Blacklikeme. asked:


If you move to Canada do your good credit here in the US follows you there? I mean is your record automatically transferred to the Credit Bureau of Canada or you will have to start from scratch when you get there. Or you need to initiate the process of data transfer yourself?

Mathew

JJ asked:


The above question is about contacting a credit bureau about old debt that’s showing on my credit reports. Also, will accessing my credit report or contacting the credit bureau about old debt alert my creditors as to my whereabouts?

Miguel

Mark J Garcia asked:




The Credit Bureaus exist for one reason, and one reason only…to make money! Each and every one of the bureaus is a publicly traded company. They make most of their revenue by selling information to lending institutions, insurance companies, utility companies, credit card issuing banks, and employers.

They DO NOT make money by researching your disputes…in fact, it costs them time, money, and resources to investigate them. Is it any wonder then who the bureaus ultimately serve?

Bureau Secret #1 Credit Bureau Reports – Your 92 Scores

Reports and scores are created “on the fly” whenever they are requested by you, a creditor, or a lender. In fact, you can have up to 92 different scores…23 different scores for each Bureau: Trans Union, Experian, Equifax and don’t forget the little known “other” bureau named Innovis.

Remember your credit scores can vary drastically depending on who pulls the report and the particular profile applied to you. This Bureau process is especially problematic if you are thinking of getting a home loan or mortgage. The score you see if you request it from a major reporting bureau or an on-line service WILL be different – and probably much higher than the score you receive from a Mortgage Broker.

Why?

One reason is that when you pull a report from an online service 18 elements of identification have to match exactly. For example, all of the letters of your last name need to match. That means you are more likely to get accurate information.

When the bureaus pull reports for lenders, usually only 9 elements have to match, for example only 2 letters in your last name. So, more errors and erroneous information will appear on your score – lowering it. Why do the Bureaus provide different – and LOWER – scores to lenders?

Because they’ve decided that by reporting lower – more conservative scores to lenders, they would be less likely to be sued by lenders if the borrower defaults on the loan.

Do you think the major reporting bureaus care about showing lenders your true credit worthiness? I am here to tell you that they don’t! Matter of fact, if you would like to find out more information about how the bureaus are royally screwing over the American Consumer, I have created a newsletter that details shocking news about the 3 Major Bureaus

Bureau Secret #2 Credit Bureau Reports – Your Scores are NOT Accurate

Did you know that your score is probably inaccurate? According to a recent Public Interest Group Research study, more than 70% of Reports contain errors. Oh sure, the Bureaus say to the public that only 20% of reports contain errors, but that’s a bunch of Bureau bologna, because when they are in court under oath they admit that more than 50% of reports contain errors.

What kind of errors are probably on your report – and making you pay more for your home, auto loan, insurance, credit cards and student loans? The study found that 29% of reports contain serious errors that don’t belong including; false delinquencies that can kill your score.

41% of reports contain personal demographic information that was incorrect, outdated, or misspelled. 20% of credit reports – 1 in 5!!!! were missing major loan mortgage or other information to demonstrate the worthiness of the consumer. 26% of reports contained accounts that were in incorrectly listed as open (or) “closed by credit grantor.” When your account is “closed by grantor” it looks like you did something wrong and that’s bad for your scores.
Bureau Secret #3 What Is Your Real, Accurate, and True FICO Score?

Did you know that over 90% of the financial institutions in the world will use scores from one organization only? The name of that company is Fair Isaac Corporation or as they are more commonly known FICO.

The location where I recommend that you purchase your credit scores from is from the Fair Isaac Corporation at their main website. Now, I recommend going to a certain section of their website where you will get a true picture of why your scores are behaving the way they are

This website will not only give you the most current status of your reports, but it will also show you your FICO Scores from all 3 bureaus.

This is the only place you should ever get your scores, because your FICO scores are the ones from where most lenders will base their acceptance of your credit application.

I find it interesting that the major bureaus also have their own version of scores that they try to sell to you and I. However none of the people you are trying to get to extend you a loan will even look at those scores! It is just another example of the greedy bureaus trying to squeeze more and more money from us.

Let’s Wrap This Up…

So as you can see, there are many myths disguised as truths when it comes to credit and credit repair. There are also hidden secrets that the credit bureaus don’t want you to know. I hope that since you are now armed with this knowledge, you won’t fall victim to false information that exists out there.

Your Credit Score Insider, Mark J. Garcia

Allan

Tim Gorman asked:




Credit reports provide great details about a person including name, birth date, Social security number, home address, how payments are made, income, employment history, home ownership, previous address, court cases, judgments, and bankruptcy and foreclosure records.

Above all it gives details about a person’s credit history. These include all the creditors with balances and accounts that are closed or in collections. It will also indicate if there are any late payments, and any other irregularity. In addition it will also list the requests for that credit report by creditors during the past year and requests for credit reports including those by employers for the past two years.

These reports are maintained by three nationwide credit bureaus which use slightly different sources to compile the information. Based on the information they have credit bureaus calculate a figure called the credit score. The three credit bureaus Equifax, Transunion, Experian use different formulas to arrive at their score. The credit score can be considered a mathematical way of determining the likelihood of the borrower paying back a loan.

This information can be accessed by creditors, insurers, employers, and others who have been legitimately allowed access subject to conditions through The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). It is clear that accurate information in the credit report is important to everyone concerned not only for the person about whom it is concerned but to anyone else who may want to rely on it for decision making. As such it is important to understand how the credit report is compiled and the accuracy of the information and sources on which that compilation is made.

