Donald Saunders asked:




You have probably heard the expression ‘three bureau credit report’ but have you ever wondered just what it is and why it is important?

Within the United States the three major credit bureau companies are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Each of these private companies keeps a credit file on you containing personal information (such as your name, address and details of your employment); details of your payment history on credit card accounts, mortgages, car loans and other loan agreements; details of any public records concerning your finances (such as notices of bankruptcy and court judgments) and details of any inquires made to the company by creditors concerning your financial standing.

In addition to the credit file maintained on you, each company also uses its own formula to calculate a credit score for you which is designed to give potential lenders an indication of your credit worthiness and therefore of the risk that they would be taking if they were to grant you a loan or extend credit to you.

It is important to understand that these three companies all operate independently of each other and so the information held by each, and the credit score calculated by each, may well differ. In general, most major lenders, such as banks and credit card companies, furnish information to all three companies but many smaller lenders, such as local department stores which issue their own store cards, may well only provide information to one of the three companies.

You are entitled to request a copy of your credit report from each of these companies once a year free of charge and more frequently if you wish for a fee. However, to make life slightly easier it is also possible to obtain a three bureau credit report which allows you to view the contents of all three credit reports in a single document.

So, why is this important?

The contents of your credit report files will determine whether or not you are able to obtain credit in the future perhaps to buy a house, a new car or help to fund a child’s college education. What could be worse than applying for a loan to buy your new dream home only to find that you are turned down because of your credit history?

Building and maintaining a good credit history should be an essential part of your overall financial planning throughout life and this means ensuring that you have the best possible credit report on file with each of the three credit bureau companies.

Your starting point should therefore be to obtain a three bureau credit report and check that the information currently recorded is correct. Companies do make mistakes and it is not unknown for people with good financial standing to have a poor credit score because of errors on their credit report files. You should therefore check the report carefully and take steps to correct any inaccuracies to make sure that your credit files are accurate.

Having established that your credit history is accurate, or taken steps to correct any errors, you should then work to achieve the best possible credit score and, most importantly, keep an eye on your credit history be requesting copies of your three bureau credit report at regular intervals.

Irene

Davion Wong asked:




There are various ways of getting your free 3 credit bureau report considering that the government has a mandate to give every citizen his own free copy of the credit report once a year. This will give you the chance to track down and monitor your financial information and verify the authenticity of the details recorded in your profile.

There are many credit-reporting bureaus around offering to give you your free yearly copy of this important document; however, the government designated the three main credit-reporting agencies as the official source of your personal financial record, and they are the Experian, the TransUnion and the Equifax. Therefore, if you want to get your financial profile, it is best to get your free-report from these agencies.

Every time you apply for a loan or credit card, your payment behavior with them will be recorded in this report; hence, they should ideally report them to each of the three main reporting agencies in order to make your profile consistent. However, this is not always the case in reality because sometimes there are some creditors who only report them to one agency.

For example, your payment record with a certain credit card company is submitted to the Experian only; without bothering to submit them to TransUnion and Equifax. Consequently, your score for Experian is different with your grade in Transunion and Equifax as a result of absence of your additional profile in the two reporting agencies. Hence, it is important to regularly check your free 3 credit bureau report every year in order to confirm the accuracy of the information contained in your report. This will greatly improve your rating if you have an excellent record.

Where to get your free credit bureau report? One way to get your copy is to request them individually from each of the main agencies mentioned herein. They are tasked by the government to supply you with your free financial record every year upon request.

Another method is to get them online through their web site where the three main official financial institutions have combined their services in one site at AnnualCreditReport.com where you can initiate your request. This method offers more convenient process in obtaining this important document because you don’t need to make three requests from each of the major reporting companies; you only make one request and you will get your free 3 credit bureau report.

Charlene

Tarron Acuff asked:




The three major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and keep information on your credit history. If you don’t have any credit it should say is that the report does not exist because no credit has been established. If they do have credit established, it will tell you what is on your report. If you should ever see something on your report that looks like fraud, Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file.

You may request free credit reports once a year from all three major credit bureaus. Your credit score is a number given to you by the three major credit bureau agencies that reflects your credit profile. At first, it would seem as though your credit score would be the same at all three major credit bureau companies, but in fact all three scores can be different. Credit scores are improved by having the right type of credit, showing responsible use and not having too much credit.

Let’s say, find that some information in your credit report that is incorrect, you may to dispute that information to have it corrected. To file a dispute, you have to attach a copy of your credit report and mark the incorrect items. You most likely will have to prove that the information is false. You should mail the dispute letter as certified mail and always keep copies for yourself. Just like most data you need to have a backup in case you would need to prove what you had sent. Your letter should include your complete name and address, clearly identify each item you dispute, explain why you dispute the information, and request deletion or correction.

Cynthia

Ally Woodrum asked:




I’m sure you’ve heard the jingle sung by those young guys in pirate costumes, or the same guys riding around in the dreadful old car. Have you also seen the ads that misspell all or part of the above title? Well, all of those tactics are being used to separate you from your hard earned dollars and keep you from taking advantage of the fact that you really can get a free credit report.

