Credit Reports can be a Teaching Tool

21

All of us have probably been informed that our credit report is a very important document. Its importance will increase if we have been denied credit and realize that we must repair poor credit.

The three major credit reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. The reports from all three agencies are needed because creditors and lenders may not all report to the same agency and the reports may be different. If you go to annualcreditreport.com you can find out the procedure for obtaining your reports. You can get a free report from all yearly.

The reports will all contain a section with the usual identifying information such as name, address, social security number, etc. The reports will not have information about you personally such as race, assets, salary.

Lines of credit will be included such as balances, monthly payments, and credit limits. This section addresses credit cards, department store credit cards, mortgages, automobile loans, department store cards, gas cards. This will also cite dates accounts were opened, payment history (with late payments), unpaid child support, and overdrawn bank accounts.

Credit reporting agencies also receive information from the court system. This section will have a listing of bankruptcies, liens, judgments, divorce.

Any time you apply for a loan or credit card there will be an inquiry made to a credit reporting agency. Your credit report will include not only these inquiries but inquiries by you. Credit inquiries remain for 2 years.

There is no problem if your credit report is positive. However, any true negative comments will stay on the report for 7 years. Bankruptcies stay on for 10 years.

Request those credit reports from all 3 agencies. Compare the reports, be aware of discrepancies and fix errors. We have a personal responsibility to monitor our own credit profile, fix mistakes and, if needed, repair our credit.

About the Author:
Tags: , , , , ,

Filed under Bad Credit by  #

Comments on Credit Reports can be a Teaching Tool

November 6, 2010

debts cards @ 1:15 am #

Credit cards are a part of my life and I use them for every purchase I make. I’ve been especially concerned about cash back credit cards and I managed to make good sums with them. Now I’m seriously thinking of moving onto airline miles credit cards and earn free airline tickets. A great variety of such type credit cards can be found at

who is offering credit cards with 0 % balance transfer fees
cero balance transfers

December 9, 2010

Uncoogy @ 1:39 pm #

Am new here, discovered this site by searching yahoo and truly like it here, will enjoy my stay for sure

I just now come from an other site with a lot of very usefull data about bad credit repair, if someone also wants and needs to know about that subject see my signature.

February 17, 2011

Julienne94821 @ 9:41 am #

New Blog Post!! Credit repair agent and counseling services for Investment pool, Foreclosure short sales information

February 24, 2011

Ping.fm @ 9:23 pm #

Improving Credit Score Fast –

February 27, 2011

Hi, I have some really good websites below that can help you with credit repair and legal law forms.You can also check out the news section at "Latest Legal Articles"Preparing legal documents has never been easierwith our library of forms, agreements, and checklists. It is valuable to small and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Have you ever needed a legal form but didn't know where to get one? Have you ever wanted to cover yourself in a legal agreement or make sure that those you love are protected? FastLawForms.com is an easy to use online legal forms provider that can and will save you thousands of dollars of lawyer's fees every year.www.fastlawforms.comRepair your own credit , Credit Repair is an ongoing matter for many consumers. Consumers have paid up to $500 or more to credit repair companies who follow this same process to remove their credit errors. Without credit you can't get a car, travel, loan money, or even get mortgage. http://www.creditrepair.fastlawforms.comHave you been victimized by credit repair companies? Many companies promise or guarantee to clean up your credit report so you can get a car loan, a home mortgage, insurance, etc. In reality, they can't deliver what they promise. You pay them hundreds dollars in fees and these companies do nothing to improve your credit. Many of them just disappear.Everything a credit repair companies can do for you, you can do for yourself at no cost. No one can do a better job in repairing your own credit as you can. You are the only one responsible to make sure your credit report is accurate. Our guide will help you every step of the way. http://www.creditrepair.fastlawforms.comwww.governmentgrants.fastlawforms.comIf your application for credit is denied due to information supplied by a credit bureau, the company you applied to must be liable to provide you with that credit bureau's contact information. Furthermore you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report if you've been denied credit within the last 60 days Disputing credit mistakes or outdated items is free. Just ask the credit reporting agency for a dispute form or submit your dispute in writing, attach any supporting documentation. Always send them a copy instead of the original http://www.creditrepair.fastlawforms.com Team

March 9, 2011

LinkDyr - Link Directory @ 12:06 am #

Beading and Jewelry Making Home Based Business

March 25, 2011

I'm a loyal Wells Fargo Customer, so I may be biased, but Wells's customer service has been well above the bench mark and I have never had a problem with intrest rates.
If they raised your wife's intrest rates is probably….no definitly because she has POOR credit or has gotten in over her head. My family and I have taken care of our credit and don't spend more that we have. Our borrowing intrest rates have acutally DROPPED. Go figure???

