How To Improve Your Credit Score
Not surprisingly the easiest way to improve your credit score is simply paying your bills. However a whole lot of factors go into how your score is calculated.
- Amount of Debt vs Available Credit
- Age of the Credit Line
- Negative Items on Your Credit Report
- Errors / Fraud / Victim of Identity Theft
- And Many More …
Here is a great video that goes into a little more detail about how you can improve your credit score from CNNMoney.com – click here to view.
One thing, that is often neglected to be mentioned is that according to legislation our Congress passed to protect you the consumer – Fair Credit Reporting Act – (click here to view). This law requires the credit bureaus to remove an item from your credit report if it is found to be inaccurate.
There is great dispute about how many credit reports have errors on them. There are a number of studies that have been conducted with vastly different results. All we do know for sure is that some errors are made and we would hate to see you wasting money on higher interest rates and fees because of a mistake.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act also gave consumers the right to a copy of the credit report for free from each bureau annually. You can visit AnnualCreditReport.com just click here. You can get a report from each bureau once a year, however it is in your interest to check your credit report more often than once a year. For this reason we suggest you first request your report from Experian, then wait four months and request your report from TransUnion, wait another four months and request your report from Equifax.
This will enable you to keep a closer eye on your report and dispute any mistakes immediately. Additionally this can all be done for free!
CNBC – Reporting about New Credit Card Lending Legislation
Learn about the new legislation that has been passed by Congress to regulate credit card lending. And how this legislation will impact you and your pocket book.
Includes interviews with financial experts – to help explain exactly what these new rules will do to our economy each of us as individuals.
ChexSystems
ChexSystems is like a little black book for the banks to use. If an individual overdraws on their checking account at Bank X and never comes into to settle the account and pay the overdrawn amount and of course fees.
Then Bank X will write their name and information down. Through a service (ChexSystems) Bank X can share this information with every other banking institution. Therefore if 3 years later this same individual goes into Bank Y and attempts to open a checking account his name will be flagged and often he will be denied access to a checking account.
This is a nationwide service, so it doesn’t matter if you move. It is just like you credit report and is regulated by the same legislation the credit bureaus are Fair Credit Reporting Act. However some banks may be willing to work with individuals, sometimes things just happen in life. We suggest you first try this with smaller local banks that may be less strict with their regulations and enforcement.
If you are in ChexSystems it is a five year sentence. It is still possible to get a checking account, you may need to have your account attached to another individual who will take responsibility for any overdraft charges you make. If you don’t know anyone willing to do this, you still may be able to get a checking account, the banks may just require some stipulations.
You do not have to just live with paying check cashing fees and purchasing money orders to pay bills. That is a lot of money that can be better used to purchase ANYTHING! You can also consider a prepaid debit card to help you avoid these fees. To request your ChexSystems Report – Click Here.
