Richard Larkin asked:




When you access your online credit report, you should have an idea of what you are looking at. Many individuals spend their hard earned dollars to see their online credit score, but it doesn’t help them because they are either confused by some of the terms or they aren’t looking at the correct report. In short, there are a few things you should be on the lookout for when accessing your credit rating report.

Things you should know before obtaining your credit report:

Be careful, as there are many fraudulent reports online that are misleading and have been known to fool many people. Always look for the official FICO score on the bottom of your credit report, especially since you are paying good money to obtain that report.

You want an official FICO credit report when you get a copy of your report. The name of this report varies, based upon which credit reporting agency you use.

You will be receiving the Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model credit report when you get a free instant credit report from Experian. Equifax calls their reports “Beacon Score Reports.” Trans Union does it a bit differently, having different names for each of their three credit reports.

It will either be called the Empiria Report, FICO Risk Score report, or the Classic. If you choose to go with merged credit reports from all three of these companies, then you can sometimes miss out on having all of these scores at your disposal.

Watch out for Special Offers

These offers made by companies for their online credit reports often are trying to get you involved into another type offer which will cost you more. By agreeing to sign up for their credit monitoring service, these companies provide free access for your online business credit report and your personal credit report.

While it may sound like a temptingly good deal to begin with, in the long run credit monitoring can be expensive. Checking your online credit report on occasion is a much more cost effective way to prevent any problems before they happen, and it is an effective way to monitor your credit.

Scams are Almost Everywhere

Each and every month, more scams pop up in which people try to use your sensitive personal information for fraudulent purposes. Be aware of companies out there that are posing as credit repair companies or a credit counseling agency. If they make promises that seem a little bit out of the ordinary to you, then there is a good chance they are pulling a scam.

Avoid suspicious emails and websites. Exercise caution when considering who to give your personal information to. Unwary people are lured by the promise of inexpensive credit reports.

MyFICO.com

Try Myfico.com for a trustworthy site where you can access your personal credit report. The vital information you will be looking for is included in the online credit reports provided by them.

You will have a chance to view your official FICO score from each of the credit reporting agencies, as well as all of the current information that each of the three bureaus has on you. You have access to all of that for about $45.

Susan

Jeremiah Perez asked:




Have you ever wondered how lenders evaluate your credits report? Credit score? Background Check?

Learn what creditors, landlords, and employers look for so you can ultimately improve your credit to obtain what you want.

Below are the 7 most crucial aspects creditors are evaluating and tips to improve them.

1. First one is a no brainer; a favorable point is to have all your accounts current. Tip: Make all your payments on time. Just with this, you will rank high amongst the general public.

2. Keep your debt-to-income ratio under 20%. Debt-to-income ratio is calculated by obtaining your total monthly debt and dividing it by your gross monthly income. Tip: Do not over extend yourself. Keep your expenses low and try not to use your credit for a while if it is over 20% or pay it down.

3. Having to many credit cards and open lines is not a favorable characteristic. Available balances on these lines are viewed as negative due to the fact that they can easily turn to future debt. Tip: Limit the amount of open accounts you have on your report.

4. One of the worse characteristics to have on your credit is late payments. Whether you are 30, 60, 90, or 120 days late, your credit score will suffer along with creditors risk analysis skyrocketing. Tip: Do what it takes; sell some items on the internet, get another job, lower your expenses, but make your payments on time. The longer it goes pass due, the worse it looks. If there is a negative comment or incorrect information, dispute the finding with the bureaus.

5. Too much credit inquires. Creditors frown upon more the 4 inquires within a year. Tip: Stop applying for all those department store credit cards because they offer you an additional 20% off your purchase. Be wise and pull your credit only if needed. Credit inquires usually disappear after 2 years depending on the nature of the inquiry.

6. Lenders do not like instability. Several changes in your physical address and employment are shunned upon by lenders. Tip: Try to keep the same address even if it requires you to rent a P.O. Box or a UPS box.

7. Last but not least, negative credit history such as bankruptcies and charge-offs may either force a rejection or approval with really high interest rate and fees. Tip: Depending on the type of bankruptcy or charge off, the negative remark will only exist for 7 – 10 year from the date of the original delinquency.

Credit reports all have 4 general types of data; Personal information, history data, Public records information, and creditor inquiries.

Lawrence

waltb87 asked:


Are there any? I know that freecreditreport.com is supposably “Free” but requires to sign up for triple advantage and won’t be charged 14.95 if you cancel in time, but cancelling isn’t instant. Are there any that aren’t advertised that much that is very useful?

Patricia

Scott Lovingood asked:




Managing your credit history is a very important step in creating wealth in your life. A good bit of it is based on handling your money and credit correctly. The other part though is how it gets reported as well.