April 7, 2011

worldtradenews @ 12:48 am #

Moody's lifts credit ratings outlook on Rayonier Forest to 'positive' from …

April 29, 2011

Slashdot @ 9:13 am #

RT rel="nofollow" Anyone want to buy a used PS3? It comes with a free periodic reminder to check your credit reports.

April 30, 2011

Credit Report « Money Matters @ 9:24 pm #

[...] lenders will use your credit report to help them evaluate whether you are a good credit risk or a bad credit  . The three major credit-reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. These agencies [...]

May 8, 2011

JoanegntrgC241 @ 5:18 pm #

Very Bad Credit Loans â€"Get Loan without Credit Profile …: You can easily understand that this very bad credi…

May 23, 2011

Learn_Guitar_ol @ 1:56 am #

Interested in selling your incoming monthly payments, please do not hesitate to contact me. You will get the personal attention you deserve.

June 9, 2011

Twitter @ 4:15 pm #

Three Credit Score Myths Busted –

June 18, 2011

My garbage pickup bill is quarterly and it used to give me the same problems. Every 5-6 months would be a big hassle because they were ready to pull my service for non-payment. Finally they got an automated payment service and my problem got resolved.

The remaining bills that are problematic are the one or two department store credit cards we have. Since they don't have a balance all the time, I don't have them set for autopay and their websites aren't powerful enough to figure out if there is NO balance, then DON'T make a payment. If it weren't for those two cards then EVERY bill would be paid automatically. It's a great thing.

So, you don't suck because you missed something that doesn't follow the same pattern as the others.

July 6, 2011

drool @ 5:12 am #

I've used Quicken since my first PC about 12 years ago. I like having the historical data in an easily searchable format. I create Quicken accounts for my checking, savings, credit card, home loans, automobile loans and Bank-of-Mom loans. Quicken will let you enter certain details about each account which I take advantage of by entering any contact phone numbers, account numbers, APR's, etc. If I ever lose my wallet I can go to Quicken and start walking the accounts and using the contact phone numbers close the accounts.

With Quicken I also have the ability to schedule transactions which serves two purposes. First, Quicken will remind me of scheduled transactions reducing the chance that I'll blow something off and have to pay a late fee. Secondly, Quicken queues up all the scheduled transactions so I can see which ones are coming up. I don't take advantage of all the features Quicken has. For example, I don't use Quicken to track my investments. I know Quicken has some budgeting features which some people might find very useful.

I basically don't spend money unless it's via my credit card. This is convenient for me and it allows me to earn cashback (a.k.a. "free money"). One down side with this approach is not knowing what my credit card bill will be. To solve that, I enter all my credit card receipts into Quicken. As I'm entering my credit card receipts I categorize the receipt contents. For example, a trip to Wal-mart might result in three categorizations: groceries, auto service and clothing. This is far more useful to me that simply categorizing each trip to Wal-mart as "misc" or "Wal-mart".

Bottom line – Quicken is a good tool and once you are comfortable using it, it can save you time and money.

July 26, 2011

Fatwallet.com Finance @ 2:43 pm #

LONDON — Summoned by British lawmakers Tuesday to account for a phone hacking and bribery scandal, Rupert Murdoch said he was humbled and ashamed but accepted no personal responsibility, insisting he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at a now-defunct tabloid that made up a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

The 80-year-old media tycoon endured a three-hour grilling from lawmakers and escaped attempts to tar him with individual blame for the scandal that has rocked his empire and embroiled Britain’s top police, politicians and many journalists.
Read full article >>

August 31, 2011

jobs in Stoke-on-Trent - Careerjet @ 6:12 pm #

About Cordell Construction Projects | Cordell Construction Projects –

September 7, 2011

By Patrick Allen, CNBC EMEA Head of News NEW YORK (CNBC) –The world could be heading into another fully fledged credit crisis, according to Satyait Das, the author of Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk.
An expert on risk and credit markets, Das believes that the euro zone debt crisis has taken a turn for the worse and is worried the recent deal to bailout Greece could fall apart. After Finland demanded, and got collateral against its contribution to the bail out package for Greece, others demanded the same terms.
"Hearing of the ill-advised side deal between Greece and Finland, Austria, the Netherlands and Slovakia also are now demanding collateral, arguing that their banks were less exposed to Greece than their counterparts in Germany and France entitling them to special treatment," said Das in a report sent to CNBC.com. …

September 25, 2011

AndyDownes1 @ 11:33 pm #

RT QOTD: "it just defies common sense to have professional gamblers in charge of stewarding commercial bank accounts"

December 2, 2011

eBookStore.SoonHeng.com @ 12:15 pm #

Pays 75%. Credit restoration to quickly get the credit card, car, home mortgage, and personal loan – fix and restore credit. Plug your leads right into the automated sales machine – high conversions. Affiliate banners, tools and training…

January 10, 2012

Bookmarklet @ 5:04 am #

How to Fix My Credit Report – Payment History Tips –