Free Annual Credit Report
By Michael Killian
Would FREE copies your report be of interest? If you are committed to repairing your or simply want to know what is on your report, I have good news for you. A free copy of your report is available to every consumer annually. This article discusses the free report as well as repairing your report once you have your 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 report from each of the three major national 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 on-line site where you can get a free report at Annual 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.
You can purchase additional reports and/or a score by contacting one of the consumer reporting companies.
Equifax
Experian
TransUnion
You can also purchase a score when you request your free annual report through Annual Report (referenced above.)
You might want to note that each bureau offers ID fraud called safeguard services, but for fees. For example TransUnion offers "ID Fraud Watch". For $10.95 each quarter, you get a report every three months and $25,000 of identity theft insurance.
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 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 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, limits, and balances correct?
A former correction to your file that has since disappeared should be brought to the agency's attention.
_________________________________
Final Comments: I am often asked if a collection company sells your account to another collection agency, can you get the first one deleted from your report 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 report.
If the original
Bank of England Surprises with Base Rate HikeThe surprise 0.25 percentage point hike in the base rate by the Bank of England to 4.75% left the majority of borrowers and economists wrong footed, sending UK equities, Gilts and short sterling falling. But with inflation the only focus of the BoE, the question may not be if, but when will rates rise again?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.
Therefore, the difference is if your account is "assigned" or "sold".
Article Source: http://www.articles-galore.com
Mike has been an Internet Guide/Writer in the field of Credit/Debt Management for over 10 years. His site was awarded Best Of Net by Forbes Publication from 2000 to 2005 with site visitation doubling to over 500,000 average views per month in the last year. He has also offered debt elimination seminars to businesses and community colleges for the last 9 years. He has been interviewed on the radio a number of times and referenced in numerous publications both in the newspaper and throughout the Internet financial community. learncreditmanagement.com/
Products and Services mentioned in this article are available Here
