Archive for November, 2009
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
This is a very insightful question. Right information is power and what I will give you here is the right information on what you should do if the credit bureau cannot verify the correctness of negative information on your credit report within the stipulated time.
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, FCRA, a credit bureau that has negative information listed in your credit report has just 30 days to investigate the correctness or wrongness of such information on your report. If within 30 days they are not able to complete their investigation, then they MUST delete the negative information from your report. It does not matter anymore whether the information is actually correct or not.
The important thing in this case is that they are not able to complete their investigation within the period the law mandates and as a result, they are required to delete it from your report.
If on the other hand, they complete their investigation within 30 days and the result shows that the negative information on your report does not belong to you, they are required to delete the negative information immediately. In addition to this, they are required to send you a letter notifying you that they have deleted the negative information from your report.
One important thing you should bear in mind when you are sending your dispute letter requesting the credit bureau to delete the negative information from your report is to send it by registered mail. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. The reason is because you will have an evidence of the delivery of the letter and the credit bureau cannot deny not receiving your letter.
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Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Worried homeowners who are not able to make their monthly mortgage payments on time are facing foreclosure. It is a kind of legal process in which a borrower under a mortgage is deprived of his own interests in the mortgaged property. Millions of people wanted to avoid foreclosure and are looking for alternative foreclosure option that may save their dream home.
If you are facing foreclosure, then there are various methods to avoid foreclosure without affecting credit report:
· Loan Modification is the best way to avoid foreclosure. It is the most popular foreclosure option that is widely used by the homeowners. You can get your loan modified by adding new terms in it. A loan modification can save a lot of money and it may include certain features such as lowering principal balance, converting to a fixed rate, lower down monthly mortgage payments, reduce interest rate, etc.
· Partial Claim is another Alternative Foreclosure Option which you can ask to your mortgage lender. This option works with you to obtain a one-time payment from the FHA-insurance fund. To qualify for the partial claim, make sure that your loan should be at least 4 months delinquent but not more than 12 months. You need to sign a promissory note and a lien will be placed on your property until the promissory note is fully paid.
· Another Foreclosure Option is that you can avail is short sale. In this, the lender agrees to sell his property on the lesser amount than the outstanding loan amount that forgives any remaining debt.
· Special Forbearance has also been suggested by your mortgage lender which gives a permanent reduction on your monthly mortgage or postpones the payments for a few months. You need to prepare a file of documents including the financial statements which should be submitted with the lender along with a hardship letter to prove that you can pay your payment plan.
· Short Refinance is also provided to avoid foreclosure. In this option, the lender forgives some of your debt and get refinanced the rest into a new loan.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
Many homebuyers frequently wonder, “If I shop for a home loan my credit be affected each time a credit report inquiry is made?”
It’s a smart and logical question to ask, the answer is: not much, if credit checks are done in a short period of time.
When a credit check is done by a potential lender is called a hard inquiry. When a difficult research that has an impact on your credit score. However, when you are shopping for a mortgage or car loan, credit agencies often difficult group questions together because the credit reporting bureaus understand that the consumer is looking for a better deal.
That means, for example, that if you’re buying a new mortgage and three potential lenders pull your credit score within three weeks, which is seen as a test for that purpose.
Keep your credit clean is critical. Here are some things you can do to help ensure healthy credit.
A card that should not carry: Leave your Social Security card at home. Most people have their number of Social Security card, memory. If you’re not one of those people, then just take your card with you when you know you need information on it. Your security card contains personal information that if put into the wrong hands can cause credit dilemmas.
Lock It Up: apartment complexes and condominiums typically have locking mailboxes, but this type of secure mailboxes are not as common in residential, single-family neighborhoods. If possible, people should have a locking mailbox.
Mailboxes with locking devices are increasingly popular in hardware stores because identity theft is spreading. Taking precautions to protect your personal information can save you months of agony.
Shred your documents: If you destroy your personal documents and criminals to access information, the result can be devastating to your credit. Criminals often attempt to open new accounts using your name and contact information. If successful, they will use the new account and divert the account information to deal with criminals or post office.
That will not even know that the account was created. They will be receiving the bills and then cast them out and ruining their credit.
Keep an eye on your credit card: Although it is difficult, people should not let your credit card out of sight or else run the risk of becoming a victim of skimming.
