- Credit reports are very important and should be checked at least once a year.
- You can receive your free online credit report here: Free Credit Info and Report
- There are 3 credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion, Experian, Equifax
- Print your credit reports as you receive them, do not save on your computer.
- Look over them very thoroughly. If you see an item that is puzzling, back track thru your paperwork, thoughts and transactions to make sure this isn't just an item you had forgotten about. If you know that an item isn't yours, dispute the item. It's all online and very easy. They have 30 days to respond. After their investigation is complete they will email their findings and you will be able to ck your report again. If it still remains and you know it isn't yours, dispute it again and again.
- Each time you talk with someone, record name/date and time. Keep copies of all originals that you send.
- Your credit report and score has everything to do with purchasing a house, a car, renting an apt, getting a credit card, getting good rates on insurance (yes, they do ck it!), etc....
- Credit reports can show negative information forever but good news, after 7 years for credit cards and collections, 10 years for bankruptcy, by law you may request for those items to be removed. (for MO, other states the laws are different) Important note: The bureaus do not and will not automatically remove the older items, it has to be requested by the consumer.
- Try not to close credit card accounts if they are in good standing. The longer they are reported as a positive acct, the better for your score.
- Make your payments on time....not a day or two late. On time or late, credit lending companies WILL and DO report every month. It's kind of like an eternal credit report card...sad but true.
- Your credit report always shows more than just your credit worthiness. Your report shows all your reported addresses, alias names, places you have worked, phone numbers, public records, etc....
- There's somewhat of a limit of information people can see but if there is anything damaging on it and in the event your employer/new creditor wants a copy, it's best to know yourself beforehand about anything negative, therefore being able to explain or let them know it's being disputed.
- For more information visit this helpful site.
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Personal Lessons 101
I will attempt to briefly tell you what my personal experiences have taught me and how I seem to have to learn the lesson over and over again.
About 20 years ago I realized something very important: A good credit report and credit score will get you further in life than a bad one. --Nice blanket statement I know but please follow these lessons that I painfully learned--
First Lesson: When I was 20 I went through a few things that completely disrupted my credit and probably due to ignorant bliss, I didn't care nor understand how it would effect me, until a few years later when I went to purchase my first home at 23.
We had found our "dream" home! A day later, we made an appointment w/a mortgage lender and went into their office to start the process. They ran my credit and then sat across from the table and nicely explained how I was UN-creditWORTHY. I was shocked and angry, angry at myself for turning a blind eye to being credit-WORTHY. Long story short, I paid off all the outstanding debt and was able to purchase my first home.
Second Lesson: Fast forward about 12 years. I was in my 30's and out of the blue I was receiving the dreaded "collection calls." I kept telling them that I don't know what they are talking about, I never had a Visa card from xxxBank. The letters were outrageous too. I'd get one a week. It was like a bad dream. THEN a light bulb went on! Check my credit report!! Sure enough, someone had stolen my identity! They had racked up over $19000 in credit card purchases!
A day or so after I had discovered this, I had a knock at my door, it was a Sheriff serving me papers, I was being SUED for these bogus charges! --We had to close all our bank accounts, credit cards, and take other measures to ensure this person couldn't get to my other information! -- The end of the story is this: I had to hire an attorney (would have been big $$ but I'm buddies w/a few attorneys), I contacted the Attorney General, Jay Nixon (at that time) to help in prosecution of the filing collection co, wrote letter after letter to the credit bureaus stating someone had stolen my identity and after 6 years and a 7inch stack of paperwork, the charges and information was finally dropped off my credit reports.
Did I learn some lessons?................you bet I did! I learned to check my credit report every year, I learned that after 7 years I can ask for items to be removed, I learned to always ask to see my credit report when I purchase a new home or new car, I've also learned that you can be guilty by name association. For that lesson, read Lesson Three.
Third Lesson: Fast forward to present day.....last Thursday.
I hadn't checked my credit report since 2007 because I KNEW I was fine...I had checked it every year, fought off some little things, saw my credit score grow to a beautiful number and had become complacent.
Thursday's work was slow and after another bothersome phone call......a collection co calling for a guy with the same name as my husband and asking if we still lived in Bowling Green, KY?
(nope MO his whole life)
BUT since my husband happened to have the same name as a person who has a huge collection co after him, this credit collection co feels like this HAS TO BE THE GUY THEY ARE AFTER, so they WON'T stop calling. (I'm certain at this point that I will have to go there and bang on their door to make them u n d e r s t a n d....it's NOT MY husband!)
Anyway, I think to myself, I had better check my credit report because it's been a while and while I'm absolutely positive there is nothing wrong with it, free is free and I go and check it online.
WELL YEP, you guessed it! There sat 2 items of collection for medical procedures! I nearly fell off my chair. First I looked at when this began....Aug of 2007! I had just checked it earlier that year....had I checked it in 2008 and not been so "yea, it's all good," I could have had it fixed!
So it has the company listed and the phone number. It's local....I'm thinking good because if they don't listen to reason via the phone, I'll just drive there and camp out until they listen...IT'S NOT ME!
I called and got a very NICE lady. I explained that I don't know what these 2 collection items are and could she please try to shed some light. After a very lengthy time and a bazillion questions later, her manager gets on the phone and says, " It looks like our credit reporting girl is at fault, she only matched you by name and not by social security number, we can't even find you in our system, indeed this isn't your collection." I felt a huge relief at that moment and asked if they would please inform the credit bureaus of this information, well...no they wouldn't, I had to do it myself. Okay, I can do that as I have countless times before. Not even an apology! This had been on there for 2 stinkin' years!
I hung my head, took a deep breath, and proceeded to contact all the bureaus to dispute these again, bogus collections.
I'm happy to report TransUnion responded very quickly and has already removed the two collections! The bureaus are to respond within 30 days....I'm looking forward to being completely exonerated.
