Apr 18, 2010

Credit and Identity Theft: Simple Ways to Protect Yourself


Maintaining good credit takes work. You have to keep track of multiple due dates to make sure you pay on time; you have to keep track of your spending to make sure you stay within reasonable limits. You have to maintain the right credit mix between cards, loans, and other types of debt, all the while making certain that you don’t overspend or overextend yourself in the process. It’s a delicate balancing act that can be wiped out in a flash if your identity is stolen. Unauthorized charges and bogus credit accounts can ruin your credit scores in the blink of an eye. Fortunately there are a few simple things you can do to make it more difficult for predators and con artists to steal your identity and your hard-earned credit score.

1. Get Rid of Pre-approved Offers. You may not be interested in getting a new pre-approved credit card, but identity thieves are. While you can shred these types of unsolicited offers for new credit, a better option may be to stop them altogether. You can opt out of pre-approved offers by going to optoutprescreen.com to stop the credit bureaus from sharing your credit information with other companies.

2. Leave the Pin Number at Home. Never write the pin number to your credit or debit cards on the card, and never store pin numbers in your wallet or purse. Commit the pin number to memory instead. Try to choose something that is easy for you to remember but hard for others to guess. Change your pin number periodically – every 3 to 6 months – and don’t use the same pin number for every card.

3. Beware of Phishing. Emails that ask for personal information may seem to come from legitimate companies. However, it’s rare for any company to solicit personal information or account updates through email. If you are in doubt, contact the company directly –don’t use the links provided in the email, as they may direct you to a site that will steal your information.

4. Consider a Credit Freeze. If you aren’t planning on opening any new accounts in the near future, you can institute a credit freeze by contacting the credit bureaus. While under the freeze, your account won’t be visible to any lenders without your explicit permission. If you are in the military, you can request a special type of credit freeze that will prevent new accounts being opened in your name while you are abroad. Freezing your credit file typically costs a nominal fee if you aren’t already a victim of identity theft, so be sure to weigh the costs before your commit.

5. Use Credit Monitoring. The major credit bureaus have different types of credit monitoring available if you want to be able to keep track of potentially fraudulent activity. You can also monitor your own credit if you stagger your free yearly credit report. Each bureau is required to provide one credit report per year (sometimes more, depending on your state). By staggering your requests, you can get an accurate snapshot of your credit every 4 months.

Making it difficult for criminals to access your personal information is one of the best defenses against identity theft. Restricting access to your credit, when combined with proactive monitoring, can significantly reduce the chances that you’ll be a victim of identity theft. If you do notice something out of the ordinary, report it right away – your liability is limited to only $50 in most cases, but only if you report the suspected identity theft right away.

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Jul 31, 2009

Hidden Credit Builders: Adding Positive Information to Your Report

Most people focus on removing negative items from their credit reports in order to improve credit scores. While this is an effective means of improving scores by clearing up items that cause credit scores to drop, it is also sometimes possible to improve your credit by adding to your credit report. Just as negative information can be inaccurately reported, positive information may also have been left off, or misreported on your credit report. In some instances, it may be possible to add this positive information and give your credit scores a natural boost.

Some common mistakes with regards to positive information on your credit report include the length of time the account has been open, the credit limit on the account, and any accounts where you may be a joint account holder but the account isn’t listed on your credit report. When it comes to these types of mistakes, adding the positive information to your credit report can usually be accomplished one of two ways:

Contact the creditor. If it’s a case of not having a joint account listed on your credit report, you’ll want to contact the creditor directly. In many instances, your creditor will be able to add the account to your report for you. This is especially true if the account is listed for the other joint account holder already.

Contact the credit bureaus. After you’ve contacted your creditor, you’ll want to confirm that the information has been changed within the credit bureaus. Wait a couple of weeks, and then check your report – if you still see errors, send a letter to the credit bureau asking them to correct the information, or use the online contact form.

For accounts that are in your own name, but that aren’t listed on your credit report, you should verify with your creditor that they report to the three national credit bureaus. Not every creditor chooses to report to the bureaus, and without their voluntary reporting, the credit bureau won’t be able to help you. If you do confirm that the creditor typically reports and just hasn’t reported your account, you can take the same steps above in order to have the situation resolved.

For creditors that do not choose to report your credit to the agencies, you can still help your chances of obtaining credit if you can get a certified copy of your payment history. If possible, request a copy of the payment history on company letterhead, and signed by a manager or someone else in charge. By having this documentation on hand to bolster your credit report, you may be able to convince some lenders.

Adding positive information can be a helpful step when it comes to repairing your own credit. Listing accurate, positive information can counteract some negative marks on your report. Additionally, by verifying these positive items, you will can be more vigilant to potential errors in the reporting process overall. Don’t just look at your negative items – always look at your credit report as a whole to attain the best results.