Every person in the US has a credit history. For some people it is blank. They don’t have a record yet of how they handle history. For some people it could fill a large volume of encyclopedias. Now the question becomes is your credit history accurate?

The US government requires the major credit bureaus to provide a copy of your credit history for free once a year. That is why you will often hear people talk about the free annual credit report.

It isn’t the same as your credit score though. It is important to realize that your credit score is still tough to determine as each company calculates them differently.

The three major credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. Think of them as giant record keepers. They get reports from credit card companies, auto loans, mortgage loans, and other areas. Not every company reports to all three. Some will only report your information to one or two of them.

There are three main reasons to get a copy of your free annual credit report. We will discuss each of them in more detail below.

Inaccuracies Identify Theft Forgotten Credit Lines

Inaccuracies can riddle your credit report. The systems involved in collecting this information is not perfect. It is very possible that information is reported to the company incorrectly. For example your credit card company can report that you had a card be placed into collections. It can happen from an employee mistyping information into a computer program.

It is also possible that someone else’s credit is being sent under your identity. I have a friend whose name is the same as her sister in law. They share first and last names but have different middle names. When she went to apply for a loan on a home, they were very confused by her credit history. They lived in different states, had different jobs, and different financial histories. The credit bureaus had mixed them up in places.

It took a while to get everything corrected so she could purchase her home. Getting a copy will allow you to find these errors quickly and get them corrected.

Identify Theft is a growing problem in the world. Getting a copy of your credit history can allow you to find out if someone has stolen your personal information. The credit bureaus will show any credit that is opened in your name. By checking it on a regular basis you can prevent this. You can also request that they put a freeze on your credit. This prevents anyone from opening credit in your name. Just remember to take it off when you get ready to apply for credit.

Forgotten credit lines may not sound like a big deal but they can be. It is not a good idea to have credit lines floating around. I found a couple of store credit cards on my report that I had completely forgotten about. I had gotten them when I was much younger and establishing my credit.

I kept the credit lines but requested that they be frozen. I didn’t want to remove them as they would impact my credit score. I also didn’t want to leave them laying around in case someone got the information and started using them.

Scott

Mike Irons asked:




Is your credit going down the tubes?

]]> http://free-credit-report-instantly.org/finance/how-to-get-your-free-instant-credit-reports-online/feed/ 0 http://free-credit-report-instantly.org/finance/free-instant-credit-reports-3/ http://free-credit-report-instantly.org/finance/free-instant-credit-reports-3/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:59:06 +0000 admin http://free-credit-report-instantly.org/finance/free-instant-credit-reports-3/

Harry J. Andersohn asked:




Ever since consumers started to be aware of their credit score and how it affects everything from your ability to get a loan for a house, to rent an apartment, to buy a car and even to get insurance for that car, the number of sites that are claiming to offer free instant credit reports has been on the rise. But now here’s the issue – many of these sites that say they offer free credit reports really only do that as a front to get you hooked on a list that will allow them to spam you for years with all sorts of offers that you didn’t really agree to accept.

So when you’re looking for truly free credit reports, and you don’t want to wait weeks for them to arrive in the mail, you need to find a site that is legitimate, trustworthy, and can deliver on its promise to instantly show you your report and the score that lenders are using to evaluate your credit worthiness.

Here are some things to look out for…

Is the company behind the free credit report site trustworthy? Admittedly this can be a little bit difficult to evaluate on your own. Still, you should recognize a fly-by-night operation from one that has been established for a long time and that has a long list of satisfied clients.

Look for names you know, and look to see how long they’ve been in business as well as how many customers they’ve served. The best sites will be able to point to thousands of happy customers and several years in business. This can be a good indication of a site that delivers on its promise.

What are the hidden fees? Most sites that offer free credit reports will do so as part of a bundle or package that includes some kind of credit monitoring service. This is fine, and can actually be quite helpful. But what you need to make sure is that if you don’t want this monitoring service that you’ll be able to cancel it before you’re ever charged.

Again, the simple fact that the site offering a free instant credit report also puts you in to a trial for a credit monitoring service shouldn’t automatically disqualify it. As long as you’re offered a grace period during which you can cancel and not pay, this should be fine.

Is the information accurate? Now I’m not talking here about whether or not the information on your credit report is accurate. What I mean is, is the credit report coming from a reputable agency? It does you no good to go with a service that offers an “estimate” of your credit score when it’s not coming from an actual credit reporting agency.

What you need is the information that actual lenders are going to be using when evaluating whether or not they can extend credit. For this, you should be going with a brand name service – one that will offer you a true picture of how lenders see you and your ability to borrow money.

Claude

♥ Mary ♥ asked:


Someone just suggested to me to use Privacy Matters 1-2-3. Now last Saturday I went to freecreditreport and signed up…BUT They said they were going to send me something in the regular mail that will tell me how to log on the first time. So now the free trial days are ticking by and I don’t have a way to log in and get my credit reports and scores! Does this Privacy 1-2-3 do that? Is there a place where I can sign up for a trial and get instant access?

