Credit Report Weblog

An act passed in December known as The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act allows consumers to add a Fraud Alert to credit reports if they were subjected to identity theft. Fraud Alerts advise potential creditors that the applicants are carrying a high risk of fraud and often creditors decline applications rather than to take that risk or to pay employees to ensure that the applications are genuine. Another side effect of Fraud Alerts is that consumers often can no longer get their own individual credit reports and their credit disputes may be refused.

Do not wait for your reports anymore. Washington consumers should expect fewer technical glitches but more product pitches this year when they request copies of their free annual credit reports. Consumer advocates and the Federal Trade Commission said that the process is become smoother a little easier than last year, when state residents were among the first eligible for the free reports from the three major credit bureaus. The Federal law now allows every consumer to be given access to a free credit report every 12 months from each of the national credit bureaus i.e. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board has made the consumers happy by allowing them to check their credit history through a free credit report which is faster, easier and more-important than ever before. A credit report will contain information on where you live, how you pay your bills, whether you have outstanding debts, any court judgments, or have filed for bankruptcy. Under federal law, consumers can order one free copy of their report from each of the credit reporting companies. Consumers may choose to order free credit report from all three credit reporting agencies.

Borrow at the best of the terms, display a laid back attitude on repayments for this shall affect one’s future credit worthiness. More the number of defaults on even trivial payments, higher will be the damage on your future transactions. Settle your dues to society, come clean for such funds for welfare programmes avoiding recourse to taxation. It inculcates ethical values in the citizens. Remember the village whose members were asked to donate wheat to a common cause and everyone brought sand expecting his neighbor to donate wheat. Moral is that credit report is a scanner by, for and of the society.

A New Jersey law which was effective from Jan 1 aims to crack down on identity theft by allowing state residents to freeze access to personal credit reports.  Under the law, which was introduced by Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D), the residents can control access to their personal credit reports directly. Consumers who wish to freeze access to their reports are required to inform the credit reporting agencies by overnight or certified mail since the letter includes their Social Security number. Click more to know about the credit reports.

Taxes are the elixir on which governments survive and flourish. Moot point is whether to have a few categories with heavy damage or spread the net to get a high volume and lesser murmurs from taxpayers. Streamline the system for effective results. Taxes thus collected should be utilized for mass education wherein the onus of the fair conduct and quality of schools become state responsibility. Ways should be devised to prevent the abuse of access to personal information, tailing which, citizens suffer financial losses. Access to Credit Reports should be with the permission of the individual to eliminate misappropriation.

Values and practices change over a period of time as man progresses. People who are punctual in bill payments, are debt free, instead of being appreciated are considered high-risk persons and the opposite is true. Today being loan free is no virtue whereas you should have regularly cleared loans, only then are you considered credit worthy. Lopsided parameters are used in judging future requirements especially when you are calculating insurance premiums. You are debt free, hence a liability; you have debts hence an asset. Need we have such Credit Reports with yawning credibility gap?

Freezing consumer’s credit reports to curtail raising identity thefts, Wisconsin introduced a bill proposing penalties for stealing mails and limitation on collection of consumer social security numbers. The bill aims to avoid information sharing by credit reporting agencies with third parties without consumer’s request. Another bill speaks of consumers being modified within thirty days about stolen information. Failing which erring firms can face lawsuits. Heavy fine is also proposed on deceptive Spam E-mails used to steal customer identity. Major hurdle is that identity thieves operate form outside America making credit report enforcement difficult.

Once in twelve months, every person with a credit history has the right to order one copy of his or her credit report free of cost. Periodic review of the credit report is very essential to keep oneself updated of one’s financial health. Today, the consumer has the advantage of ordering the credit report through the Internet as well. One has the option of either staggering the request of the three credit reports over a year or may opt request all at once to compare the credit reports.

A New Jersey law which was effective from Jan 1 aims to crack down on identity theft by allowing state residents to freeze access to personal credit reports.  Under the law, which was introduced by Sen. Shirley K. Turner (D), the residents can control access to their personal credit reports directly. Consumers who wish to freeze access to their reports are required to inform the credit reporting agencies by overnight or certified mail since the letter includes their Social Security number.