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Posts Tagged ‘Credit Bureau’

Too often you hear the complaint that a credit monitoring service is billing whether the customer wants the service or not. This is a shame, and it is ironic that one of the reasons you want the service is to find and remove erroneous debt items on your report.

One common solution to this is to use a debit card rather than a credit card when you purchase a service. If a service continues to bill after you’ve finished with the service, you can always cancel the debit card.

Canceling a credit card can have a negative impact on your credit file though. Using a debit card saves you this headache.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Oftentimes credit monitoring services are considered an expensive waste of time. Oftentimes you can accomplish just as much towards fixing your credit on your own not spending any money.

On average, a credit monitoring service will cost about $10 per month, per report. It is true sometimes that can monitor your own credit report for less than the average cost of these services.

However, sometimes people like the peace of mind of hiring a professional service and/or online software to do this action for them. Besides, you may want to receive reports from all three agencies at once.

With many monitoring services all three reports are included, but you may be required to request all of them at once. At the very most it could cost you about $36 a month or $432 a year to do this, unless of course you receive discounted prices as mentioned above (approximately $10 per month).

Regardless of what you pay, what you would receive for that $432 per year varies. It depends upon the services that you choose. However, in general you can expect that you’ll be alerted if someone applies for new credit.

You also have the luxury of being told if something suspicious turns up on your credit report. Most monitoring services also come with identity theft insurance that will help you recuperate the costs necessary to repair any errors that occur.

You also have the option to use one of a variety of identity theft services. On the other hand, you can monitor your own credit report even for as low as $8 per report.

You may have to do a little bit more work when you monitor your own report. However, you can save some money.

On the other hand, many people find that the expense of a monitoring service is much easier. They would rather pay this extra fee than monitor their own credit reports.

The concept of investigating credit reports is quite complex. It is done for many different reasons. Sometimes it is consumer fraud while other times it is because of identity theft.

It also could be a case where a consumer is just careless with money and has run up a “bunch” of credit card bills. It could be for any number of reasons or any combination of these reasons put together.

In any case, there is a variety of different ways that credit investigations are made. For instance, sometimes a credit report is checked. Usually this is done by way of social security number or birth date.

Other times other financial records such as bank accounts or credit cards are accessed. Of course, all of this is only done by the proper authorities who can be trusted to handle these investigations.

Investigative Concerns

Sometimes credit bureaus or other governing agencies investigate overextended consumers. However, they do not always do their own research. They sometimes hire detectives of different sorts who sift through personal records.

All of this is done in order to search for financial judgments, liens, or other “dirt” against a homeowner. If there is any negative action on a person’s record, the detective then reports this to a credit bureau.

This further puts a person in financial trouble in even more jeopardy. New information is placed on a person credit record that would prevent them from getting a mortgage, car loan, or job.

There have been legal battles in recent times as to whether or not it is lawful for credit bureaus and other financial agencies to hire these detectives. Lawsuits were even filed in various geographical locations such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

There are a variety of different methods and tools that are used to investigate credit. You can read about these in a future blog entry.

A credit bureau can either be your best friend or your worst enemy. They provide information to individuals and businesses as well as banks, landlords, employers, and other institutions.

This is a list of some of the reasons that a credit bureau exists:

• It helps monitor a person’s financial history. This is part of what determines a person’s creditworthiness. This is one of the first steps towards getting a loan-examination of a person’s credit report and credit bureaus hold this information.
• Another purpose of a credit bureau is to verify the existence of a credit or loan applicant. This helps store owners, banks, and even colleges and employers know that they are dealing with who they are dealing with.
• Credit bureaus help combat identity theft. Often alerts are placed on credit reports to help prevent further unauthorized action. Certain portions of a credit report may be blocked when this happens. In other words, one role of a credit bureau is to protect consumers.
• Organizations such as Equifax, TransUnion, or Experian are also around for another reason. These organizations prevent creditors from trusting in people who are not responsible with money.
• Another reason that credit bureaus exist is for recording-keeping. These organizations keep track of all your spending as well as all your major purchases and other inquiries. They also keep track of your financial obligations and how timely you make your payments.
• Another reason that organizations such as the ones mentioned in this article exist is to help repair your financial history. Being able to improve your credit history is one incentive to make better financial decisions.

Using your Credit Report

Often people seek a free credit report to help them come to terms with changes that need to be made. They also do it to make sure there is no activity that counts against them that has resulted from charges they did not authorize.

Correcting inaccurate information on your credit report can help you immensely. The first step would be to check the expiration date of the records.

