How Can I Improve My Credit For Free

How Can I Improve My Credit For Free

If you saw an ad in the newspaper for a FREE CAR to the next 20 people who arrived at a particular car lot, would you go? I would! In fact, most people would probably be out the door before they read the fine print that said you must purchase a key for $28,000 to get the car for free. I can just imagine the riot at the dealership when the salespersons pointed that out to the mob in the sales lot.

Now apply that to your Credit Report.

With the sheer number of identity theft victims (many who are not aware of it yet) and the chance for mistakes in your credit file (Wall Street Journal estimates that 79% of all credit files have errors), it is in the consumer's best interest to check their credit report on a regular basis and correct errors if and when they appear. I believe that this should be done every 6 months minimum and certainly before making a major purchase such as a car or a home.

The Free Credit resource that I recommend to my family, friends and clients is annualcreditreport (full contact information is below). This site is monitored by the FTC and created by the three nationwide consumer Credit Reporting Companies to allow everyone to have access to their credit report. You are given access to your report after answering a series of questions to verify your identity. They do not give you your scores for free, but you are allowed to purchase them from the site if you wish.

I tell my clients that they can purchase the scores if they wish, but the numbers that they are given may or may not (usually not) correspond to the scores that a mortgage lender would see. They are also different that what a car dealer would see and different than what your insurance agent would see. Add in the fact that some of the companies are using the new Vantage system while others are not and this whole ordeal can leave you very confused.

Back to my original question: how much does a Free Credit Report cost? While the report may be given to you at no cost, it is usually under the condition that you sign up for some type of credit monitoring service. Although I will not plug any particular companies, I pay about $15 a month to have my reports "monitored". I get an email when there is an inquiry on my report, if there are significant changes to it such as large balance changes or anything negative, and I get one once a month telling me that there were no changes. On top of that, I can run a new credit report on myself EVERY DAY if I wish and it will not hurt my scores like an inquiry from a Credit Card company, car dealer or mortgage lender might. If you decide to try one of the monitoring companies, they will usually let you cancel within the first 30 days without charge if you are not satisfied. Check their terms and conditions to be sure.

The downfall of annualcreditreport.com is that you are only able to pull one report from each of the three bureaus (Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax) every 12 months (in accordance with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act). For someone who just wants to check their report infrequently, they could get one report every 4 months and be safer than if they had done nothing. For some, it is worth a small financial outlay every month to have the protection that the other companies offer. It's really up to the individual.

That's all on Free Credit Reports. I will be releasing future articles on what to look for on your report, how to dispute issues that you may find and how to improve your scores, among other topics.

Here is how to get your free credit report:

Online: annualcreditreport.com

Phone: 1-877-322-8228

Mail: Print, complete and send the request form (found online at annualcreditreport.com) to

Annual Credit Report Request Service

PO Box 105281

Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

Scott Swinford is a Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist with Mortgage Professional Group, Inc. in Valparaiso, Indiana. Scott is the former host of "Your Credit, Your Life, Your Home", a radio show that deals with all aspects of credit, home ownership and life events. Previous guests have included national experts on the credit and ID Theft fields, as well as local authors, financial planners, attorneys and other professionals.

Be sure to visit http://www.usccraonline.com where you can get much more information about how our attorney facilitated Credit Restoration can help improve your Credit Scores and help you achieve your financial goals.

Scott can be contacted at 219-695-0369 or scott@nwiloanguy.com for questions or speaking engagements.

Scott invites you to post this and his other articles on your sites and blogs. He just asks that you keep the articles intact and give proper credit for them.

I would like some advice, I recently set up www.myexpandedcircle.com and I would like to get some feedback?

Hi,

At the beginning of the year I set up www.myexpandedcircle.com as a new way to meet people online. I would be really glad for any advice you might be able to offer to help me spread the word. Feel free to log onto the website there is a free 1 month trial membership with no need for credit card details. Also if you have any advice as to how the site could be improved then that also would be helpful.

It is my aim to try and make it easier to get to know people and although I think that online communities can be good I am more interested in people taking part in events to help expand their circle of friends. At the moment I am mainly focusing on London but as the site grows I am looking to expand as far and wide as possible.

I hope to get some response soon.

Thanks and regards

Rob Branston

Hi Rob had a quick look at the website it looks good will have a longer look soon. I think this is a really good idea and although it is only London based at present I cannot see why this shouldn´t spread and be successful wherever it takes off. You should post this information on as many message boards as possible online so that people who may be interested can find out more.................... Good Luck
By the way ....... it would really work well here in Tenerife to keep in touch with friends and family back home !!!!!

 

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