Brandon

Jared Wright asked:




We are all used to having everything instant. From food to services, and now even a credit report can be instant! Although it is far from a vending machine which requires you to put a couple of dollars in for you to get what you need, it still proves to be a much easier way of getting information that you need.

The application is online and it takes a short amount of time for you to completed it. There are a lot of websites you can use to get your instant report. With all the advantages and uses of a credit report, you can be assured that the convenience will be just as rewarding. Here are some benefits of getting an instant report online.

Instant information for lenders. When you apply for a loan, you will be asked for a credit report, since you will have to be evaluated based on your past payments. It is best to get it instantly when you need it since your report is updated on a regular basis. You do not want to have a 6 month or a year old report when you are apply for a loan.

Easy save. You can either have your credit report printed, or save it in your computer. You can email it to lenders and other people who may need to see your score.

Your score. Easily and quickly access your credit score. There is a small fee but you can receive that all important number instantly. Quickly go into action if your score is lower than you expected.

Regular checking. Aside from simply determining your financial standing, your credit report will give you information about your income, your financial activity and payment history. With an instant report, you can easily monitor your debts and check your information, enabling you to make sure that no one is stealing your personal identity and using it for their own financial transactions.

Home buying. You can also use your credit report to get approved for a house loan. As long as you have a good standing, you can immediately get approved for a real estate loan. Without instant credit report, you may have to wait for months and months before you finally get your information, which will be used by the evaluators for your loan, interest rates and payment conditions.

The best part of getting an instant credit report is that you can get it online at any time of the day or night. So now you don’t have to worry.

Darrell

Tim Gorman asked:




The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act 2003 requires that the three top credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian and TransUnion provide free annual credit reports to anyone that orders one. The three bureaus have created and jointly hosted a website where consumers can order their instant credit reports for free. They also provide a toll free telephone number and a mailing address which can be used by consumers to apply for their reports. The Act also mandates that consumers should be able to get their credit scores for a small fee, along with explanations about the factors involved in the score computation.

Credit reports are important for two reasons – first, so you can spot any errors in your credit history and financial transactions and have them corrected immediately. An error could cause you to get labeled as a credit risk and classify you with bad credit which in turn means lower loan amounts and higher interest rates when you attempt to take out a loan in the future. The second reason for ordering your credit information is to make sure that any apparent identity theft can be identified and corrected.

Getting your credit score can also prove beneficial before you apply for a loan – any lender looks at your score before nailing down the interest rates on your loan. With a good score, you will be in a position to negotiate a better deal for yourself.

You are eligible to get three free credit reports, one from each bureau, every year. By going online to http://www.annualcreditreport.com, you can get your free report. You can choose to order all three together or choose to order one at a time over a period of one year. If you would like to keep track of your credit transactions through a whole year, ordering the three reports at different times would make sense. Although you can order by telephone or mail you should expect a wait time of a few weeks before your report arrives.

However, when you go online to order you not only get instant credit report, you can actually do so from the comfort of your home. Another point in favor of getting your report online from home is that you will have all your credit documentation close at hand to reference as required or needed. How will you get your credit report copy from the website? Once you log into the site mentioned above, you will be asked to enter some information like your name, address, date of birth and social security number. Then you can choose the bureau or bureaus whose reports you want to receive information from. After you make this choice, each bureau will set its own set of questions for you to answer in order to confirm your identity. This could be any unique information that is supposed to be known only to you, like the balance amount on a particular credit card account you hold.

Once your identity is verified, your instant credit report will be available at your finger tips! You will have the option to print this report or to save it as a file on your computer. After this, you can choose to go for additional services like getting your credit score etc. (note, these normally require a small charge or fee).

Steve

Livian asked:


I have a question for all you Yahoo-ers out there if you are as bothered as I am by all the different companies on the web who are offering “free” whatever, credit score, dinner at favorite restaurant, laptop computer, that all comes with the following “condition” that the instant you request the “free” report you will automatically be signed up for some dumb, stupid program that you wouldn’t use in a million years that will not only cost you from $9.95 to $29.95 but that you have to put your credit card and billing info out there for.

How many of you agree with me that it then no longer is a “free” item? (The dictionary gives several definitions for the word “free”, among them are these three: “…not controlled by obligation or the will of another; not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance; and not subject to a given condition….”)

So, in my opinion, this is false advertising if the “free” item comes with a condition or a circumstance.

Comments?
Actually I didn’t ever click on the “free” laptop but I did get suckered into the ‘gift card for my favorite restaurant’ if I accepted just two of these great offers – I’m still waiting for my Olive Garden gift card……..

Monica