Young people need to know about credit reports and scores.  Why?  As a credit consultant, I review so many credit reports where people say, “I never knew that”, “I wish someone would have told me”, and “Why didn’t they tell me that before I went to college and got all those credit cards??”    Additionally, many [...]

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 [...]

This past week’s topic has definitely been credit monitoring – we’ve received many questions on the subject.  Among those questions, Security Freezes were mentioned as a possible prevention measure against identity theft.
Our article last week talked about credit monitoring and the difference between paying for a service and doing it yourself.  Another step that you [...]

When you sign up for credit monitoring services, you’re not necessarily done.  What does that mean?
Well, as a credit consultant I get lots of questions about credit monitoring services:
Do they work?  Are they good?  What about Lifelock?
I also talk to people who have a credit question, so we start a conversation and somewhere in there I [...]

We all know that credit reports and scores are important factors in getting approved for a loan and in determining the interest rate that will be charged on those loans.  And it is a factor used to determine insurance rates.  Credit is also important when it comes to getting and keeping a job.
Many companies include [...]

We hear this all the time: “I paid that collection.  Why is it still on my credit report?”
A paid collection is a negative item.  Just because it has a zero balance does not mean it goes away or changes to a positive item.
WHAT TO DO
If you receive a collection call, tell them to put it [...]