all about credit reports and how to get better credit scores

We have received so many questions over the past few weeks about getting your own credit reports.  Here is what you need to know: YOU CAN CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT AT NO COST TO YOU Everyone is entitled to one free report annually from each of the three credit bureaus for a total of THREE free reports each year.  The website is www.annualcreditreport.com If you have to give your credit card information at a website, it is NOT a free report!  The sites that are advertised on TV and the internet are NOT the sites to get your no cost report.  You typically have to sign up for a service at those sites to be able to get a credit report.  By the way, most of them are owned by the credit bureaus.  This article has more info on free credit reports. YOU CAN ...

Studies show that 79% of all credit reports contain errors.  Additionally, 25% of credit reports contain errors serious enough to result in a denial of credit.  So how do errors get on the reports?   Before we talk about how mistakes happen, we should to review how the credit report itself is developed. Lenders who have extended credit to you report your account information to the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.  This includes what types of credit you use, the length of time your accounts have been open, and whether you've paid your bills on time.  They also report how much credit you've used and how often you apply for new credit accounts.  So there are thousands of companies reporting information about millions of consumers.  That's a lot of data to input and transmit each and every month.  And most of it starts out with ...