There could not have been a better time than now to negotiate settlements with your creditors and make inquiries with credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies on your behalf. It is a difficult time in the United States in all areas and its creditors know it. We are almost in a recession, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently declared. People in this nation are losing their jobs, homes in foreclosure, repossession of their cars, etc. Things are tough for many Americans today. It’s a bad economy and people are having a hard time paying bills on time.
However, you must not fall victim to these difficult times. Now is the time to preserve and clean up your credit. As I have said before in my previous posts and articles, maintaining a minimum credit score of 700 will get you places in America. You will be unstoppable. You won’t have any reason to borrow from family, friends, co-workers, etc., because you can just go to any bank or apply for any major credit card or mortgage, and you’ll get at least 80 percent. a hundred times. But you must know how to live within your means. As we say in our culture: “Hang your basket where your hands can reach it.” Going out and borrowing without knowing how you’re going to pay it back can also ruin your credit score and solvency. So be very careful. Platinum and gold cards are nice to have in your wallets or purses, but you’d be wise not to use them for a while…be conservative. You might be surprised to know that when you don’t use your line of credit, it increases your credit score. For example, if you have a credit card with a line of credit of $10,000.00 and you can carry a balance of more than $9,500.00 or more each month, good news! That helps your credit score.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to invoke and apply the law to clean up your credit. For example, if you’re disputing something negative, wrong, or inaccurate on your credit reports, this is your best strategy to combat it.
The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) states that you can:
(1). Request a description of how the credit bureaus verified the information, including business name and address contacted, and phone number, if reasonably available. (Note: Name and address information also appears on your original credit report.)
(two). Add a statement that disputes the accuracy or completeness of the information.
(3). Request that the credit bureaus send these results to the organizations that have reviewed your report in the last two years for work purposes or six months for any other purpose. (Twelve months for residents of Colorado, Maryland and New York).
Know your rights!!!
A summary of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
1. You must be told if information in your file has been used against you.
2. You have the right to know what is in your file.
3. All consumers are entitled to one free disclosure every 12 months upon request from each Nationwide Credit Bureau and Nationwide’s Special Consumer Reporting Agencies.
4. You have the right to request your credit score. (Some may charge a nominal fee of $12.00 to $25.00)
5. You have the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information.
6. Consumer Reporting Agencies must correct or remove inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information.
7. You can claim damages from offenders. If a consumer reporting agency or, in some cases, a user of consumer reporting or a provider of information to a consumer reporting agency violates the FCRA, you can sue in state or federal court.
