In terms, a credit report or credit history is a record of an individual’s company’s past borrowing and repaying including information about late payments and bankruptcy. When a customer fills out an application for a credit card, that information is sent to a credit bureau along with the status of their credit report.
Since 2007, more than 30% of all Americans have either poor or fair credit. You have to admit that it get’s pretty tough obtaining excellent credit without something lowering your score. Just remember that the better your credit is, the better things you can get in life. For example, have you ever seen the car commercials where they explain you can get a car and pay only $88 a month! Now I did some research and in order to get that, your credit score must be above 800. I’ve always wondered how many customers they actually get.
Today in the USA, the federal law mandates that everyone should receive a free credit report once a year.
Now I’m sure most of you experience the annoying debt collector calls everyday. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, everybody has a right to tell the collectors to stop calling them. Debt collectors would much rather talk to you over the phone because it’s more beneficial to them. The truth is, that the reason you get so many annoying calls is because once your added to a collection, you are on a automated system. Did you know that if a collector calls you and you told them a repeatedly number of times to stop calling you, then they are violating the FDCPA. The only surest way to stop those annoying calls is to send them a cease and desist letter. In that letter, you should state that the collector should cease and desist further communication with you. This actually works. When you send it, send it certified mail along with a return receipt. This will provide proof and evidence and will allow you to seek punitive action against the debt collector.
However, not to scare you, but the debt collectors have a right to report your activity to the federal marshalls office. If they go this far, you have no option but to start paying on your debt. With the federal marshall involved, this allows him or her to cease your bank accounts until everything is payed off. I would start by calling them and discuss monthly payments. Now for New Yorker’s, for wage garnishments, they can take upto 10% of your paycheck. Yea, this can be a royal pain in the butt, but you have no choice.
If you want a full credit report and score, make sure you do your research first. I have done mine and will list the worst websites ever. First off, don’t ever get one from www.creditreport.com. They offer a free 30 day trial, however they don’t stop payments fast. I have canceled my trial after the 30 days, but still kept on getting a payment for $11.95 every month. I have called them a number of times and actually yelled at them. Their response was always, “Um… you will no longer see anymore payments being taking out.” The only way I stopped them was to have a balance of 0 in my one checking account and they stopped!.
Another not so good website is www.freecreditreport.com. It’s basically the same exact thing as creditreport.com only they will charge you $14.95 a month instead of $11.95. I have found that the best way to obtain your report and score is to go to one of the leading lenders such as Experian or Equifax. These are the actual thing and they have great customer service. Both reports and scores I have received from them were all accurate. So yea, those two websites I just told you about are no no’s. Just stay away from them.
Here is a tip to help you obtain excellent credit: If you receive a past letter from a doctors office or one of your monthly bills and it says, “This is a final notice before it goes to a credit bureau,”, call the provider in the letter and work out a deal. You should say something like, “Can I give you $50 a month?” The Truth is, is that as long as you give them some kind of payment every month, then they cannot report it to their credit agency. This provides proof that you are in deed paying on your past dues.
But, just remember that debt collectors and your credit report are no joking matter. Having excellent credit can build many wonderful things in life.