credit report

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How To Dispute Credit Report Errors

by Hank Coleman on January 26, 2011

how to dispute credit report errorsYou should request a copy of your credit report once per year. You can request one copy of your credit report from each of the three main American credit bureaus for free. While these copies of your credit report will not provide you with your credit score, they will allow you to see credit report errors that appear in your file. This is the first line of defense to protect yourself from identity theft and allows you to maintain a clean credit report and good credit score. But, over half of all Americans find some type of credit report errors in their file, whether it be an old account that was closed over seven years ago and should be dropped from the credit report or large devastating incorrect information that could potentially sideline them from receiving new credit if they applied for it. Read more…

Categories: Credit Report

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Write A Letter Justifying A Poor Credit Score To A Perspective Employer

by Hank Coleman on January 17, 2011

According to the Society for Human Resource management, 47% of all employers run credit checks on potential employees applying for new jobs. The United States military even checks credit reports before they issue security clearances to members of the military. Did you know that it might be your credit score or negative blotches on your credit report that are holding you up from getting hiring? But, you do not have to take your poor credit score or negative marks in your credit report lying down. You can write a brief statement on your own with all three credit bureaus that a prospective employer will see when they pull your credit file in the hopes of keeping you in the running for the job of your dreams.

Why You Need To Write A Letter Justifying A Poor Credit Score

The idea is that you can provide more information to a creditor or a future boss as to why there are issues with your credit score and negative marks on your credit report. This will provide more information to the people making decisions about extending you credit or giving you that job of your dreams. It gives them a more complete picture of why you might have issues on your credit report or the extenuating circumstances that go with them. You can write either a one hundred word general statement or a statement of dispute to be added to your file. A general statement admits your mistake, and of course, a statement of dispute can try to show a future employer why the negative mark on your credit report is not valid despite possibly losing an appeal through the credit bureau or explaining the details if you have an ongoing dispute that is not yet resolved. With almost half of all employers pulling credit reports before they offer job seekers a job, it might be worth some effort to explain yourself if you have a few errors to clean up on your credit report.

Where To Send A Letter Justifying A Poor Credit Score

You can file a general statement with all three of the credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You can include a one hundred word letter in your credit report to anyone who pulls your credit report. After you try to resolve a credit dispute between yourself and the credit bureau and are still not happy with the results, you can add a one hundred word statement to your credit report. Most of the credit bureaus let you file your statement online while you dispute a negative mark in your credit report. Others also allow you to call their customer service lines to get one on one help filing your statement. In some cases, you can also request that the credit bureaus assist you in preparing the actual statement.

What Should Your Letter Justifying A Poor Credit Score Say?

If you are making a general statement about the negative mark on your credit score and not challenging the validity of the harmful data, then you should explain why there are extenuating circumstances of why you could not pay the debt on time. Maybe there are mitigating circumstances that are not reflected on your credit report. The one hundred word statement is the perfect place to briefly lay your case out for leniency from a prospective employer.

If a potential employer is going to request a copy of your credit report, you will know it. Doing so requires your permission and is not part of a normal background check. If you know that there are issues with your credit report and score, speak up first. Let your potential employer know before they find out from the report. A face to face discussion will give you more than one hundred words to make your case as well. Of course, there is no guarantee that a creditor or future employer will take into account what your statement says. But, with a difficult job market still plaguing America, it may be well worth your time and energy to write a one hundred word statement on your behalf and file it with the three credit bureaus. It is only one hundred words after all.

(photo credit: William Arthur)

Hank ColemanHank Coleman is a writer, entrepreneur, and professional in the government sector. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, a Master’s in Finance, and is currently studying for his Certified Financial Planner (CFP) credentials. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @HankColeman.

Categories: Credit Report

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Bad Marks Stay On Your Credit Report For Seven Years

by Hank Coleman on January 10, 2011

Missing a payment on your credit card can have long lasting effects. Many people do not realize just how long a blemish on their credit report will stay with them. You can easily be answering questions to your future creditors about why you missed several payments as far back as seven years into your past. If you want to use some type of credit or apply for debt in the future, you should carefully consider the actions that you are taking today.

Accurate Negative Information Stays On Credit Report For Seven Years

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), most negative information about your debts and failure to pay on time what you owe stays on your credit report for a minimum of seven years. Almost every negative mark that can be found on your credit report will last for seven years. So, for example, mistakes that you make today will not be erased from your credit report until the year 2019. In addition to negative aspects of your credit such as failing to make a credit card or other loan payment, lawsuits or judgments against you that you did not pay can be added to your credit report for seven years or until the statute of limitations runs out. If you default on U.S. Government insured or guaranteed student loans, those can also be reported for seven years on your credit report.

Bankruptcies Stay On Your Credit Report For Ten Years

A bankruptcy is one of the worst kind of blemish that a person can have on his or her credit report. It will do the most damage to a person’s credit score. A bankruptcy will stay on a person’s credit report for ten years. It could possibly affect many aspects of a borrower’s life and cause trouble even finding employment, an apartment to rent, or even receiving new utilities without building his or her credit score back up. Even the military strongly considers a person’s credit score before granting them a security clearance.

Not The Same As the Statute Of Limitations

The Statute of Limitations has nothing to do with the length of time a negative mark stays on your credit report. You cannot be sued for debts that are past the statute of limitations once that period has elapsed, but that data may still remain on your credit report if the seven to ten years has not passed. Some states have more lenient statutes of limitations were a debtor cannot be sued by a lender. In some states, the statute of limitations for debt is as few as two years for certain types of debts. It is important to understand the difference between how long a negative mark stays on your credit report and the statute of limitations. They are two separate entities entirely.

The length of time a negative mark can stay on your credit report starts from the time you missed a payment. It does not start or restart from the time you made the last partial payment on the account. Some collection agencies try to keep a debtor’s account active with the credit bureaus to extend the time the account appears on a person’s credit report. This is against the Fair Credit Reporting Act and against the law. Consumers should be watchful of such acts and should continuously check their credit reports.

Hank ColemanHank Coleman is a writer, entrepreneur, and professional in the government sector. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, a Master’s in Finance, and is currently studying for his Certified Financial Planning (CFP) credentials. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @HankColeman.

Categories: Credit Report