Free Credit Bureau Report

Michael Killian asked:




Would FREE copies your credit report be of interest? If you are committed to repairing your credit or simply want to know what is on your credit report, I have good news for you. A free copy of your credit report is available to every consumer annually. This article discusses the free report as well as repairing your credit report once you have your credit file on hand.

Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont always had a right to one free report per bureau each year. But now this same benefit is available in every state – one FREE credit report from each of the three major national credit bureaus every 12 months.

Additionally, consumers may be entitled to a free report under certain other conditions, such as having been denied credit, insurance or a job within the past 60 days. You’re also entitled to a free report if you think your report is inaccurate due to fraud.

But under the new law, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion have an online site where you can get a free report at Annual Credit Report. There is also a toll-free phone number: 877-322-8228. Finally you can write to P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. Yahoo News suggests: “If you do use the postal address, it’s best to print and mail in a completed online request form. You can’t get your report unless you answer questions on the form.” There is also information available through Federal Trade Commission.

Once you have your report, what do you look for?

Here are some basic things you should check on your report. Go through your entire report entry by entry. Have the credit agency legend by your side in order to verify coding compliance. Have also a paper and pencil to annotate any item you find in error. Go slowly!

Don’t assume your personal information is correct. You could be viewing information from someone else’s report with just a simple error such as: first name misspelled, missing Jr./Sr., erroneous address, bad zip code, wrong employer, or any other incorrect personal data.

Insure marital information is correct. Are accounts listed as “joint” really joint?

Is the report in compliance with court settlements? Outdated information is normally considered to be any item older than 7 years except for bankruptcy, which is usually 10 years.

Closed accounts should not be listed as open. Accounts you closed should reflect, “Closed by consumer”. Otherwise it can be assumed that it was closed by the creditor– not good.

Accounts should not appear twice even in different sections.

Incorrect histories such as late payments, a credit entry you do not recognize, a pre-marital debt of your current spouse, or other such items need your attention.

Are there missing reports that would be beneficial to show a good history, and are profiles, credit limits, and balances correct?

A former correction to your credit file that has since disappeared should be brought to the agency’s attention.

You might want to note that each bureau offers credit ID fraud called safeguard services, but for fees. For example TransUnion offers “ID Fraud Watch”. For $10.95 each quarter, you get a credit report every three months and $25,000 of identity theft insurance.

Additionally you can purchase a credit score for a fee by contacting one of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies.

Equifax

Experian

TransUnion

You can also purchase a credit score when you request your free annual credit report through Annual Credit Report

Final Comments: One final point which I am often asked. If a collection company sells your account to another collection agency, can you get the first one get deleted, or will it just show as a zero balance

Reporting depends on who owns the account there are several directions this can take:

If the original creditor still owns the account but assigns the debt to a collection company then both get to report on that account listing.

If the original creditor retracts the collection and re-assigns it to a new collection agency then both original creditor and the 2nd collection agency can report but the first one must remove their listing off of the credit report.

If the original creditor sells the debt to a collection agency then the creditor will report zero balance / sold to another lender, and the collection agency will report.

If that collection agency assigns a debt to another collection agency then it is allowable for both to report the account listing, but if they take back that account then that assigned collection agency must remove their reporting.

Now if that collection agency sells the debt to another collection agency they get to keep their reporting on the report since they owned the account at one time, and the new collection agency picks up on the reporting.

So the difference is if your account is assigned or sold.

Darren

Nitin Saini asked:




Credit report should be checked on a yearly basis. It becomes absolutely necessary to keep a check on your credit reports if your ever aced some discrepancy in your reports. Most common problem that people usually face is identity thefts. While ordering your credit bureau data always ensure that you get three copies each from TransUnion, Experian and Equifax.

The main reason for getting separate copies is that each agency gives a different report. Every creditor has their way of reporting. This means that some creditors report to just one agency where as some report to two agencies. There are also creditors who report to all three agencies depending on the loan type. Your loan history is especially shared to all three agencies when you have taken loans such as a mortgage.

In U.S., the process of keeping records of all the credit history is done for every individual. They keep record of every account you had for 5 to 10 years, loans which you have taken and also the ones that you have paid off. The history of the records helps them to produce their credit bureau data.

All three agencies keep your credit records. This means that there is every possibility of the report having errors. There have been serious discrepancies in people’s records, thus it is not just a possibility, but more of a reality.

