Credit Guide

When you pay your credit card bills, your loan balance, or your medical bills, this information is recorded and sent to credit reporting agencies, or credit bureaus. It is their job to keep track of your credit history and other information about your life, such as where you have lived, where you work, your marital status, and any legal action taken against you. Today, thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to know what is on your credit report.

Card Consolidation Credit Debt There are three main credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Each agency has a slightly different report on you because not every credit card company, retail store, or hospital reports your payment history to the same agency. This can be a tricky part of managing your finances, so it's important to know about three areas where you might get ripped off.

Dispute A Credit Report Error — Step Two Once you document the errors or inaccuracies found in your credit report, contact the credit reporting bureau(s) to dispute the information. Make a copy of your credit report (if it’s an online credit report, be sure to print out at least two copies — one for your files and one for the credit bureau), highlight the items in dispute, explain why you believe the information is inaccurate, and ask the credit bureau to remove or correct the information on your credit report.

Credit Union 1. Charging for credit reports
The FCRA has established a yearly rule about free credit reports. You are eligible for a free report from any and all of the three major credit bureaus every twelve months. However, if you go directly to the agency, you may be charged for the report. Instead, search for free credit report online and get your copies at the secure website provided.

Prior to the National Credit Act, the credit bureaus were self regulated by the Credit Bureau Association (CBA). Fortunately, all credit bureaus are now required to register with and meet far higher minimum standards and the National Credit Regulator has placed the burden on credit bureaus to ensure that they only publish properly verified and correct information. Consumers have the right to report credit bureaus to the NCR ( www.ncr.org.za ) where they publish misleading or false information or fail to take steps to investigate and remove such information.

Merchant Credit Guide Co 2. Posting inaccurate information
It is very important for you to know what is on your credit reports. The fact is that this information has a great deal of influence on your standard of living. Because each agency gets its information from different sources, each report may contain different inaccuracies about your total debt, your payment history, or even your legal name. So get a copy and protect yourself from these errors.

iAdvance also reports to credit bureaus, so you have the opportunity to improve your credit and live your best financial life.

Apply Online For Credit Card 3. Concealing sources of information
In some cases, a special report called an investigative consumer report is ordered to evaluate your standing in the community, get personal recommendations, and professional recommendations. You will always be notified when one of these reports is ordered from a potential employer or financial institution. However, once the report is completed, you may or may not have access to the sources of the information, so be cautious in authorizing this type of investigation.

A credit freeze allows an individual to place a "freeze" on their credit reports at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three major credit bureaus, so that the bureaus cannot release a credit report to lenders without direct permission from the individual. IDFreeze is the only consumer service that manages credit freezes with all three bureaus at once.

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Because each bureau can and does receive information from different banks and creditors, your credit score (also referred to as "FICO score") can differ from credit bureau to credit bureau. While credit scores themselves range from 350 to 850, a FICO score of 700 from Experian is generally considered the equivalent of a 700 FICO score from Equifax or TransUnion. Regardless of which bureau supplies your credit report rating, the higher your FICO score, the better your chances are of securing a loan, with a favorable interest rate and ultimately having a stronger more solid credit history.

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