According to the Federal Trade Commission there are a number of “Imposter Websites.” They claim to offer you a “free” credit report, but if you apply for one at their site, you will have to sign up for something they are selling before they will help you get the free report you are entitled to by law. Well, don’t pay these imposters, go to the correct web sites and get your reports for free, no strings attached.

There are several ways you can qualify for a free credit report. First, by law you are entitled to receive a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax (Equifax.com), Experian (Experian.com) and Transunion (TransUnion.com) once a year. You can request the reports directly from each agency all at the same time, or you can order them one at a time, staggering them every few months. You can also go to the government’s web site, annualcreditreport.com, and order your free reports there.

My suggestion would be to order

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Jared Wright asked:




Credit report companies offer their services to people who need to get their credit score and other information about their financial status. A credit report is required when you apply for a loan such as a home mortgage, and may also be required when you want to apply for a credit card. There are credit reports for individuals, and there are also some reports which are made to evaluate the statuses of companies.

Credit report companies are also known as credit bureaus. There are three major credit report companies, which are the Equifax Credit Bureau, the TransUnion Credit Bureau, and the Experian Credit Bureau. These companies collect different information from creditors, which are then used to generate reports that are sold to their clients.

A credit report is a valuable document in the sense that it includes information which may grant or deny loan approval, employment, licensing, insurance and other business needs. Individuals and businesses alike are dependent on their credit scores and report to help in evaluating their current financial standing.

Some information which is available from credit companies includes the following:

• Identification. Credit report companies have consumer details such as name, employer, address, name of spouse and the company or employer of the spouse.

• Credit history. This includes accounts which are active, including the account numbers, the date when the accounts where opened, the payments and other activities made for it, balances, amounts that were paid in the past, and how often payment was late. These are all bases for a low credit score, meriting a lender ground for denying you of a loan.

• Derogatory items. These include risks which may affect the lender or the company which will deal with the other party. Judgments, suits, bankruptcies and tax liens may prevent you from getting approved for a loan.

• Inquiries. Companies or individuals may have asked for your information, such as banks and financial institutions which have required your bank details. You will be given information about the inquiries which happened in the last 18 months only.

Credit report companies update your information regularly so that their database is updated and is relevant. Lenders can access your information to help them decide whether or not you can be trusted with a loan or a new credit card. You can also access your own credit score by logging in to the website of the three credit bureaus mentioned above so you can monitor your finances as closely as you need.

Hector

Christopher Wright asked:




Since late 2004 and early 2005, the three nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – began processing consumers’ requests for free annual credit reports at annualcreditreport(.com).

A credit report contains consumers’ identification information; payment history with different creditors; a list of inquiries made by various financial institutions; and information on the public record, such as foreclosures or bankruptcies. Consumer reporting companies collect and sell this information to lenders and other businesses that have a permissible purpose to obtain it.

The FTC has issued a new consumer education brochure, “Your Access to Free Credit Reports,” that explains why it is important for consumers to monitor their credit history, how to request a report, and how to dispute any errors. The report can be found by searching the FTC’s site for that title.

Keep in mind the source of this information. You can be sure that (when reading this) there won’t be any secrets techniques exposed that would give you an advantage over the bureaus during your credit restoration process. Learning some of these insider tactics requires a different thought process.

By law you are also entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report if you have been denied or turned down for credit. The company you applied for credit through must provide you with the name and contact information of the credit bureau they obtained your information from. You can then contact this credit bureau within 60 days using the information provided to obtain your free credit report. You may be able to fax a copy of your denial letter and get access to your credit files quicker than sending them via snail mail.

Janet

Scott Lovingood asked:




Managing your credit history is a very important step in creating wealth in your life. A good bit of it is based on handling your money and credit correctly. The other part though is how it gets reported as well.

Every person in the US has a credit history. For some people it is blank. They don’t have a record yet of how they handle history. For some people it could fill a large volume of encyclopedias. Now the question becomes is your credit history accurate?

The US government requires the major credit bureaus to provide a copy of your credit history for free once a year. That is why you will often hear people talk about the free annual credit report.

It isn’t the same as your credit score though. It is important to realize that your credit score is still tough to determine as each company calculates them differently.

The three major credit bureaus are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. Think of them as giant record keepers. They get reports from credit card companies, auto loans, mortgage loans, and other areas. Not every company reports to all three. Some will only report your information to one or two of them.

There are three main reasons to get a copy of your free annual credit report. We will discuss each of them in more detail below.

Inaccuracies Identify Theft Forgotten Credit Lines

Inaccuracies can riddle your credit report. The systems involved in collecting this information is not perfect. It is very possible that information is reported to the company incorrectly. For example your credit card company can report that you had a card be placed into collections. It can happen from an employee mistyping information into a computer program.

It is also possible that someone else’s credit is being sent under your identity. I have a friend whose name is the same as her sister in law. They share first and last names but have different middle names. When she went to apply for a loan on a home, they were very confused by her credit history. They lived in different states, had different jobs, and different financial histories. The credit bureaus had mixed them up in places.

