Did you know that 70% of all credit reports contain inaccurate or incomplete information? What’s even scarier is that 1 in 4 people are denied credit because of this.
Play this message to find out what we’re going to do about it.
So to recap:
- Click here to open www.annualcreditreport.com in a new window
- Download your free credit report
- Look it over in detail and highlight anything that surprises you
- Leave a comment below about what surprises you found and what one question you would like to ask a credit expert
I’m going to try to get your questions answered for you soon.
I have really old accounts that I can no longer remember account
number or verification information, or the credit issue has changed
several times and I can no longer contact them. What should I do
with these credit cards?
In reality, how bad is it to get rid of a card you don’t want
anymore that you have had for a while? I have about 6 CC’s and no
balances, so would it hurt to get rid of one of them ( I despise
the company). Thanks
To get a credit history, I got myself put on my husband’s credit
card. I then got my own in my own name. If I get myself removed
from my husband’s credit card (in the future), will I lose that
card’s credit history as well?
When I looked at my credit report I noted that I had a couple of
late payments a little while ago. Kind of embarrassing for a
personal finance blogger, but how long will it take for those to
drop off?
I have 50 lates on my credit report. My score is still decent
though (610). I recently went through bankruptcy (earlier 2008),
what should I be doing now to rebuild my credit? I’ve thought about
getting credit cards again, but I would just cut them up! I’m an
all cash dude now… thanks!
I just looked at my report for the first time in probably 6 months. At first glance nothing extremely big pops out at me . . . SS number is right, no unusual accounts, etc.
One thing I notice though is that under “personal information” there is no employment history. That’s weird, but I wonder if that affects my credit in any way.
I know that lenders like to see that you have a stable job, but I have to go back and check to see if that actually affects your score in any way. Weird!
> Did you know that 70% of all credit reports contain inaccurate
or incomplete information? I’d believe it. I had a bankruptcy on my
report when I applied for my first mortgage. Luckily it was easily
disputed because I was still in high school (only 16 years old) at
the time it supposedly occurred. That made it easy(ier) to clear
up!
I was suprised to see an old account that I thought I’d closed.
It’s been a while and I don’t know how to get in touch with the
company to find out if my account is still actve. What should I do?
I recently received my credit report and there was inaccurate
information on there linked ot my account because someone used a
Social Security Number that was off by one digit, instead of a 6
there was a 0; I assumed it was fraud, since the rest of the
information had to be accurate (I assume) and contested it. ANyway,
I asked the credit bureau CSR how a totally wrong SSN could be
linked to mine and they said it happens all the time. If it’s close
enough, they assume it’s a clerical error or something and list it.
I always thought the reportw as linked to the social, so without
the right number… how does it link?
FICO likes to see that you have had an account open for awhile-
your score increases the longer that you have had an account open.
If you close a very old account, you decrease you FICO score
because you decrease your credit history years. If you choose to
close an account, think carefully and be very selectively because
your score will be nicked. If you have plenty of old accounts in
good standing, it should not affect your score much. I suggest that
you keep the oldest account if you are not paying a fee. Also, if
you close an account make sure that your balance is zero or your
credit utilization percentage will increas and that is not good.
I’m an authorized user on one of my wife’s credit card accounts
(not a co-applicant). Why does her card list under my bureau report
(it’s also included in my debt total). I thought as an authorized
user I was merely able to use the card, but not financially
responsible for the balance?
If I am not mistaken, in most states you are responsible for any
debt incurred on a credit card by your spouse, regardless if your
name is on the account or not. The debt is considered marital debt
and creditors may come after you too. An authorized user is
authorized to use the account but is not liable for the debt. Your
FICO score can increase by being an authorized signer because it is
used to calculate your score. FICO was considering removing this
loop hole because of the potential for abuse - people with low FICO
scores were purchasing the right to be authorized signers on the
accounts of people with good credit in order to temporarily
increase scores. In order to close this loophole, FICO decided to
stop using authorized user status in the calculation of the FICO
score.
Recently FICO announced that they will again consider authorized users in the credit score calculation. However, they altered their scoring system so it will not take into account people who abuse the system.
love the new design, I may have to take it for myself
Thanks Moneymonk! I’ve been debating for a while if I should change it. This gives much more space to do some things and figured I could always go back.