Not Made Of Money

If you’ve ever had a problem with the contents of your credit report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act was your best friend. Have you ever heard of this powerful act passed by Congress in 1970? Just in case you need a refresher course on this topic, let me give you a highlight of some of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act:

You have the right to know what’s in your credit report. You can now request a copy of your credit report from each of the three credit reporting agencies once a year at www.annualcreditreport.com. These reports are provided free of charge, and don’t require that you join any monitoring service.

You have the option of disputing any wrong information in your report. By notifying the credit reporting agency who reported the bad information, you force them to attempt to verify the information. Once it’s disproved, the information will be removed from your report.

You have the right to have outdated information removed from your report. Most negative information that is over seven years old must be dropped from your report. Bankruptcies, however, can remain on your report for as long as ten years. If you find old information on your credit report you can follow the same dispute steps that you follow for incorrect information. Once the reporting agency confirms the age of the information, it should remove the information from your report.

You have the right to know when your credit information is used against you. For instance, if a potential creditor denies you credit due to something in your credit history, the credit must tell you. In addition, he must provide you with contact information for the credit reporting agency they used.

You have the right to find out what your credit score is. While obtaining your credit score will usually cost you a fee (determined by the reporting agency involved), it can be valuable information for you. If you purchase a home, however, you often receive a copy of your credit score information during the home financing process.

• Credit Report Errors – How to Fix Them
• Financial Records That You Should Always Keep

• Time To Go Long The Dollar? Regular readers know I've been pretty pessimistic on the outlook...
• Relationships in the World of IM Before I discuss relationships, I need to give you some...