Archive for Credit history
Repair Your Credit Report within Two Months
Posted by: | CommentsImproving a poor credit score is very important and steps can be taken to begin credit report repair in 60 days or less. This involves both credit report repair and doing what you can to ensure that your credit rating is as good as it can possibly be. Of course, all your problems won’t vanish away within two months time, but you can certainly improve your credit rating greatly.
Credit History
Your credit history is your own unique record that lists the times you have borrowed and from which lenders as well as when you paid them back. Included in the report are each time that you failed to pay on time and bankruptcy. Whenever you hear terms like credit history, credit score, and credit reputation, you should realize they are all the same.
When a customer fills out an application for credit from a bank, store or credit card company, their information is forwarded to a credit bureau, along with constant updates on the status of their credit accounts, address or any other changes made since the last time they applied for any credit.
Pay Down Credit Lines
This might seem obvious, but it’s important to start with the most pressing need. If you want your credit score to go up, you need to have a lower debt utilization ratio. This means that you shouldn’t be using every bit of available credit that you are given. If you have some high interest cards that are near their limit, then paying down some of that debt will go a long way to helping with your credit report repair.
Have All Errors Fixed
It won’t take much time or effort to correct any wrong information. Because there is so much information that changes so often, creditors make mistakes. To make sure they haven’t made any mistakes on your personal information, you will need to get a hold of your credit report for review. Give your information a look over and make sure all purchases were made by you, so that you can ensure that you have not fallen victim to identity theft. Your information should be correct and up to date.
Make Contact with Your Creditors
Often times, your creditors can assist you with your credit report repair. If a person makes appropriate corrections regarding his accounts or brings it to his current account, his request to the creditors must be to update the present status on to his credit report. The creditor should take care of it within two months. Most creditors will help you in this case, as long as you have shown that you are making an effort to correct your wrongdoings.
Stay Away From Quick Fix Services
Though it may be tempting, there is absolutely no reason for you to test the waters with credit repair services. Most of these services offer you a great deal, but require you to pay up front. This is quickly becoming one of the most popular scams on the internet and many desperate consumers are falling for it under the pretense that certain companies can completely revamp their credit in a short period of time.
Free Isn’t “Free” When It Comes to Protecting Your Identity
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Image via WikipediaAlthough the federal government has made it possible for each citizen to protect their identity by accessing free credit reports, initiating free fraud alerts and, placing their name and contact information on “do not call” or mail lists, many individuals do not realize that they must continuously request these “free” services in order to continue to protect their identity. When you consider the amount of time it takes to repeatedly request these “free” services and calculate the risks involved in forgetting to put these protective measures in place, “free” can turn into thousands of hours spent trying to restore one’s good name and credit and thousands of dollars of financial ruin. When it comes down to it, if time equals money, then free is not “free” when it comes to protecting your identity. There is however, an economic way to protect your identity and prevent identity theft through a company called LifeLock. LifeLock’s Identity Theft Prevention services can help you protect your identity and prevent identity theft in six valuable ways.
1. Fraud Alerts – LifeLock helps to protect your identity by requesting Fraud Alerts for you every 90 days. A fraud alert is a “flag” placed on your credit report that notifies a lender that they must, among other things, verify your identity before issuing a credit card or loan. If a LifeLock member has difficulty in obtaining credit because of a fraud alert on their credit account, LifeLock will contact the credit issuer for the member and clear up any concerns about the alert.
2. Do Not Call or Mail Lists – Another way to protect your identity from being stolen is by removing your name from solicitation lists such as pre-approved credit card mailing lists and telemarketing lists. Although this can be done by anyone for free, this must be done on an annual basis. LifeLock takes the worry out of keeping up with the various numbers to call and places to write to have your name removed from solicitation lists each year by actively removing your name from such lists on an annual basis.
3. Credit Reports – Being sure to check your credit report is a good way to help protect your identity. By checking your credit report, you can see if you have had any unauthorized loans or credit cards opened in your name. Although the federal government has made it a law for you to receive a free credit report from each of the 3 credit agencies yearly, the only way to ensure that your credit is checked all year long is to request a credit report from one of the credit agencies every 4 months. This can be very time consuming and cumbersome. LifeLock takes the time and effort out of remembering to pull your credit report by sending you a copy of your credit report four times a year.
4. WalletLock – Ever lost your wallet? Every thought you lost your wallet? Chances are the first thing you did was to experience a sense of fear and panic. The second thing you probably did was to think, “What was in my wallet and how do I stop someone from using my credit cards?” With LifeLock’s WalletLock system, there is no need to feel fear or panic if you lose your wallet. Through WalletLock you will be able to identify what was in your wallet and will be assigned a WalletLock specialist who will help you contact each credit card company, banking institution, and any state and federal agencies who issue driver’s licenses, etc. to cancel the accounts and to begin the process of reinstating missing documents.
5. Identity Monitoring – One sure way to protect your identity is to know when someone has sold or changed your personal information on-line or on databases. With LifeLock’s eRecon and TrueAddress systems, potential identity theft threats are detected and eliminated through searching criminal websites and nationwide databases for trading and selling of your personal information or by making changes to your address. LifeLock also ensures that thieves do not open new bank accounts in a subscriber’s name by monitoring check systems.
6. Recovering Your Identity – Because criminals find ways around the system, preventing identity theft is not always fool-proof. Because of this, LifeLock offers a $1,000,000 total service guarantee that if someone happens to discover a weakness in their system and uses it to steal your identity, they will provide attorneys, investigators, accountants, case managers, etc. to restore your good name and, if you lose money as a result of the theft, LifeLock will reimburse you the amount of money lost. Todd Davis, CEO of LifeLock, has even been quoted as saying “If you get thrown in jail [because of identity theft], we’ll bail you out of jail.”
There are ways to protect your identity which will only cost you in terms of time and effort; however, there is no guarantee that you will recover your money and good name if your identity is stolen. LifeLock’s Identity Protection services offer six ways to save you time and effort in protecting your identity, preventing identity theft, and guaranteeing to recover your money and restore your good name if your identity is stolen.
