It is important for consumers to be omniscient and ken many different things as a way of protecting themselves from humbug. One way to accomplish this is to procure a copy of your credit report every span. By accessing this information, you can helping hand safeguard that expert is not subdivision suspicious exercise occurring in your pseudonym, related as personality burglary. All of your personal identifying information, places you have resided, and accounts you have opened are commence in this report.
Ace are three agencies in the US that are tied for maintaining consumer histories. Each agency will have some of the corresponding information, but known will be a lot of information that will be different. Not every business reports to all three agencies, so it is a good idea to get a copy from each one. There may also be some accounts that you know you have had that are not listed at all.
On your reports, you will notice a category that is called Trade Line or something similar. This is the term used to describe accounts, in general, but within this category there are three sub - categories. Mortgage accounts are loans that have used real estate as collateral in securing the loan. Installment accounts are those when you pay a set payment for a specific period, such as car loans. Revolving accounts are accounts that remain open, have a set amount you can use, and require monthly payments to pay down the limit.
The second section to pay attention to is the inquiry section. There are only specific instances when inquiries will appear. If you apply for an account with a lender or creditor, called a hard inquiry, they will request a copy of your history and this will be counted as an inquiry. In some cases, companies with whom you have existing accounts will occasionally request another copy of your history, which is called a soft inquiry.
Within the section where accounts are listed, they are grouped into positive and negative sections. The positive accounts are the ones that you have paid on time, never went over your limit, and either the account remains open in good standing or has been closed in good standing. The negative accounts are the ones that have late payments, have gone over the limit, or have not been in good standing.
Mistakes in histories are quite common. A large portion of the reports that are obtained each year contain mistakes. The most common problems occur in accounts that have been sent to collections for non - payment or accounts that have been paid in full and closed out. When there is a mistake found, it is important to contact all three of the agencies in writing and file an account dispute.
There is a process to disputing items that you find in your history. You will need to provide all of the information that is given about the company and the account, including the company ' s address, account number, and limit amount. The agencies contact the company and the company has 30 days to respond. Once they have determined your claim is correct, the reporting agency removes the account from your history.
According to a specific law, your credit report cannot be accessed without your permission. By applying for loans and other such things, you are granting those companies permission to access your information. There are times when collection agencies will illegally pull your history and use any information in it as a means of harassing and threatening you in order to collect their money.
