Having a good credit score can benefit you by getting a good interest rate and terms on a loan when purchasing a vehicle or home. The Fair Credit Reporting Act states that under federal law, a person is entitled to receive one free credit report annually by each of the three main reporting agencies, but you must make contact and request this information. Your credit reports can contain errors or account mistakes that can cost you valuable points on your FICO credit score.
Major Credit Bureaus
There are three major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You may call, e-mail or write snail-mail to request a free copy of your credit report annually. The information you will receive will only pertain to your personal credit report. It will not usually include your FICO credit score. The FICO score is offered for an additional payment of around $10.
Make sure when requesting these reports that all of your personal information (current and past) is correct. Wrong addresses and employers can cost you unnecessary points on your FICO score. These are easy things to correct. If you see any mistakes, you are required to write a letter of dispute to the credit bureau explaining what errors need to be corrected.
Contact Information
Experian
www.experian.com
P.O. Box 9595
Allen, TX 75013-9595
1-888-397-3742
Equifax
www.equifax.com
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1-800-685-1111
TransUnion
www.transunion.com
P.O. Box 1000
Chester, PA 19022
1-800-888-4213
Other Resources
Several books are available to help you understand the way credit works and aid you on the road to repairing your credit score. One is "Debt Cures" by Kevin Trudeau. This book not only tells you how to repair your credit in 30 days, but informs you of other ways to improve your credit by educating you on how the credit system works. It also provides several pages of other resources and helpful information regarding credit and debt management.
Other resources on the web offer free credit reports such as FreeCreditReport.com. One site, Freetriplescore.com, offers all three credit reports in one request. These two sites, however, require you to sign up for paid services to get the free reports.
0 comments:
Post a Comment