Skimming has become widespread in some restaurants and service stations where an employee may have a small device that scans the consumer’s credit card. Small scanner that captures all information that is on the tape, and then the card information can be cloned.
Of course, keeping your credit card visibly at all times is nearly impossible. If you’re going to a restaurant in an area that is a little uncertain of – that is in a marginal area or are in a foreign country and you are not sure where to go for dinner – - The attempt to use cash.
Additionally, using credit cards make sure you leave the receipt with the trader does not have his credit card number exposed. Most merchants have credit card systems to print only the last four digits of your credit card of a consumer, however, some still show the full account number in print. If your full credit card account appears on the receipt, scratching with a pen. Furthermore, in rare cases where carbon copies are used, ask about carbon.
Check your credit history: consumers can check their free credit report once a year at annualcreditreport.com though free reports will not contain an actual credit score. Scores are available for a nominal fee.
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
Lots of people have had the misfortune to get a car or a vehicle seized. The recent economic conditions exacerbated tribulations just like this and many people have seizures and other bad credit showing on your credit report.
The truth of the matter is that if the refund or credit is honest and accurate derogatory that is not supposed to be removed from your credit report. However, you may be able to at least improve the situation of recovering contact the original creditor and see what can be negotiated. It may also be able to at least explain. If the list is a flaw in the way that may also be able to get is totally eliminated, but will have to be persistent.
Lists of credit, whether poor or so, are destined to remain on your credit report for a period of 7 years. While derogatory credit listings are displayed in your report that may have an effect on your credit score and credit rating. But time does it better and more time that has elapsed since the difficulty the better you are.
Listings wrong or occasionally wrong can be removed from a report of a dispute. You have to write a dispute letter stating your case and explain why the listing is wrong and why it should be deleted. After receiving the letter, the credit bureaus must verify the accuracy of the list or remove it from your report.
You can do research and write dispute letters for credit repair on your account or obtain expert assistance. You do not need professional help, but the process can be slow, tedious and difficult, in the interest of their valuable time and energy you might want to bear in mind.
Each type of list of the poor can be removed from a credit report. These include seizures, tax liens, bankruptcies and even foreclosures. If you attempt credit repair is not successful and the worst that can happen is that your credit report will be the same but could also improve your credit score and rating that can be a great benefit.
Most people need a good credit score at some point in their lives if they need to get a mortgage or a car loan or credit card. Your financial situation may be granted only do credit repair. As you fix your credit, it is important to keep any new loan as perfect as possible so when your fixing problems in the past has no new problems.
If your work history and your income has stabilized after a difficult time, can be enormously beneficial to perform the credit repair. It can help a lot and certainly can not hurt.
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Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Have you ever looked at your credit report and wondered what some of the information or accounts were that is being reported to your credit report? Things like previous addresses, employers and even accounts that you know you never had can appear on your credit report. Sometimes this is simply a mistake and information was merged into your social security number but it also may be as serious as identity theft.
What to do with that information? First, you should try to determine if the information is completely inaccurate or is it just information that may have been reported incorrectly. For example, the street name on a previous address is inaccurate but is similar to a previous address. Someone may have just typed in the wrong information that was reported to the credit bureau. But if you see an address in a completely different state that you never have lived at, then you might have been a victim of identity theft.
Start with disputing that information with the credit bureau. Don’t give up until the information is either removed or corrected. False information such as inaccurate addresses and such open you up for becoming a victim of identity theft. In fact, you may have already become a victim.
You might find out that there are accounts listed that you don’t remember having. First, dispute these accounts letting them know that these accounts are not your accounts. Ask them to provide you with proof on opening the account. Then you determine if those accounts were accounts that you forgot about. But if they are not your accounts, then you may need to file identity theft paperwork. You may be required to contact the police department and file a police report.
Identity theft is not something that you should take lightly. By not responding quickly enough, you may be opening yourself to becoming responsible for accounts that have used your name without your permission. By involving the police early enough, you may limit your liability and financial loss.
Some accounts may have been merged into your account by accident, but without disputing them they show on your credit history report. This is the problem with negative information on your account. It can really hurt you if you don’t take the time to review and dispute inaccurate information.
Not everything on your credit report may be of your doing. Dispute everything on your report that is not your information first. Credit Repair may be necessary to fix any issues on your credit report.
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