Insurance and Credit

You are loosing money while you read this. Your creditors are laughing all the way to the bank. Because you have a low Credit Score you are paying more in interest rates, and god knows what additional fees are being tacked on.

Before we begin allow me to give you a word to the wise. Unless you are prepared to spend hundreds of dollars to boost your credit score prepare to do it yourself. It’s no where near as difficult as some would want you to believe.

Before we go to battle we must prepare. You will need to prepare by arming yourself with a copy of the “Fair Credit Billing Act” most commonly referred to as FCBA. All you have to do to get a copy is do a Google search. Once you have located it print it and keep it near by. Your going to need it.

After you have at least read over the FCBA it’s time to get a copy of your credit report. There are numerous sources where you can get your credit report online, however I highly recommend that you mail in and request your report. This creates a paper trail that you may very well need on down the road.

Highlight the negative items on your credit report and collect any proof to support your claims. Once you have completed that step, it’s time to write your letters of dispute and send them in to the credit bureaus.

If 30 days or more have passed it’s time to contact the bureaus again and make sure that they have honored there end of the bargain. Anything that could not be proven within the 30 days has to be removed from your credit report.

If you follow those simple techniques outlined above you are sure to boost your credit score fast. If you are interested in other techniques and strategies to repair your credit, I recommend getting a credit repair kit and taking action today.

According to the credit experts, only 40% of the population has really good credit. That would be someone with a score over 700 in all 3 major reporting bureaus. This Prime Credit standing is a perfect place to be for a couple of major reasons. Minor incidents like inquiries and single late payments will probably not drop your score.

If your credit score is somewhere below the 700 mark in all 3 credit bureaus, then you are in the higher risk 60% segment and the scoring model will be very hard to predict as to what will lower or raise your credit. Getting a loan for land, housing, businesses, or even an expensive car or boat will be a crap shoot that can leave you worse off than when you started.

The credit scoring system is fixed? The credit bureaus have made it very hard to get a score of 700 and up because the lenders who fund the credit bureaus make more money in interest payments from consumers with lower credit scores. If you have a score of less than 700, then you need a fast score system to get you into a position where you’re not forking over any more of your hard-earned cash then you have to.

One thing you can do to keep your credit score up is to never incur more than 25% of your annual net income in debt. You can talk to your accountant or simply look over your tax returns to find this number. Whenever you use credit to make a purchase, make sure that you really need it and that this won’t cause your debt to go over this 25% limit.

The credit reporting system is deeply flawed, since everyone but the consumer benefits from the system. Consumers have long lobbied for change and with the 2004 Fair Credit Reporting Act, some reforms were made; but unfortunately it did nothing to require the credit reporting bureaus to maintain accurate information and of course, many question how strictly the stipulations of this act are enforced if indeed they are at all.

Let’s say that your credit score it 600 and you apply for a loan. You would lose 35 points whether you get the loan or not. If you were in the 700 bracket, you would not have had a 35 point drop. Since your goal is to get above the 700 mark you need a fast score system to get you beyond the petty problems at the lower brackets.

You should be very careful about credit repair services as well. While they can indeed have some of the negative items on your report removed, be aware that this can actually lower your credit score. If your credit score is under 700, you’re better off not removing these items at least not right away. Instead, add new accounts in good standing to balance out the negative items. Your concern should be improving your credit score instead of simply making your report “look” better.

In 1970 a Federal law was enacted by Congress to protect consumers from inaccuracies on their credit reports. This law is called the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the FCRA and it was intended to promote the equality, correctness and confidentiality of individual information compiled on credit reports by credit reporting agencies.

The main credit reporting agencies are TransUnion, Equaifax and Experian. They are in the commerce of collecting and compiling information used for credit evaluation and other purposes.

The FCRA gave consumers the entitlement to call into question and contest any information found on a credit report on the foundation of correctness and completeness. After a dispute is issued the credit reporting bureaus have 30 to 45 days to confirm the ownership and the truthfulness of the disputed accounts. If they are not able to provide the confirmation within the time frame then the disputed information must be deleted from the credit report.

The credit reporting agencies have a number of other responsibilities under the FCRA, which include providing a credit report to the consumer. Prior to 2003 the consumer was required to pay for this report but an amendment in 2003 has given consumers the right to be given one free credit report from each of the main credit reporting agencies one time per year. All the consumer has to do is demand it. If credit is denied on the foundation of what is enclosed in a report, the bureau with the dubious information must also provide a report.

Oftentimes when a negative mark is disputed it is removed from the account. Under the FCRA the disputed information cannot be reinstated without the credit bureau contacting the consumer in writing.

The FCRA also defined a limit as to how long negative information can stay on a report. In general if must be removed within 7 years from the time of delinquency with the exemption being a bankruptcy that can last for 10 years and a tax lien that can remain on the report for 7 years after it is paid off.

It has been projected that as many as 40% of all disputed information is not appropriately verified within the time limit. A consumer can use that fact for their benefit. However, be aware that correct and accurate information should not be disputed, as factual and true information should remain on the report even if it is negative.

Credit repair on credit reports can be accomplished due to the rights given by the FCRA. The consumer can do credit repair themselves or there are also professional companies that focus in credit repair. It takes time and patience to be victorious at credit repair but it can be accomplished.