Getting free credit report from Equifax

You are entitled to get one free copy of your credit report once every 12 months. Equifax offers this guide on how to request your free credit report from them. This is what their website says on the matter:

You are entitled to one free report during any 12-month period no matter where you live, if you:

-- Are unemployed and intend to apply for employment in the next 60 days
-- Are on public welfare assistance
-- Believe your file contains inaccurate information due to fraud
-- You are also entitled to a free report if you have received notice of an adverse decision (such as denial of credit, insurance, or employment) within the past 60 days.

To receive your free Equifax credit report online, visit www.equifax.com/fcra (This is the quickest and easiest way to gain instant access to your credit report)
Call 800-685-1111 or write to:


Equifax Information Services


P.O. Box 740241


Atlanta, GA 30374

Here is a quick read from Quick Easy Guides that can provide additional information to help you:





How To Dispute Credit Report Errors

Why you should dispute derogatory listings with credit bureaus

Derogatory items are required to be removed from your credit reports after seven years. This law is designed to help consumers recover from their own credit mistakes and give them the opportunity to rebuild their credit rating.

After checking your credit reports, it is important to know that if you find charged-off accounts appearing on your credit report after seven years, you will need to dispute that derogatory listing with the respective credit bureaus.

Debt purchasing firms have been known to report inaccurate charge-off dates so as to extend the amount of time an old account appears on your credit report. This keeps this derogatory information "in play" so to speak, allowing collection aagencies to hound you for money that rightly should not appear on your credit history.

Erroneous information such as this ought to be what you dispute first. Determine where to write your credit dispute letter and follow the free tips on our website: http://www.findhow2.com/credit-letters.

The Federal Trade Commission website offers a free how-to article called "How to Dispute Credit Report Errors" which provides solid steps to take to clean up your credit.

Check out this DVD on how to fix your credit:





Here's what one reader said about it: "...simple and easy. In the past I had gotten a book on the subject and could never get myself to finish reading it. With this, I just popped in the DVD, sat on the couch and in 30-min learned everything I needed to know. Great stuff!"


Learn more about it here:

Fix Your Credit DVD - How to Fix Mistakes on Your Credit Report and How to Improve Your Credit Score (Credit Repair)

Credit repair kit provides good tips to fix credit report errors

Fixing your credit report can be helped by referring to helpful guides. I've used books on credit repair and debt consolidation, and I know from personal experience that some of these -- like the Complete Credit Repai Kit -- can help guide one through the process. This books is available at Amazon.com and it includes a CD too.
Get it today:
The Complete Credit Repair Kit with CD

How to write a credit report dispute letter

Sometimes fixing your credit report requires that you put your complaint into writing. Follow this advice to write a credit dispute letter:


http://www.findhow2.com/how-you-can-dispute-credit-report-errors.html

How to check your credit report for free

Now is the time to check your credit report, and the Federal Trade Commission offers these tips on how you can do it for free:

The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have set up a central website, a toll-free telephone number, and a mailing address through which you can order your free annual report.


To order, visit annualcreditreport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The form is on the back of this brochure; or you can print it from ftc.gov/credit. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually. They are providing free annual credit reports only through annualcreditreport.com, 1-877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.


You may order your reports from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies at the same time, or you can order your report from each of the companies one at a time. The law allows you to order one free copy of your report from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies every 12 months.

Updates on how to dispute errors in your credit report is found at:

http://www.findhow2.com/repair-credit.html

What Your Credit Rating Says About You

Our readers ask: "What is my credit rating?"

Your credit rating is an estimate of your creditworthiness. It doesn't judge you. It factors in your past credit actions, your current circumstances and calculates how likely you are to repay a loan on time. Your credit history plays a big part in this, as do your credit habits. You can change your habits, so you can also change your credit rating for the better too!

The main credit rating you will need to deal with is the FICO credit score used by most lenders in the United States. This credit score provides a lender with a numberical 3-digit score that estimates how well you follow through on credit obligations in the past, and therefore, how likely you are to repay a loan on time in the future. creditors whom you have borrowed from in the past -- whether it's a department store charge card or a local furniture store or a car dealership -- report your payment history to the credit bureau. Your FICO score is then extracted from this data, along with other factors like income, history of credit inquiries, lines of credit and the amount you owe, and credit card balances compared with the credit line extended for each card.

It is important to remember that neither the credit bureaus or Fair Isaac Co., the corporation which developed the FICO scoring credit model, can rate your creditworthiness publicly. They can only report privately to their customers -- the banks and lenders who subscribe to the FICO scoring system -- and these lenders then make the evaluation as to how much risk they are willing to take when they decide to lend you money.

If you have defaulted on past loans, or if you have been slow to make on-time payments on past credit card accounts or business and/or personal loans, then your credit rating will be lower than someone who has regularly paid their debts on time without fail.