Then, you can create a dispute letter and send it to all three credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax). Before you do so, you probably will need to take other steps to analyze your credit though as indicated in the following steps:

• Order your free credit reports from all three bureaus, of which you are entitled one copy per year. Print each out and review it carefully.
• If you spot any information while reviewing printouts of your credit report spot any inaccurate information that could have an effect on you. You should be particularly concerned if it causes a decline of your credit score.
• Documents you can use while you examine the accuracy of your credit report include as follows: Bankruptcy filing records (items marked “BK” for up to seven years), charge-off notes (notes indicating creditor has wrote off your debt as a loss), and collection records (usually remains on your record for up to 7 years after the last 180 day late payment).
• You can also take a look at closed accounts. These expire after 7 years as well. Closed positive accounts might remain on your record for longer.
• Foreclosed accounts, inquiries, judgments, late payments, repossessions, and tax liens, also affect your credit. You should take a look at any records concerning these very carefully.
• Once you have examined all your records carefully, this is when you would possibly file a dispute. You can submit your dispute to Equifax and TransUnion by mail, and you can do the same but only online instead of mail when using Experian.
• Once your dispute is submitted, then you can let the credit bureaus investigate. You can track these results, as all three financial bureaus have a responsibility to investigate claims made by you within 30 days.

When it comes to identity theft and your rights as a consumer, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is part of what protects you. This will help you in the event someone has made an unauthorized transaction from a bank account or credit card, or has made an unauthorized address change.

This is a list of some of your rights as a consumer pertaining to identity theft:

You have the right to place a fraud alert on your credit records. If you let one credit agency know that you may have been defrauded automatically, the other two major financial bureaus will be informed. All you have to do is place a call with Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion.

You are entitled up to two copies of your credit report per 12 months. You receive one if you have made an initial fraud alert, while you get two of you have place an extended fraud alert on your files. The initial fraud alert stays in your file for at least 90 days, and the extended alert stays on your file for seven years.

If a collection agency is attempting to collect a debt, you have the right to request information from that company. They are required to provide you with certain types of information. For instance, you are entitled to know the name of the creditor as well as the amount of debt.

You have the right to seek any information related to fraudulent transactions made on your account. You must be allowed by businesses or creditors to see any applications and records used by an identity thief, and you are required to be granted this as long as you ask for these in writing.

You have the right to have any information in your financial records blocked if it has resulted from identity theft. For instance, this may be necessary if a person who has stolen your personal data has run up bills in your name and has not paid them. That could reflect negatively on you, but you can have it blocked. This requires proof of identity as well as an identity theft report.

Businesses can also be prevented from reporting you to credit agencies if you can prove the financial transactions not paid were unauthorized. If you can proved that said outstanding balances are a result of identity theft, you can stop your personal financial reputation from being ruined.

This of course is not an exhaustive list of your rights. More about this will be provided in later posts, and you can read some from previous posts to gain more knowledge about this.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alerts consumers about access to free credit reports. This information pertains to the fact that according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) you are entitled to one free credit report every 12 months.

However, you should also know that you are actually entitled to one report from each of the three agencies, not just one report total every year. Therefore, you can receive a copy of your payment histories and other vital financial records as kept by Equifax, Experian, and TransUninon.

Additional FTC Guidelines

In addition to the above, you are also entitled to the following:

• Accuracy and privacy of the information kept about you
• The right to know if someone has stolen your identity
• Immediate access to your credit report if you file online
• To receive your requested report within 15 days if you want it mailed to you
• Right to a free report if you are unemployed and looking for work within 60 days
• Right to investigation in case of an error
• Opportunity to dispute your case when necessary
• The right to know if anyone has obtained an unauthorized copy of your financial records

FTC Function

The Federal Trade Commission works to prevent consumer fraud. They also fight against unfair and deceptive business practices, including false advertising. They also help consumers remain aware of problems and thus teach buyers and sellers to avoid being a victim of fraud.

The FTC also helps people file complaints in the event a company or individual has wronged them in some way. This organization deals with all types of consumer-related scams, including falsified records, fake credit report fraud, and credit card identity theft.

Consumers Beware!

The Internet has given rise to many fraudulent websites claiming to offer you a free credit report instantly. While some of these sites are very helpful, you need to watch out for any sign of a stolen identity.

WARNING: If you seek a credit report instantly online, make sure you know whom you are dealing with. This is especially important if you are signing up for a free trial of a credit monitoring service.

Remember, you should know what you are getting yourself into and who you are dealing with at all times. This is not to make you paranoid but rather to make you aware.

Use the Internet with caution when seeking a free copy of your financial history. Your financial future greatly depends upon taking proper precautions.