3 Credit Bureau Report – Free Score

Dan asked:


I have an online store selling quality electronics. Buyers pay by credit card and I ship them the goods. Once in a while a buyer will receive the goods they bought and then suddenly file a charge back with their credit card company, which means that they now have the goods I sent them and their money back. I try to contact them to find out what is wrong, but they never respond.
What are my options here? Can I report the customer to a credit bureau?

Marcus

TampaBay asked:


I just opened the hair salon, I cut hair for this lady and she does not happy with the look. she wants her money back, I said I already charged the card, I can only give you the gift card. she said no and then she told me that she will call the Credit Bureau and she walked out.
I am new in the business and not sure what damage can it done to me if she call the credit bureau?
thanks.

Jessica

Beth Pardue asked:




There are three main credit bureaus in the United States; Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Each bureau collects your personal and financial information which is then sold to lenders such as banks, credit unions, credit card companies, mortgage and auto loan lenders. Your credit report is the product of this collected information. Lending and credit companies use your credit information to determine if they will approve you or not and at what interest rate you will pay.

Many people are recognizing the importance of checking their own credit report to verify its accuracy and to make sure that they know where they stand in the credit world. Until they begin the process to obtain a copy of their credit report, some people do not realize that they actually have three credit reports instead of just one. The three main credit bureaus keep separate credit records from one another and produce their own credit reports. Instead of the credit bureaus working together and sharing information among themselves like some people may think, they are actually competitors. That is why the information provided on one credit report will more than likely be different from the information provided on the credit report from another credit bureau. Therefore, it is recommended to check your credit report from all three credit bureaus in order to see the complete picture.

There are a couple of options to checking all three of your credit reports. You can contact each of the credit bureaus individually to request a copy. Or you can go through one of the many companies that provide a 3-in-1 credit report like [http://www.credit-report-credit-score.com]. Obtaining a 3-in-1 credit report is usually more convenient and user friendly to the consumer compared to requesting individual copies.

Verifying the data on all three of your credit reports is the only way to know that the information that potential lenders and creditors are evaluating you on is correct. When considering you for a loan, some lenders will pull your credit report from only one or two of the credit bureaus while other lenders will pull your credit report from all three. It is always a good idea to check your credit reports BEFORE applying for your next big purchase. Covering your bases beforehand can often times save you a lot of time and hassle during the application process.

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Jacqueline

Mike Geraghty asked:




1. Request all three of your credit reports from Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You will most likely come across several errors as it’s estimated that up 70% of all credit reports contain errors. It’s likely that the information will vary between the 3 credit bureaus. You can order your credit reports free of charge from several places. (I’ve listed a great free resource at the end of this article). You can do this once a year. You can also request a free copy of your credit report anytime you are denied credit as long as you request it within 60 days of your credit denial. If you have been denied credit, copy the credit denial letter from the creditor (which they are required to send to you after they deny you credit) and include that with your request. You are also entitled to a free copy of your credit report anytime you are denied insurance, or if you are unemployed.

2. Analyze all 3 copies for errors. You’re likely to come across entries that you don’t recognize. Also look for duplicate entries, misspellings of your name, and old and/or inaccurate addresses. This is very important. Any negative or inaccurate item which is tied to an old or inaccurate address should be noted and removed. Also look at the inquiry section. Contact these creditors you do not recognize and that you do not recall applying for credit, and request that they remove the inquiry from your credit report. Some may, some may not. Note: this is really only important if you have a lot of inquiries.

3. If you are receiving collection letters from a collection company or a collection attorney, always respond back in writing requesting validation of the alleged debt within 30 days of receiving the letter. Basically this means you are asking them to prove that this is a valid debt of yours AND that they have a legal right to collect the alleged debt. They must provide you written proof of the debt. If you ignore the collection letter without writing them for “debt validation”, the law says they can assume that the debt is valid and belongs to you. Please don’t ignore this important step.

4. Dispute the items on your credit reports that you feel are inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading. When you have targeted the items to be disputed, create 3 folders for each credit bureau so that you can keep everything easily organized and separated by credit bureau. Be sure to make copies of all dispute letters and copies of your credit reports and keep each separated and filed accordingly. IMPORTANT: Handwrite all of your dispute letters. Trust me on this. Handwritten letters are sorted and separated from typed (form) letters by the credit bureaus for investigations. Typed letters risk getting flagged as being written for you by a credit repair company. And the credit bureaus tend to believe that credit repair companies simply dispute every single negative item regardless of accuracy, which runs the risk of your disputes getting flagged as “frivolous”. They may or may not flag it, but you don’t want to risk it. Be sure to mail all letters by certified mail. The credit bureaus have up to 45 days to investigate your disputes, so be sure to document the dates of the letters as well.

Within 30-45 days you should receive the results of the credit bureau’s investigation. They will either verify, update, or delete the information.

5. Work on adding good credit to your credit reports. Look into bad credit secured and unsecured credit cards. Pick 2 or 3 max, as you do not want to apply for too many credit cards at once. This appears as though you are desperate for credit, adds too many credit inquiries on your credit reports, and can lower your credit scores.

6. Opt out of all credit and credit related promotional offers. All 3 credit bureaus have information explaining the opt-out process. Write to the address they indicate for opting out of all credit related offers and promotions.

Cindy

David Kamau asked:




Credit repair, remove negative items. Can it be done? You’ve probably come across ads promising to clean up your credit file, lower your payments, removing bad information, and/or help you open a brand new file. Can it be done?

As you probably know, there are three major credit reporting agencies in the US. By simple math, this makes it three times as hard to remove negative items.

Even if it were possible for one to break into one bureau’s computer, you would still have two to go. And, the cost for such a “service” would cost several times the already exorbitant fees that credit repair clinics charge, not to mention, the risk of spending a very long time behind bars.

Secondly, even if you somehow succeeded in removing negative items from one credit bureau’s report, creditors could still re-report them and you’re back to square one.

To cut a long story short, no one – except two parties – can remove negative information from your credit file. But don’t give up, there is hope.

Yes, you credit restoration and removal of negative information can be done. But it doesn’t take a day. And it’s not a walk in the park either. It takes time and effort.

You see, there are two parties (three if you count collectors), that can legally remove negative information from your credit file: The creditors (furnishers) and the credit reporting bureaus. Once a debt has gone to collections, the respective can collector can also remove a negative item that it has reported.

Now, there are two forms of negative credit information, (1) accurate and (2) inaccurate information. Needless to say, the latter is the hardest to get removed. But it can be done.

The same tricks and strategies that credit repair clinics charge hefty (and sometimes recurring) fees for you can apply yourself with equal or better results. Why pay when you can do it yourself for free?

In fact, most credit experts agree that the best repair is self credit repair. And it costs you nothing but your own time and effort. It involves learning the right strategies for negotiation, using the existing credit laws to your advantage and yes, some guts.

Once more, the best credit repair is self credit repair. Remove negative items tricks and strategies do exist. Unfortunately they are beyond the scope of this one article.

Evelyn