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Dec 15, 2007

How to Raise Your Credit Scores

You can raise your credit scores by taking a close look at your credit reports and creating a plan of action to improve them. Most increases to your credit scores take place over time and require a continuing effort from you. The only quick-fixes of raising your credit scores are to pay down debt and to successfully dispute negative information on a credit report.

At the same time, you want to always pay your bills on time – that should be obvious. Late payments play a major role in driving down your credit scores. You will also want to keep your debt-to-credit-limit (or available credit) ratio as low as possible. Never let it get above 40%. If you don’t have many positive accounts reporting, you may want to open some new accounts to raise your debt to available. Try to get an unsecured credit card from your local credit union or a secured card from a legitimate site online.

Don’t close unused accounts, especially if they are old and reporting positive, because zero balances can help your score. Also, don’t open several new accounts in a short period, especially if your credit history is less than three years old. Too many inquiries in a short period of time can really be hurtful to your credit scores. Apply for credit wisely.

It should be mentioned though, that pulling your own credit does not harm your scores. In fact, many people think it’s wise to use a monthly credit monitoring service online to monitor your progress and make sure there are no unauthorized inquiries or new accounts showing up on your reports.

As mentioned, disputing negative accounts on your credit reports is an excellent way to raise your credit scores. All negative accounts on your credit report should be disputed to make sure they are accurate. If they are not, they must be removed. You don’t have to be dishonest when disputing accounts; the burden of proof is on the credit bureaus and the lenders. If you know that an account is yours, do not dispute it as “not mine”.

It’s their obligation by law to verify the account and show proof that every little thing they are reporting is 100% accurate. If it’s an old account and the lender no longer has the records to verify an account, guess what? It must be removed. Just remember to always be careful and honest when disputing. Unintended consequences happen quite frequently with credit bureaus. They know how to play the game and they are NOT happy about having to verify your accounts, so be smart about it or you will find yourself with even worse credit.

If you don’t have time to repair your credit, why not let the professionals at Lexington Law Firm take care of it for you? Lexington deletes all kinds of negative credit including bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, charge offs, judgments, tax liens, collections, and more.

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Nov 16, 2007

How to Dispute Credit Report Errors

Your credit reports contain information about where you live, how you pay your bills, and any public records that you may have. Credit bureaus sell your report to creditors, insurers, employers, landlords and anyone else who will pay for it. They use this information to evaluate what kind of risk you will be for credit, insurance, employment, renting and sometimes utilities.

Most of you probably already knew that…but, did you know a study released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in June 2004 found that 79% of the consumer credit reports surveyed contained some kind of error or mistake. That’s right, that means about 4 out of 5 people have information on their credit reports that is erroneous! Astonishing isn’t it?

Even worse, more than 25% of credit reports have errors serious enough to result in the denial of credit or increase rates. A good score can save you $100,000 over the life of a $250,000 mortgage. So, technically, you could be paying $100,000 more on a 30 year mortgage because of MISTAKES THE CREDIT BUREAUS MADE in reporting your information!

That’s really just the beginning of the awful things that could happen to a consumer because of credit bureau’s erroneous reporting. For this reason and many others, it’s crucial that you review your credit report periodically.

To dispute these errors you must first get your credit reports. Then, you must spend some time analyzing your credit reports. Make sure that all of the information being reported is accurate. The credit bureaus must investigate the items in question within 30 days. They also must forward all relevant information you provide about the inaccuracy to the creditor that provided the information.

After the creditor receives notice of a dispute from the consumer reporting company, it must investigate, review the relevant information, and report the results back to the consumer reporting company. If the information provider finds the disputed information is inaccurate, it must notify all three nationwide consumer reporting companies so they can correct the information in your file.

There are many more techniques to get inaccurate information removed from your credit reports. Stop by the credit repair forum or check out the Credit Secrets Bible to find out how you can get started repairing your credit today!

If you prefer to let professionals handle the job, give Lexington Law Firm a shot!

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Sep 3, 2007

Repairing Credit Yourself

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives you the right to dispute any and all items on your credit reports that you feel classify as inaccurate, unverifiable, or misleading. If the bureaus can not verify that the information on your reports is indeed correct, then those items must be deleted.

Disputing items on your credit report is easy. Getting results from the credit bureaus is amazingly difficult, complex, and infuriating. It is not a coincidence that the Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. Remember, the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating your challenge consumes these profits. Short of sparking a mass number of lawsuits, the credit bureaus seem to do everything in their power to discourage consumers from making progress in their restoration efforts.

Restoring your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing yourself a court of law; it is possible, but you must decide if you are willing to take the time and assume the risks of doing it yourself. Most people choose to allow an attorney to represent them because an attorney better understands the complexities of the legal system. If you decide your time is better spent and you would like a respectable company to help, we HIGHLY recommend using Lexington Law.

Posted in Fair Credit Reporting Act, credit, credit bureaus, dispute credit reports | No Comments »



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