 1000

Chester, PA 19022

1-800-888-4213

Equifax

P.O. Box 740241

Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

1-800-997-2493

Experian

P.O. Box 2104

Allen, TX 75013-2104

1-888-397-3742

Edwin