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Does A Bad Credit Score Mean You'll Be Bad At Your Job?
A growing number of employers are running credit checks on potential hires before making a job offer. Unfortunately, there are a large number of people out there whose credit reports are still marred by the recent and ongoing economic troubles. So does it make sense to consider an applicant's credit history?
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Freeze Your Credit Report
One way to protect yourself from identity theft is to "freeze" your credit report. This means that no new lines of credit can be opened in your name because lenders are prevented from taking a look at your credit report. This stops identity thieves from opening credit cards under your name and going on spending sprees. It also means extra hassle for you when you want to legitimately open credit. There's always a tradeoff between security and convenience. Here's how to do it.
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5 Myths About Your Credit Score
How one's credit score is computed is to most people a complete mystery, akin to figuring out a quarterback's passer rating. Thus, there are numerous myths and half-truths that have attached themselves to credit scores, some of them having at least a partial basis in fact.
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How Long Should Paid-Off Medical Debt Be Part Of Your Credit Report?
Right now, any medical debt that gets sent to a collections agency can remain on your credit report for up to seven years, even after it's been paid off. This ding on your credit score can be the difference between qualifying for a loan or being denied. That's why the House Committee on Financial Services is looking at a bill that would erase some paid medical debts from folks' credit reports.
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Do VIP's Get Privileged Treatment From Credit Bureaus?
NYT reports that the three major credit bureaus each keep a special VIP list of important people who are given preferential treatment when fixing their credit reports. The list has the names of celebrities, politicians, judges and others on it. When they have errors on their reports, they are fixed by employees who work in America, and fixed swiftly. The rest of us get our requests shunted overseas to be dealt with in a cursory manner.
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How To Dispute Credit Report Errors
Over 80% of credit reports have errors on them, errors which could be lowering your credit score and keeping you from getting credit or paying more for it than you should. Here's how to fix them:
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"Help, Equifax Won't Give Me My Credit Report!"
A reader just had his credit limit lowered on a credit card due to some bad credit history that he says isn't his. He'd like to see what's going on with his credit report, but Equifax says he'll have to pay for the privilege, because they have no record of any inquiries in the past 60 days. The reader asks, "Has this happened to anyone else, where a credit card company waited over 60 days to notify them of credit limit reductions? Also, does this violate the FCRA?"
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Do You Need Identity Theft Protection Against The Census?
Several alert readers sent us this advertisement that ran on the front page of CNN.com today. Wait—is the census going to steal my identity? Is my name, race, and birthdate all someone needs to open a credit card in my name? No. You do not need identity theft protection because of the census. Equifax has just mashed up some good information about how to avoid census scams with a sales pitch for credit monitoring services.
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Get Ready To Disclose A Lot More Information When Applying For Credit
The downside to responsible lending is that the lenders will need more information about you, says the WSJ.
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36 Risk Factors Creditors Use To Deny You Credit
—>Lenders can use the data from your credit report to deny you credit for any one of several reasons. If you are denied, you receive a letter identifying the credit reporting agency that provided the report, along with a risk factor reason code. Bargaineering published a list of the common risk factor codes that lenders use to deem you unworthy of credit. For all three reporting agencies, the cardinal sins are owing too much and failing to pay your bills. The list of codes, inside. More »
