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Standard One:  Item must be reported within the allowable time periods.  It must be reporting timely information. Standard Two:  Item must be one hundred percent accurately reporting all of the information on the account.  So all of the information on the account – name of the creditor, account number, status, date of last activity, date […]

Credit dispute investigations usually involve the furnisher (or creditor) comparing the information in their computers to what is reported in a consumer’s credit file. Typically the bureau accepts what the furnishing company tells them. This is referred to as “parroting,” as the reporting agency is simply repeating what the furnisher has said. There is no

Collection companies have done a great job over the years of convincing consumers that paying off collections will raise their credit scores.  Many are actually surprised to learn that paying off collections will actually lower their credit scores. Collections are usually reported on the credit as a “9” status or collection account. This means the

In today’s economic climate, the ability to get credit, and get approved for various purchases that require underwriting of credit, has drastically changed over the last several years.   Several years ago, it was easy to get a loan; for a home, a loan for a car; for just about anything that you wanted.  Many

Check out some of the most favorable points of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) that really help consumers. Provides consumers with a free copy of their credit report once per year and ensures that they can purchase it at a fair price. Regulates who has access to credit reports. The official term used in

Not only are the Big Three credit reporting agencies making a killing selling personal information, what most don’t realize is that they’ve also got an actual financial stake in gathering as many poor credit scores as possible. Some data is more valuable than other data, which allows the credit bureaus to charge more for it.

When a consumer applies for credit, a company that is authorized to obtain a copy of the consumer’s report will electronically submit a request for the report. The request must contain specific data about the consumer in order for the credit bureau to extract the correct report. It is surprising to learn that one of

The job of selling data comes at a price.  Depending upon what type of data you need, as a data purchaser, whether you’re buying data to evaluate whether or not someone’s a good credit risk or you’re buying data to send a marketing message to, for a new credit card offer, data is extremely valuable.

That largest percentage of the credit score makeup of a consumer is from their payment history.  Payment history counts for 35% of the total consumer credit score. This means how consumers pay their bills counts for more than one-third of their total score. By law creditors have to wait 30 days to report a consumer

The media, newspapers, internet are full of information, but sadly, much of the information concerning credit is inaccurate. Let’s check out some common credit myths: Credit Myth: “The credit bureaus are government agencies.”  Sadly and completely false.  Credit bureaus are for profit companies.  They collect data to sell to lenders and providers and are not