Checking your free credit score report is probably one of the hottest topics these days. With the average American not being rich, and at times in need of a loan, they need to keep there credit score healthy. There will be situations where someone will need to pull your credit report. If you have bad credit, it may not be a good experience for you. There is lots of talk about annualcreditreport, but there is not much talk about not getting your credit score there. Annualcreditreport does provide you with a free credit report from all 3 credit bureaus, but you don’t get your scores. You can get this report once a year for free. A lot can happen to your credit report during a year’s time. Here are some examples.
Inaccurate credit report
Studies show that inaccuracies are common in credit reports and can harm your ability to get loans. Inaccurate information on your credit will cause harm to your credit rating. When your credit rating is jeopardized, so is the ability to get loans, good interest rates, or even that new “Dream Job.” Often there is human error involved in the reporting process. Creditors pay someone to report information about you. At times this information may have been keyed in incorrectly, and as a result your credit score drops.
Identity Theft Protection
Someone’s identity is stolen every 3 seconds. If you think about that, someone could be stealing your identity as you read this article. That is pretty scary. If an identity thief has got your information currently and is out using your credit, how would you ever find out without pulling your credit report? Maybe someone is out opening credit in your name, and charging up stuff. What ever the thief is doing, you are probably not going to find out about it until it’s too late. If you get credit report monitoring services set up, you would get e-mail alerts when critical changes take place to your credit report. Critical changes like someone opening credit in your name and out having a field day with your credit.
Conclusion:
Checking your credit report should not be a scary thing, it should be a positive thing. If you are managing your credit properly, then you will pull your credit in confidence. You will be able to go to creditors and get good interest rate loans with ease. Since a lot can happen to your credit in such a short time, you should get a copy of your free credit score report every 60 to 90 days. Checking your credit report once a year is asking for a disaster, and is total disregard for what is really going on out there Protect yourself by staying on top of your report. I would not wait for it to happen to you, check your free credit score report today.
RUEBEN
The Credit Crisis is Just Another Way of Describing a Loss of Trust
1. The BDI measures the Baltic Exchange; a market index that calculates the price of a ship lease… for the buying and
selling of time charters of ships. If I need a ship, I lease one from a ship broker and the ship broker reports the terms of my lease
ie: price, size of ship, lease period etc… to the Baltic Exchange and they record the price.
Wall Street speculators entered the market and started buying up time charters. There were no speculative sellers, only buyers. Thus, this inequality between buyers and sellers in an especially illiquid, hitherto “commercial player only” distorted prices.
When the speculative bull decided to cash out of the market, the market collapsed.
In COMEX, you have commercial and speculative buyers and sellers and a highly liquid market.
The Baltic Exchange wasn’t historically a speculative market. When speculators finally exited, the BDI crashed.
2. Letters of Credit Explained.
There are many types. Only one matters to the current crisis: Intenational.
Letters of Credit are financial instruments which guarantee payment before delivery.
Example: I’m not shipping copper w/out a letter. I might not get paid on delivery. Your court system may not honor my just argument when I go to sue.
Thus, I need a guarantee before delivery.
Banks used to trust each other, now they don’t…
Why not? Off balance sheet accounting.
Commercial buyers and sellers are no different.
The letter of credit is the Achilles heel of the global economy. Without it nothing moves.
The BDI gauges economic activity.
The dishonoring of that document known as the letter of credit, gauges the lack of trust.
The issue, as Rick Santelli points out, is fundamentally one of trust.
Until we have trust we will not have an economic recovery. We can have an inflationary recovery, where the general distrust of is outweighed by the fear of holding currency which is rapidly losing purchasing power/value.
ie: “I’m afraid to hold cash and my fear overwhelms my fear of my counterparty so I’m compelled to put it back into a market that I don’t trust” is the only rationale which currently exists to force bullish speculation in the market.
And this rationale isn’t tenable until the Fed starts honestly, diligently…throwing money out of helicopters.
And they have to throw it faster than the banks can pick it up.
They must either debase the currency until people panic or prosecute the liars.
One or the other.
KING
You have the right to obtain one free credit report a year from each of the major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Reviewing your free credit reports each year can be extremely beneficial when it comes to protecting and improving your credit standing. If you have not taken advantage of this free resource, you should do so immediately.
There are three ways that you can order your free report:
* Online: When you order your credit report online, you will be able to view and print it instantly.
* Phone: 1-877-322-8228. If you order your report by phone, it will take 15 days to process your request.
* Mail: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta GA 30348-5281. You will need to fill out a request form to order your report by mail. It may take 3 to 4 weeks to receive your report through the mail.
Remember; you can only obtain your free annual credit report through Annual Credit Report; you can NOT contact the credit agencies directly for your free report. They will provide you with a report, but you will have to pay for it (average cost $10.50).
When you request your free credit report, you need to have the following information: address, social security number and date of birth. If you have lived at your current address for less than two years, you will need to provide your previous address. You will also need to be able to provide information about your personal financial affairs so that the bureaus can confirm your identity. Some of the most common questions asked by credit bureaus involve information that you are very familiar with such as the amount of your mortgage payment, car payment or credit card balance.
In addition to one free annual credit report, there are special circumstances where you may be eligible for a free report directly from one of the credit reporting bureaus:
* Adverse Action: If you are turned down for credit, employment or insurance benefits because of information contained on your credit report, you are entitled to a free report within 60 days of receiving notice of the action. The notice will include all the information you need to request your free report.
* Unemployment: If you are unemployed and plan to look for a job within the next 60 days, you can request a free credit report from one of the three main credit reporting agencies. You are only allowed one per year. This also applies for families receiving public assistance.
* Identity Theft: If your report is inaccurate because of fraud or identity theft, you can request one free copy per year.
Most financial advisers recommend that you review your credit report for errors every 90 days. If you are not requesting your free reports regularly, you could be putting your financial future in jeopardy. Nearly 25% of credit reports contain errors that can lead to a denial of credit. Yours may be one of them, but you will never know unless you check it out for yourself.
TUAN
