This is one of my favorite topics to write about. Why? It’s a favorite because I can answer the above question with one word…”nothing.” Read on…
Credit, credit reports and credit scores aren’t the first things couples are concerned about when they decide to get married. However, it’s just as important as your other attitudes toward finances. First things first, I want to dispel some misconceptions about credit reports; when you get married they don’t merge, your credit reports are not erased, and your credit scores do not go down.
Don’tbine
Your credit reports are maintained at the individual consumer level, always. Your credit report is usually located using your first and last name, address and Social Security number. If you apply for credit cards or loans jointly, that credit information will be reported on both of your credit reports. If either person includes the other as an authorized user on their credit card, this will be reported on both credit reports also. If none of your accounts
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Tags: Credit Report, Report
On June 25, 2011, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will began assigning random Social Security Numbers (SSN). The current numbering process had been in place since it was created in 1936.
The Social Security Number contains nine digits which are in groups of three, two and four. Prior to randomization, the first three digits indicated the issuing state; the fourth and fifth digits represented the group number; and the last four were the serial number. The two-digit group numbers were on a verification listpiled by the Social Security Administration, which will no longer be needed. T
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Tags: Numbers, Security Numbers, Social Security, Social Security Numbers
In past articles I’ve discussed debt consolidation through bill consolidation, home equity loan and credit card balance transfers. Another option is to enter into a Debt Management Plan (DMP), which is a plan managed by a third partypany, which can be a for-profit or non-profitpany. Thispany assesses your ability to pay and what you owe.
Debt management providers renegotiate interest rates, fees and payments with lenders. For-profitpanies charge a fee for this service; some non-profits offer free services, while others charge for it. A DMP
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Tags: Debt Management, Debt Management Plan, Management Plan, Plan
First, why would you want to monitor your credit report? You want to make sure information is reported correctly, that you are aware of what is on your report, and that no new accounts have been applied for or opened that you didn’t initiate.
There are different ways to monitor your credit report – you can order it free from each of the three credit reporting agencies or you can pay for this service from many of thepanies that offer this service.
Ordering free credit reports
Per the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from the three national credit reporting agencies (CRAs) or 3 free credit reports. You can pull them at annualcreditreport. There are other sites that have free in the name, but aren’t the official site.
You can order one every four months, thus spreading it out over time. For exa
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Tags: Credit Report, Report
You know who you are – you want to get the maximum FICO score of 850. You can’t be satisfied with an 849 or even 800. I hate to burst your bubble, but don’t waste your time on trying to reach the maximum score. You can get the lowest interest rates with a score of 760 and above. You don’t have to have the perfect score.
In your attempt to increase your score, you may actually decrease it instead so BE CAREFUL. Some actions you think may work can actually lower your scores, such as closing open accounts with no balance, paying off old charged off accounts, and applying for more credit card accounts.
Your score can change constantly because of the updates to your credit reports by the credit grantors. Even if you pay your bills in full each month, a balance will be reported to your credit reports unless you stop using them altogether.
Profile of consumer with 850 score
A credit reporting agency and analyticspany formunication industry, SubscriberWise, conducted research on their database of one million consumers to analyze those with a FICO score of 850. Of those
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Tags: Fico Score, Score
FICO scores are the most familiar credit scores available to consumers which were built by thepany, FICO, using each of the three major credit reporting agencies (CRA) data – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. These scores are also sold to credit grantors to make credit decisions. Consumers can purchase FICO scores from FICO and Equifax. As of February 14, 2009, Experian stopped selling FICO scores to consumers.
Otherpanies offer scores to consumers mainly for credit score monitoring and credit education purposes. I have listed some of the keypanies below in alphabetical order:
CreditXpert Inc. – Developed credit scores called CreditXpert Scores that are available in Identity Guard (owned by Intersections) and PrivacyGuard (owned by Trilegiant Corporation). Bothpanies offer the CredtXpert score on data from all three CRAs; score range is 350 to 850.
Equifax – Equifax sells the Equifax Credit Score and the Equifax FICO score. The Equifax
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Tags: Credit Scores, Scores
Insurance credit scores are used by insurancepanies to determine the risk of issuing you some sort of policy. They use credit report and non-credit report information, including previous claim data. The credit report data includes all sections except personal data such as age, ie, address, sex, gender, marital status, nationality, or race. It uses the credit information such as past due accounts including bankruptcies and collections, length of credit history, new credit inquiries or applications, use of certain types of credit, and credit utilization (how close you are to your credit limit). Medical information is no longer allowed to be used in insurance credit scoring systems, which includes medical collections.
The claims data is the dollar amount of the claim and the premium; this determines the account profitability. The claims data is not one of the factors in the score, because it is not on the credit report. The c
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Tags: Credit Scores, Insurance Credit, Insurance Credit Scores, Scores