Credit Bureaus are not The Enemy

The three major credit bureaus, Trans Union, Equifax and Experian, can interestingly enough be quite helpful in sorting out your financial and credit particulars. Credit bureaus are in place to not only serve loan institutions but also to provide you accurate reporting on your credit details. If you have a bit of understanding on how to deal with them they can be a great asset to you.

Whenever you are attempting to investigate your present credit score you should request a copy of your credit report. It is advisable to check your credit score and credit reports regularly. In doing this you will be able to continuously monitor all of the information contained in your credit reports. This will not only give you a better understanding of your credit worthiness at any given time but perhaps more importantly alert you to any errors or potential identity theft.

By law all consumers are entitled to one free copy of their credit report annually. Thereafter subsequent reports may cost anywhere from five to ten dollars. There are numerous web sites, which you can gain membership to for a reasonable monthly fee, which will provide you continuous access to your credit information. Many have handy tools on their sites which can help you calculate out payment schedules on potential loans, find the best way to pay down your debt or even how to raise your credit score.

Credit bureaus simply report items that are supplied to them by your lenders. So if there is an error made by an institution with which you have a loan this false data shows up in your report, potentially having a negative affect on your score. This is why it is critical for you to know what is contained in your report and to immediately report any errors to the appropriate credit bureau so that they can be corrected.

As we, as a population, have become increasingly dependent on credit, Trans Union, Equifax and Experian have evolved as the villains in the minds of many. But they are literally just a service that provides data that is only as precise that which they receive. So don't be overwhelmed by them, they are here to serve everyone, creditor and borrower alike.

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Credit Repair Basics

In this credit repair article, I am going to give you a step by step method of repairing your credit. You can of course, hire someone to do this sort of thing for you, but you can also accomplish this yourself just as easily.

Order your credit reports: You need to order credit reports from all three locations: TRW, Trans Union, and Equifax. Your credit should get reported to each, but not always. This ensures you can review each item on each report for discrepancies.

Organize yourself: This will be set up to track your correspondence with the credit agencies. You should have a file cabinet, folders, and a copy of the credit reports (try not to write on the originals). Make a copy of everything before you mail it out and place it in a folder.

Analyze your credit report: Each report will have codes associated with the items. These codes stand for something against your credit. If you have one or more of these codes, this will have a negative impact on the credit rating. Highlight these in a highlighter for reference later.

Write your disputes: Do not use a form letter, or any type of generic letter you find in the latest books out. These are spotted right away, and will draw undo attention to your requests. Do not lie in your dispute, and always state you are challenging the item as "not mine" or "not late". You would also like to tell the agency your required outcome of this dispute. Do not sound like an expert, or repeat something you read in a credit repair article. This may get your information rejected by the checker before it even has a chance.

Send in your dispute: Once you have a decent typed letter about your dispute, send it in. By law, the credit agency must investigate all disputes, which are deemed irrelevant or frivolous. This is why you need to get past the checker person.

Get a response: You will get some sort of response. It can be anything from your dispute is now being investigated, to a letter asking for more information, to a rejection letter based on timing, or even a rejection letter based upon the fact the credit bureau believes you are trying to manipulate the system. Depending on this letter, will determine what is done next. If you do not get a response at all after 60 days, write another dispute.

See results: Get another copy of your credit reports and compare this against your original reports. You should see a difference. There will be updates to the items you disputed, or the items may be gone completely. Ensure you agree with the comments of the credit bureau.

Settle any unpaid debts: If you still have any unpaid debts, you should really try to settle these. This is a good indication to the credit bureaus you are making a substantial effort to clean up your credit.

The above list is a good legal way of helping to repair your credit. I put together this credit article to show you there are some free methods of returning your credit rating back to normal. If you need to refer back to this credit repair article for the steps, feel free. It will definitely guide you in the path to getting your credit repaired.

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7 Obscure Visa Credit Card Facts

1. Visa in actually an acronism and stands for Visa International Service Association. It is a company consisting of six different entities. These elements each concentrates on one geographical sector, providing offers and meeting regulations that are specific to each region.


2. There is a wide variety of credit card services tailored for bot consumer and business use. An incredible 14.6% of all retail purchases are made with a visa credit card.


3. There are over 500 million credit cards that have been issued by Visa in the United States alone. Visa is far and away the leading credit card brand.


4. Visa does not actually issue credit cards themselves. Cards are, in fact, issued by Banking instutions who are part of a association authorized by Visa to brand ther products with the Visa name


5. Visa is presently accepted in more than one hundred and fifty countries throughout the world, making it one of the most universally accepted credit cards one can obtain. This universal acceptance of Visa is further demonstrated by the fact that throughout the world it is estemated that more than twenty million outlets will accept purchases made with Visa .


6. The highest priority for Visa is customer security. Visa has in place a "Continuous Monitoring" system which tracks all transactions and purchases and flag suspicious activity immediately. Additionally,if a customer suspects they are the victim of identity theft Visa operates a free helpline.


7. A three digit security code is included on the back of each card to help ensure that purchases are authentic.

Visa is continuously evolving and adopting strict security measures to counteract the high-tech fraud. Great efforts are made to improve member benefits and provide a virtually universal card acceptance. With the wide range of credit cards issued by Visa, you are sure to find one that makes your life easy.

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Non-Profit Credit Counseling-Buyer Beware !

Credit repair provided by non profit consumer credit counseling may sound like a good idea, but many times it canturn into a nightmare. There are numerous unscrupulous "non profit" credit counselors out there who are out to cheat you. Just because someone is offering non profit credit counseling doesn't mean they are scammers. Still, many of these credit counseling organizations will give you signs that they are not trustworthy.

They promise that they can make it much easier for you to repay your debt, reduce your monthly payments by huge amount with very little risk or hardship. Like they old saying: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do not trust non profit debt counseling unless you are sure they are honest and are providing a worthwhile service. Choosing the wrong credit repair outfit could actually make your financial situation worse.

Most people have a high degree of trust of organizations with the non-profit label. The general images that come to mind for most people are that of a public service company coming to the aid of the little guy battling against the huge, heartless "credit machine." In reality, the situation can be completely different, to the detriment of the unsuspecting consumer. Unscrupulous non profit credit counseling is nonprofit in name only. They often take advantage of loopholes in the law to create a smokescreen which hides there true intent of simply taking peoples money. Many individuals get into credit problems in the first place because they do not understand economics well. These same people are likely to get duped by these scammers.

I wouldn't know so much about nonprofit credit counseling if it weren't so near and dear to my heart. You see, a good friend went into massive debt through a nonprofit credit counseling program. He actually had to declare bankruptcy. Before the non profit credit counseling, he was not in very good financial shape, but he was actually still staying above water. The counseling program changed all that. Soon, he was in massive debt to merciless loan sharks. Basically, instead of helping him out, they cleared out his entire savings. This is what nonprofit credit counseling did to him, and what it can do to you if you're not careful. Never judge an organization on its names alone. Find out what you are signing and research it as thoroughly as possible. Only then can you make a good, informed financial decision.

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