It is important to know how and at what frequency credit information reaches the credit bureau. On examination of their procedure, it is clear that frequency of reporting varies depending on the creditor. While some creditors will report any changes in the customers’ balances every day, others will report once a month or at longer periods. This is mainly due to efficacy reasons, since with most people there will not be much of a change in credit balances. Because of that creditors will only report if there are any changes in the credit balances. This therefore means that for some people their credit report will get updated about once a month while others may not see any change in their credit reports for 3 or 6 months. On the other hand creditors will report late payments and other negative activities quite promptly.

Carolyn

David Faulkner asked:




Companies providing credit have certain criteria’s to ensure whether u will be able to pay back your loans or not. What ever sort of loan it may be, a car payment, a Visa or MasterCard or Discover or American Express, a department store credit card, a gas company credit card or a mortgage, they are all clubbed under one category and then accordingly a credit score is maintained by all the three big credit companies in United States of America. The credit score is calculated not only keeping in view the current unpaid bills but the complete account history and accordingly they analyze whether their money with you is safe or not and what more can be offered to you. So credit score does make a whole lot of a difference.

Criteria of credit score:

Most of the times a digit most probably ranging between 450 and 850 are allotted to the holder according to which your reliability is calculated by the bureau. The credit score system cannot be said to be fool proof, in fact there are some flaws in it. Some times a credit may be reflecting in more than bureau and as time passes as do the contracts and staff. Any errors that are left are untouched and remain there as it is. The credit company for the lender has changed but the defaults are still carried forward. This is not the case with Mortgage Company, that an exception, as it is reported to all the three bureaus depending upon the amount.

Credibility Of the system:

Another factor which raises eyes on the credibility of credit scores analysis system is the amount of data a credit bureau has to maintain. Such huge data can’t be errorless, not their fault. Not only they Keep track of your current status but also maintain the complete previous record. The total amount of data sums out to billions of records considering the number of businesses and customers in the country. According to studies around 10 percent of the records are corrupted, which is a lot.

No bureau can figure out the worthiness of a customer according to the credit score as the bureaus [http://www.creditscorereportguide.org/Experian_Credit_Report/] do not share their data with each other and a person being very appropriate in one case might be a defaulter with the other bureau. So the credit score is not an exact picture of your credit history but just a hypothetical thing.

What else is the option for us? All we can do it keep a close vigil on our own track record. One should not just rely on one of the bureaus and get regular statements from all the three agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and check them regularly. In case of an error we must report it back and they have to either justify the thing or refund it. This process must be followed at least twice in a year so as to maintain your credit score as it does reflect how you have been in handling credits.

Lonnie

xoookissthisooox asked:


I have bad credit and I am working to establish that credit. I’ve heard of the prepaid credit cards that report to the credit bureau, but some are $30 to start the account. I’m looking for the following:

- Reports to credit bureau, so that I can improve my credit.
- Low start up fee. (Under $10.00)
- Low monthly or annual fee (Under $10 p/month, $60 p/year)

If anyone knows, or has story about a good card, please respond. Thanks.
I appreciate the answers. I am looking for one that does not go through a bank. I don’t want to have to open a new bank account for it. I’m looking along the lines of a mastercard/visa/etc. Thanks.

Helen

Susan Jan asked:




Having a good credit rating is important because it allows us many conveniences in life, such as renting property, having credit card, and qualifying for financing etc. However, if you do not pay a creditor on time, your credit report with the credit bureau will be affected, and when your credit rating becomes poor, the above conveniences will no longer be possible. It is imperative that you take immediate steps to repair your credit.

The first step in credit repair is to get your credit report from the credit reporting agency. Once you receive your credit report, examine it closely for any inaccuracies. If you find any discrepancies, you can request an investigation in writing to the agency. The agency must then either respond within 30 days with documentation of the particular discrepancy, or remove that item from your credit report.

An immediate solution to credit repair is to contact your creditor as soon as you become aware of your outstanding debts. Your credit report depends on whether your creditor decides to report you to the credit reporting agency. Usually your creditor will be willing to discuss with you alternate payment options and solutions, because they would prefer to get some payment instead of no payment at all from you. You should propose a realistic payment plan and convince them that you can stick to it.

If your creditor does not accept your new payment terms, then your debt will go to collection, and you will then have to deal with the collection agency. Collection agents are usually more aggressive and may even threaten to take you to court if you do not comply. Bear in mind that collection companies generally buy debts at about half their value, so any payment higher than that is a profit for them. Negotiate ASAP to pay less than the full value of your debt, and collection agents generally agree to a quick payment at a small discount of the value, as they are unwilling to have the process drag on.

Another option is for you to seek the help of a credit counselor. Credit counseling is usually done by non-profit agencies, and credit counselors will advise you on and make you stick to your long term credit repair plans. Good credit counseling organizations also provide workshops, educational materials, and counseling.

Of all the credit repair options, Avoid for-profit credit repair companies at all cost because they are often scams, and propose a one size fits all quick fix. There is nothing that a credit repair company suggests that you can’t do yourself, such as obtaining your credit report etc.

It takes a long time to build a good credit rating, and just a short amount of time to destroy it. There are no quick solutions to a poor credit rating, and you will have to slowly and patiently build your credit rating again from scratch. If you avoid quick credit fixes, and instead focus on long term credit repair, you will eventually gain your good credit back.

Sam