| How To Get Credit Reports |
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As soon as credit cards became a household treasure, credit reporting agencies started springing up to monitor how people use their credit. Unfortunately, the bureaus didn't do much to verify the information they received from the companies reporting on payments, and even the credit bureaus made mistakes on their own, sometimes out of sheer negligence. Getting credit reports fixed became a headache for many. Our world revolves around having excellent credit. Some jobs demand that we have excellent credit and our reports are checked before we are hired. And of course, anyone who is considering lending us money for a mortgage or a car loan, or even a new store credit card - will base his decision entirely on what is found in our credit history. If there's a lot of negative information, kiss that loan goodbye! The problem is that, all too frequently, the negative information is just plain wrong. The past five to ten years has seen some remarkable consumer protection laws passed as they relate to the credit reporting process, and all three credit bureaus now must follow strict guidelines as they relate to responding to consumer requests and complaints about the information in their credit files. Over the past ten years or so, various types of legislation has been enacted to protect consumers. Credit histories can be viewed online immediately, which is a wonderful improvement over the old method of writing a letter and waiting weeks for the report to be mailed back. These reports were free only if you were denied credit. It seemed as if you had no reason or right to see your report for any other reason! An issue that doesn't seem to be an easy to get around is the fact that there are three major reporting bureaus, but there are no regulations that demand these bureaus compare notes to see who has what information. What happens? You could be turned down for credit because one of these agencies has information - with errors perhaps - that the others don't. If your lender for some reason only uses that particular agency, you're in trouble. Years ago a consumer could only have a free copy of his credit history if he was denied credit. He would need to write a letter and then wait sometimes weeks before hearing back. Then he would need to review it and if there were errors, which was and still is all too common, he would need to write further letters and wait more time to try to get these problems fixed. It could easily take a year to have issues addressed. Anything you don't agree with can be added to your report. The problem is that they don't give you much space to do this, so your information may not have much weight. About the Author: If you have bad credit, it's not easy. If you need to clean up your credit, you have to have good credit. Get help and credit repair and get fix your credit worries. Learn how now! |