3 credit bureaus
How Your Credit Scores Impact Your Ability To Borrow
Your credit information may be of no use to you. If you’re not planning on buying a house or renting an apartment, buying a car, taking out a loan, paying for college or getting a new credit card, then you won’t need to worry about getting your free credit score. However,you need to find a free credit reporting company to get a listing of all late payments, charge-offs, debts, collections, loans, liens and types of credit accounts open, so they can get an honest appraisal of their borrowing power. Credit report services from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion each will offer you a free report once a year to help you see where you are and where you need to be financially.
Sometimes, you may look at your free credit scores and credit information only to find it rife with errors. First, get your free credit scores online from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion then print them out and highlight any negative information. Circle disputed records. Check the expiration dates of the records. Bankruptcy filing records should have expired 10 years after the first filing date, charge-offs should be gone within 7 years, collection records should expire within 7 years and 180 days after the last late payment, closed accounts should be removed in 7 years, foreclosure records last for 7 years, inquiries will remain on your credit report for 1-2 years but will not hurt your overall score, judgments/court decisions will remain for 7 years after the filing date, late payments of more than 30 days remain for 7 years, repossession records persist for 7 years and tax liens can remain indefinitely, if unpaid, or else 7 years from the paid date.
To file a dispute about your credit information, you can compose a dispute letter to each of the three major credit bureaus, which are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. In the letter, include the date, your name, address, phone number and social security number. Just write “The following data is incorrect and should be updated,” then list each problem, explaining why it’s wrong and what it should be updated with. Attach a marked copy of your credit score report and include any communication, account records or statements that can help verify your version of the truth. Mail is the best way to dispute with Equifax and TransUnion, while Experian only allows online disputes. The credit bureaus then have 30 days to investigate and repair your credit info. Once it’s finished, they will send you a letter containing what was or was not changed. If you’re not satisfied with the results, then you can try to resubmit with different documentation or go directly to the creditor to resolve.
Looking at your credit information can be daunting at first if you’ve had a back track record. The worst thing you can do is put everything off and wait for it to go away. If the creditors are really hounding you and you’re not sure how you’ll have the money to cover it all, then your best bet is going through a credit counselor or debt relief agency. If you have one or two bills that are behind or have paid most of your debts off and are just looking to start anew, then you can handle this. The last 24 months constitute 60% of your credit score, so you can turn things around this year simply by paying your bills regularly, in full and on-time.
Credit Repair Secrets: What the Big 3 Credit Bureaus Don’t Want You to Know!
Getting all 3 credit bureaus to cooperate?
My TransUnion & Experian credit scores are close in range – but how do I get my Equifax score to even come close? Should I contact them and go over my information with them. There really aren’t any errors, they just are not reporting what the others are reporting, thereby reducing my score from them nearly 100 points from the other two agencies.
Thanks Bob – your answer has been the most comprehensive.
Each agency has its own formula for credit scores. Some creditors report to only one or two, not all three. If the Equifax report is based on incorrect information, you can dispute that information. However, they are neither required nor permitted to include information (even if accurate) that you report to them if it has not been reported to them by a creditor (even if the creditor reported it to Experian and TransUnion).