The first question that comes up in your mind would be what would happen when you get a faulty report? It results in you FICO score or credit score being calculated at much lower than it actually is. The next question that would arise in your mind would be what effect does a faulty credit bureau data have on you? Well, your lowered credit score is making you pay extra money! You may be paying a 7% on your mortgage instead of 6%. Instead of paying a 2.9% on your car loan, which a qualified buyer pays, you might end up paying 8%. Your lowered credit score does not make you counted as a qualified buyer. These are just a few ways that make you shell out extra money.

There is no mechanism available to the credit bureaus which would automatically correct those errors. The credit bureau does not take any responsibility on their lax of reporting, as they believe it is only reporting that they are doing and they are not the ones generating it.

After checking out the view point of the credit bureau, you should take up the responsibility. You may be just a consumer or a business owner, whatever is that you do get a regular copy of you credit bureau data. Check the data minutely for any kind of discrepancy. Once you find any faulty reporting, approach the bureau directly. This should help you in getting an error-free report.

When you are checking on the reports, do not rush through it, as now you know how it could affect your credit scores. Cross check the data because error-free report will result in a higher credit score. With a higher credit score, you would not be shelling out anything extra from your pocket.

Patricia

Adam Tijerina asked:




Due to the recent credit crisis and housing collapse leading rules have changed dramatically. Despite historically low mortgage rates, most people cannot qualify for them without a really good credit score. This is why it is very important to get your free credit scores and know where you stand and know where you have to improve to get the lowest mortgage rate.

So where can you get free credit scores?

Several sites now offer free “credit scores” which are based off of scoring formulas similar to the national credit bureau formulas at TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. The accuracy of these scores is debatable. Comments on a recent Wall Street Journal article stated these scores are not reliable when it comes to mortgages and refinancing.

These sites are credit.com, creditkarma.com and quizzle.com. They can provide you with an estimated score range instead of an exact score and you can expect loads of advertisements all over the site with many offers you are encouraged to sign up for.

Why doesn’t the government provide free credit scores in addition to free credit reports?

The easy answer is they were not part of the arrangements with the credit reporting agencies who are now required by law to provide them for free. They are only required to provide your free credit reports and that’s just what they do. They can still make money selling you the credit scores and that’s just what they do.

You can expect to pay around $8-$10 for each credit score so that’s around $24-$30 each time you want to check your scores. And then the experts tell you to check them every few months so you can easily spend over hundred dollars over the course of a year.

So where does that leave you?

You can go to sites that you see advertised on TV and sign up to get your free credit reports and scores from all three credit reporting agencies.

Doing this will allow you to monitor your credit score on an ongoing basis so you can check your credit worthiness in less than a minute instead of having to sift through 20 to 30 pages of your credit reports trying to decode all the abbreviations.

Getting your free credit scores this way does not lower your score because it is a soft inquiry instead of a hard inquiry which can lower your score. And you will be able to keep track of any suspicious activity in your credit report that could affect your score or result in identity theft.

Courtney

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

Tim Gorman asked:




Many people who look into their reports find that their credit information has errors and those errors usually affect your credit negatively.

Maintaining an accurate score sometimes requires us to be pro-active, and we must write letters to remove information off our credit report. These are sent to the big 3 credit bureaus. Although in many cases the first thing most people want to do is to call the Credit Bureau and tell them off, this would be counterproductive. Instead the best method would be to sit down and write a credit report dispute letter.

You should read your credit report, take notes as to what you consider the problem areas are and think whether what’s on the report could actually be true. If, in finding that what’s on the report is false, you need to think through how you’re going to word your letters to remove info off credit report. You’re going to have to send a copy of this letter to each of the three main credit bureaus: TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Be polite and state facts as you see them. See example letter below.

Dear (credit bureau name here),

After looking at a copy of my credit file, I found that it contained erroneous information. I would like to dispute this information and request a correction. I am concerned about the information that you have put in my credit report as it could seriously impair the credit rating I enjoy with lending institutions.

You have not (state the problem here).

Be sure to include the month, and the date, and the name of the business.

I am enclosing a photocopy of my cancelled check as proof of my payment. Hopefully, this will correct the accuracy of my credit file. As you are certainly aware of, the credit bureaus are only allowed to use accurate information in a consumer’s credit file.

Thank you for correcting the above errors to insure that it doesn’t impair my personal credit. Please contact me as soon as the correction has been made and my credit report is again accurate. Please send a copy of my credit report to: (place mailing address here).

Yours,

(Your name)

Be sure to include your full name as listed in your credit report, address, Social Security number, copy of your driver’s license, copy of the credit report, and copy of your proof, i.e. cancelled check.

Be sure to retain a copy of whatever you send to each credit bureau. Make a note of the date that you mail your letters to remove info off credit report. Using certified or registered mail is a good idea, as this will give you proof of the mailing date.

Francisco