Free Guide Helps You Understand FICO Credit Score

Direct from Fair Isaac Co. -- creators and marketers of the ubiquitous FICO credit score -- a very readable, very helpful free guide to help you understand and get control of your credit rating!

Understanding Your FICO Credit Score -

Free Credit Repair Guide Offers Overview of Credit Fix Process

Here is a quick guide that helps lead you through the basics of credit repair.

If you want more detailed, step-by-step help, visit
the FindHow2.com Repair Credit page
or check out
Fix-Bad-Credit.com.

How to fix your credit guide online -

Credit Repair Reminders Help Clean Up Credit

Bills.com put together this quick credit repair reminders guide that can help you stay on track as you clean up your credit in your effort to get a better credit score:

Bills.Com - Your Guide to Credit Report and Analysis -

You can find more step-by-step credit repair tips at http://www.findhow2.com/repair-credit.html

Mortgage lenders are reporting loan modifications to credit bureaus. Adjustments to home loans are now lowering credit scores. In ironic twist, as the U.S. government urges banks to help struggling home owners keep their homes, the lower FICO scores resulting from this help is actually hurting their future ability to borrow more money!

Read more here:

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/personalfinance/2009/07/26/0726mortgages.html

5 Simple Tips To Fix Bad Credit Score

Here are 5 simple tips direct from the Federal Reserve on how to improve your credit score:

fix your credit score -

Credit Score Trends Paint Ugly Picture

There is a disturbing trend among credit card companies to charge all of their customers -- those with good credit and those with bad credit scores -- the same high interest charges that previously would have been unthinkable.
JQAdams notes 5 such trends in this article published at Helium.com:
http://www.helium.com/items/1505777-trends-in-the-credit-card-industry
Hopefully, once the current economic downturn has passed and people get back to work, they will remember the games these credit card issuers played dirty and kicked them when they were down.
New legislation aimed at reining in the exploitation done by credit card companies is looming next year.

Charge Off Sample Letter To Improve Credit Score

Sometimes you'll find an error in your credit report that is so huge, it affects everything you do. If you find a charge off in your credit report that isn't yours, or it's incorrect (maybe a late charge, not a charge off) then you need to drop everything you're doing to get to work deleting this charge off asap!
We've put together a collection of helpful tools and articles that can help you challenge and dispute these charge offs, and give you step-by-step directions on how to remove them from your credit history.

Go check out:
www.Credit-Letters.com

today and learn how you can dispute derogatory entries and charge offs that are not yours as you uncover them in your credit report.

Top 5 Myths of Credit Repair

Here's a great review of the Top 5 Myths of Credit Repair, courtesy of DocStoc.com....

Don't be afraid to take the first step in fixing your credit score. Your comments on your own credit repair experiences are always welcome!

10 Myths of Credit Repair -

Home equity lines of credit

Home equity lines of credit are being tapped out to pay off out-of-control credit card debt. And banks aren't lending. The credit crisis has tamped down FICO scores at the same time banks are raising FICO credit score requirements. Two years ago, you could consolidate your loans with a home consolidation loan in a snap; today, it might take months to get your home refinanced to pay off credit card balances.
Check out simple tips to consolidate what you owe at:
http://www.Pay-Off-Debts.com

Credit Scores Getting Squeezed

With the ongoing economic slump and the ensuing credit crisis facing those addicted to credit card usage, there's been a shift over the past 6-8 months that seems to only be getting worse: credit contraction.
People of all credit scores are seeing credit limits shrunk and credit card feed hiked.
Interest rates on credit card accounts are going through the roof.
Credit lines held in reserve are abruptly disappearing... sometimes without even notice to the account holder.
As a result, credit scores are taking a beating.
If you need help getting better credit, take heed of these changes credit card issuers are taking. Don't get caught off guard. Get credit help.
Check out http://www.FindHow2.com for free tips to help you dig out of debt.
We've put together a quick credit fix guide too at http://www.Fix-Bad-Credit.com that offers a handful of quick steps you must take to start repairing your own credit yourself.

Lowering debts help credit score

Lowering debts and consolidating your bills can help you improve your credit score. We've been so busy creating new content and new website features to help our readers help restore good credit, that we're just now getting around to posting on this blog. Take a look at our new site to help everyone get a handle on how to pay down their debts:

http://www.Pay-Off-Debts.com

The credit scoring services like FICO use a variety of data to determine your credit score, which these days could cost you a home loan, higher auto insurance, even a job, if your credit score is low. High debt levels on your credit cards are one of the worst culprits in robbing you of a good credit score, and the free tips that can help you consolidate and pay off high-interest credit cards and adjustable home mortgages can be the first step to help you get yourself out of debt, by yourself!

Check it out now:

http:///www.Pay-Off-Debts.com