It took a while to get everything corrected so she could purchase her home. Getting a copy will allow you to find these errors quickly and get them corrected.

Identify Theft is a growing problem in the world. Getting a copy of your credit history can allow you to find out if someone has stolen your personal information. The credit bureaus will show any credit that is opened in your name. By checking it on a regular basis you can prevent this. You can also request that they put a freeze on your credit. This prevents anyone from opening credit in your name. Just remember to take it off when you get ready to apply for credit.

Forgotten credit lines may not sound like a big deal but they can be. It is not a good idea to have credit lines floating around. I found a couple of store credit cards on my report that I had completely forgotten about. I had gotten them when I was much younger and establishing my credit.

I kept the credit lines but requested that they be frozen. I didn’t want to remove them as they would impact my credit score. I also didn’t want to leave them laying around in case someone got the information and started using them.

Jon

Arturo Ronzon asked:




The major function of the credit report agencies is to provide consumers around the world with a correct report of the details of credit transactions made from the utility of credit facilities enjoyed from creditors such as banks, other financial and non financial institutions. In view of this definition one will describe the credit report as a history of the consumer’s credit activities in a specified frame of time according to the time limit given by the reporting company. Having defined the essentials, we need to know that there are only three consumer companies in operation in the United States and they are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, these are laden with the responsibility of providing credit report for all residence of the country. There are some services offered by these companies and this article is aimed as enumerating them, so as to educate the populace of the services attainable at these companies.

Firstly the Fair Credit Reporting Act mandated the three credit report agencies to furnish the populace with a free copy of their credit report once a year, this means that everyone is entitled to three free copies of their credit report each year from the three consumer companies – this is known as the free annual credit report, you can get your copy from http://www.annualcreditreport.com this website is the official website produced just for the purpose of requesting for a free credit report and is the best place to apply online in other to avoid identity theft as much as possible. It should be noted that this offer is free.

The credit report agency also offer as a special service an around the clock surveillance of your credit report giving you the opportunity to have a close watch on your report, knowing every current entry as a means to guard against the error of reporting. There is an alert created that informs the consumer of current changes made to their record. This service is not free since it is an additional service.

Another important service most credit report agencies offer is a fraud control system that monitors and protects the consumer’s record from fraudsters we indulge in identity theft. This facility is also an additional service which is paid for, and there is also an insurance coverage available for the event of identity; the amount of this insurance varies from agency to agency. These are some of the major services offered by the consumer companies.

Martin

William M Springer asked:




Each year, every American is entitled to a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus. Unfortunately, few people know what to look for, or how to fix it when something goes wrong. What does your credit report mean to you?

First off, realize that your free credit report does not include your credit score; however, it does include all of the information that score is based on. For a few dollars more, you can purchase the score as well. The different credit bureaus may have slightly different information, because not all creditors report to all three bureaus; there is no law requiring that this information be reported. Additionally, each one has their own formula for calculating your score, so your credit scores will differ even if the credit report information is the same.

Your credit score is a number between 300 and 850; almost nobody is at the very top or bottom of the scale. Your goal should be to have a score over 800, but anything over 720 should enable you to get credit at some of the best rates.

Your credit score is based on a number of factors, such as the average length of time your credit accounts have been open, whether you pay your bills on time, and the utilization ratio (that is, what percentage of your available credit you’re using – lower is better). Because a lower credit score can cost you thousands of dollars per year, you should always watch for and remove any inaccurate information; fortunately, this is easy to do.

Ruben

Francine Denson asked:




There some confusion out there when it comes to free credit reports. You have likely seen the many articles that are floating around that state that you can get your free credit report, but just what does a free credit report consist of? In this article will will look at the differences in the 3 different types of credit reports advertised and learn more about which one is the most beneficial to have.

Type #1) Single Credit Bureau Report

One type of credit report is one where you can get a report from only one of the three bureaus. These three bureaus are Equifax, Trans Union and Experian; most of the time with this type of report you will have to choose one of these companies to get your report from. This may not help you very much because each of the three bureaus differs a bit in the content they report. You would probably benefit more from a 3-1.

Usefulness: C-

Type #2) 3-1 Credit Report

A 3-1 report would include a report from each of the three bureaus. The advantage to this is you get all three reports. The downside is that you get only one score from one bureau. It would be more sensible to receive all three of the bureaus scores. Mortgage companies look at the three scores and usually go by the one in the middle. I would only be logical to see what they see if you are attempting to get a loan.

Usefulness: B

Type #3) 3-1 Credit Report With Credit Scores

This brings us to the third type. This is the 3-1 credit report that included all three scores. This is the best offer there is due to the fact that this is what lenders look at. You will want to ensure that you know what you are getting when you request a credit report.

Usefulness: A+

Every consumer is entitled to one free report from each of the three bureaus annually, but this does not include a credit score. By using the services of on of the popular online free credit report sites, you can get instant access to not only your credit reports but your credit scores as well. You would be best off off obtaining a 3-1 with all three scores so you can have a clear view of what lenders are looking at when deciding whether or not to approve your loan.

Victor