Your Credit Information And How It Decides Our Life
Your credit information may be of no use to you. If you’re not planning on buying a house or renting an apartment, buying a car, taking out a loan, paying for college or getting a new credit card, then you won’t need to worry about getting your free credit score. However, most people need to visit www.AnnualCreditReport.com to get a listing of all late payments, charge-offs, debts, collections, loans, liens and types of credit accounts open, so they can get an honest appraisal of their borrowing power. Credit report services from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each will offer you a free report once a year to help you see where you are and where you need to be financially.
To improve your credit information, you’ll need to obviously pay off all existing debts, but this is easier said than done, isn’t it? Some people like to go through a credit counselor or debt relief agency, while others do it on their own through responsible planning. After looking at the credit report services files, you can write down all the balances and interest rates you need to keep track of. Write down your monthly income after taxes and deduct your rent or mortgage payment, as well as other monthly expenses like utilities, insurance, loan payments and groceries. Then you’ll know how much you have remaining to pay off your debts. Consider ways to reduce your spending, such as car-pooling to work, eating out less often or turning off your cable for a little while. Also, brainstorm whether you can make supplemental income somehow. To develop a good plan, pay off your minimum monthly debt payments first and then use the remaining to pay off the highest interest rate and highest balance. Soon you’ll be on your way toward improving credit scores.
To file a dispute about your credit information, you should write a dispute letter to each of the three major credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. On the letter, put the date, your address and name, phone number and social security number. Just write “The following data is incorrect and should be updated,” then list each inaccuracy, explaining why it’s wrong and what it should be updated with. Attach a marked copy of your credit score report and include any communication, account records or statements that will help verify your version of the truth. By letter is the best way to dispute with Equifax and TransUnion, but Experian only allows online disputes. The credit bureaus then have 30 days to check and repair your credit info. Once once done, they will write you a letter infoming you what was or was not updated. If you’re not satisfied with the results, then you can try to resubmit with different documents or go directly to the creditor to try and fix at the source.
Sometimes, looking at your credit information is the only way of discovering an identity theft if you are don’t use one of the identity theft products such as Life Lock who monitor your credit information for you and look for any weird activity. If you find strange in your credit information that you have absolutely no explanation for, a payday loan unpaid, a new camera on credit etc. contact the bureaus as soon as possible and police for advice. Without any form of protection, checking your credit information is probably the only way to avoid identity theft running amok. It won’t prevent it but at least it stops it getting worse.
There’s no tool greater than credit information. If you’ve suffered poor credit scores in the past, then you can still rebound from a foreclosure or collection account by paying regular bills in full and on-time. The best way to stay ahead is to bring in more income, see where your spending problems lie and save sufficiently. “What works” in this department varies for each person. Some need to put the money out of sight, out of mind, while others can manage it in their checking account. Whether it was a one-time “oops” or a pattern of “I didn’t know,” seeking credit info is the first step toward financial recovery.
