Your credit report is the most important source of information about your financial standing, creditworthiness, and your spending habits. Your credit report is what lenders check in the first place when making a decision whether to give you a loan or not. You should constantly keep track of your report and every little change on it. It is not that credit bureaus are not trustworthy enough.
The thing is that you can find out inaccuracies on your credit file one fine day. This can be the result of a simple human mistake. You can also be mixed with another person that has a similar name. In case you discover some kind of negative information in your report that is not factual, you will probably want to dispute the inaccuracies through contacting with credit reporting agency. Do you know how to do it right?
You perfectly realize how negative entries can affect your credit score. This can result in turning your excellent credit to poor credit. Disputing inaccurate info in your report will put everything to rights and prevent your credit rating from going down. Do not be afraid of claiming your rights. For asking to delete mistakes from your credit file is provided for by law. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) protects your consumer rights.
The FCRA stipulates the rights and obligations of the credit bureau and the cardholder, in terms of how a bureau can use your information. According to FCRA a credit reporting agency is to:
1. Disclose your report and your credit score to you whenever you ask for it (once a year you can order your file for free, at every bureau)2. Restrict access to your personal information (a bureau can disclose your report only to parties with permissible purposes, like evaluation of your application for a credit, loan or some financial service )3. Get your permission to provide your employer with your credit report4. Investigate the information you disputed5. Delete or correct all inaccurate information in your report6. Delete information items that are more than 7 years old7. Remove your name from marketers’ pre-approved lists upon your request8. Place ID theft and credit fraud protection systems (alerts)9. Help you deal with the consequences of ID theft
These are the basic paragraphs of the FCRA. As you see, item 5 says that an agency must delete or correct mistakes in your report.
Feel free to write a letter with a claim to a credit bureau, if you found inaccurate data in your file. You will need to provide your personal information, such as your name, date of birth, address, SSN, account number, your plastic issuer’s name. Enclose a copy of your report with highlighted item of information you want to dispute, and an explanation for your dispute.
The bureau must investigate your case within 30 days. After the term expires you will get a grounded decision with a copy of your credit report. Do not be afraid to fight for your rights.
Americans pretty early start realizing the importance of having a job. Unlike in some other developed countries American teens test waters on the labor market at 14. Many kids that go school find part-time job at fast food restaurants, car washes, recreation and fitness centers, in retail industry, take care of animals and so on.
Most people in the US strive to have a steady job, which means a steady income. Now that the US economy is sliding into a recession, keeping a job and having a permanent income is more essential than ever. Your revenue and your ability to pay off your loans and credit card balances are closely connected. According to financial experts, job losses are the biggest factor affecting delinquency rate.
Jim Chessen, chief economist for the American Bankers Association has outlined main trends and problems concerning US economy, banking industry and credit card market during recently held teleconference.
He admitted that job loss is “…the biggest driver of consumer credit problems…” He noted that the delinquency rate (the rate of credit consumers who are 90 or more days late on their credit card payments) has grown a bit over the past few months. Now credit card delinquencies are slightly higher the five-year average. And it is not economy slowdown alone that can be found the reason for this situation.
This year around 600,000 people have lost their jobs. No wonder many of them have fallen behind their monthly payments. It is quite clear that credit card delinquencies cause great losses on the part of lenders. It is all like a vicious circle. People lose their jobs. Banks get delinquent accounts and incur losses. Economy suffers. Job market becomes unable to provide the necessary amount of positions. But is there the light at the end of the tunnel? When will American consumers see economy revival?
American Banking Association (ABA) economic advisers are predicting a slight recovery by the end of 2008. Though experts are forecasting that the economy will most probably just inch upward a bit to the condition of a “mild recession”, this is already encouraging. Peter Hooper, chief economist at Deutsche Bank and ABA economic advisory committee chairman believes that the US economy crisis is reducing to a mild recession. And, as he noted, these hopes are backed by recent surveys and analytic estimation of latest economic data.
Recent market shakeups shocked financial markets and credit consumers. Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Federal Reserve Board bailout of American International Group Inc., Merrill Lynch sale do not give grounds for hope. And the experts confirm that things are unlikely to change dramatically for better, but the second quarter of 2009 might bring some relief. Economists expect that this is when the housing market bottoms out.
In fact, the devil is not so black as he is painted. America’s economic system is strong enough to handle the crisis. Chessen added that the current banking turmoil should not be viewed as a collapse of entire banking industry. 98% of US banks, as he noted, are well-capitalized and have billions of dollars in reserves.
ABA economists believe that the country will soon get through this economic downturn. And credit consumers will be able to take advantage of using reward credit cards low interest cards no fee cards and others again.
