Is FreeCreditReport.com A Scam?
JimOne of the best financial things you can do for yourself is to regularly check your credit report. Identity theft is a huge business with billions of losses each year, not to mention all the time it...
View ArticleGo Direct To Credit Bureaus for Credit Score
JimWhether it’s driving on the highway or surfing on the information superhighway, I’ve been seeing a lot of ads for credit reports and credit scores. With the economy weak, people are looking to play...
View ArticleHistory of Credit Bureaus: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion & Innovis
JimDid you know that TransUnion started as a parent holding company for a railcar leasing company? Or that Experian is not based in the United States? I started reading about the history of some of the...
View ArticleCredit Report Bumpage: Knocking Off Hard Inquiries
JimBefore I started spending most of my time writing for Bargaineering.com, I spent many of my formative years at Fatwallet (as far back as 2001!). One of the big ideas in the Finance forums was the...
View ArticleReview Your Credit Report Annually
JimThe Fair Credit Reporting Act gives us the right to see our credit reports every twelve months. I’ve written in the past that I like to stagger my requests so that I get one report every four...
View ArticleHow to Remove Unauthorized Hard Inquiries
JimReader Christine recently left a comment on the What is a good credit score? post in which she asked how she could get unauthorized hard inquiries removed. For her particular case, it’s likely that...
View ArticleList of Free Specialty Consumer Reports
JimAfter my post on requesting your CLUE reports, Reader Bob sent me an exceptionally long and comprehensive list of all the specialty consumer reports that you are entitled to every year. When I wrote...
View ArticleYour Take: Common Sense vs. FreeCreditReport.com
JimIf you’ve ever watched a television in the last few years, you’ve undoubtedly seen the FreeCreditReport.com commercials with the guy playing the banjo. In recent months, Experian, the parent company...
View ArticleFree Experian PLUS Credit Score
JimFor a limited time, American Express is offering a free look at your Experian PLUS credit score and Experian credit report. The Experian PLUS credit score is not the same as your FICO score but...
View ArticleHow Does Your FICO Credit Score Work
JimIf you thought that graduating meant the end of people grading and assigning you a number, think again. In the real world, it’s not your GPA that matters, but your FICO score. It’s a three digit...
View ArticleDon’t Pay For Credit Score Monitoring
JimCNNMoney tackled the question of why you don’t need credit score monitoring. Credit score monitoring is when you pay one of the credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian) a set fee each month to...
View ArticleHow to Get Two Free Credit Reports a Year
JimShort answer: Live in Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Vermont. Long answer: In the seven states listed above, there are state laws that that require the credit...
View ArticleNotify Credit Bureaus of Death
JimReader Kim emailed me a few weeks ago with a question I’ve, thanksfully, never had to deal with. Following the death of her mother, she was wondering if she should report her death to the credit...
View ArticleExperian Credit Report Includes Rent Payments
JimYour credit report and credit score are designed to calculate how likely you are to default on your loans. It’s increasingly being used in some surprising ways, such as determining whether or not to...
View ArticleThe Credit Bureau VIP List
JimI was half-surprised to read about how credit bureaus have a two tiered system when it comes to their credit reports and how they resolve errors. Apparently, the three bureaus are quick to correct...
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