Your credit report is among the most important useful report you will ever need.
It once believed that credit bureaus were purported to consolidate all that personal information on you to help support you, the consumer, and help the creditors make an informed decision.
This may have been the primary reason credit bureaus were created, but today, as I see it, they gather every minuscule personal item about you, including erroneous information and then sell it.
Yes, the bureaus are private, for-profit businesses whose first priority is their clients who pay them - the lenders.
Those hidden errors on your credit reports can negatively affect your score, making it near impossible to acquire new credit.
Hence, difficulty qualifying for a home, a car loan, a new credit card or even a simple bank account.
And for those that can qualify for financing, you will be saddled paying a higher interest rate.
This is why it's so important to review your credit report and identify any errors, they are surprisingly common.
Now, while the credit bureau will tell you how easy it is to correct your credit report and how to ask them to review any inaccuracies, the truth is, they do not make it easy to correct your file.
Sure, it's simple to dispute inaccuracies with a letter, but the hard task is getting them to actually remove those inaccuracies.
For one, you have three different reports, developed by three different credit bureaus and they contain exclusive information put there by creditors.
This information is not shared by all three credit bureaus, meaning that you will see different information from all three of the agencies.
Each creditor opens an account with a credit bureau they select to deal with.
It may be all three, or it may be only one agency.
This makes it difficult for the consumer to keep abreast of what is actually on their credit report.
That is why it's suggested you get the 3 in 1 credit report.
This way, all information is consolidated from all 3 agencies.
You could come across a mistake on one report (say, the Experian one), while data provided by Equifax and TransUnion are correctly stated.
So now you can understand how coordinated you must be to keep up with 3 different agencies.
When disputing a mistake on your credit report, you must contact the specific company that contains that erroneous information.
So, you find inaccurate information on one of your credit reports and you submit a dispute to the credit agency.
Seems to be a simple task, right? Not so fast.
One thing you should understand about the bureaus.
They make money from every consumer's plight, whether be it positive or negative.
If you are unable to get those negative marks off of your credit report, it's not affecting the credit bureau one bit.
They sell data your hard luck to lenders, marketing companies and other businesses that want to market their products to you, according to your credit history.
For example, if your credit is damaged and you are unable to get a favorable credit card, lenders will purchase that type of info to send you promotional secured credit card and other offers befitting your situation.
So as you can see, the credit bureaus are in the business of consumer predicaments, whether good or bad.
Contact a credit reporting agency about a mistake on your report; you'll quickly realize that you are not their customer.
The mortgage company paying to obtain your credit information is a preferred customer.
The car dealership, the credit card companies and the banks are all close associates.
But you, my friend, are not their customer.
And when you began demanding they review and remove a mistake, you become a nuisance and this fosters negative repercussions.
This is not to imply you cannot get negative marks removed from your credit report.
For some, the task is an easy road, but for others, the credit bureau makes it a difficult undertaking.
You must have a good understanding of how creditors verify information, how credit bureaus verify your disputes and how you can manage to exercise authority over your information.
This means knowing your rights, under the law.
Take control and exercise your rights.
It once believed that credit bureaus were purported to consolidate all that personal information on you to help support you, the consumer, and help the creditors make an informed decision.
This may have been the primary reason credit bureaus were created, but today, as I see it, they gather every minuscule personal item about you, including erroneous information and then sell it.
Yes, the bureaus are private, for-profit businesses whose first priority is their clients who pay them - the lenders.
Those hidden errors on your credit reports can negatively affect your score, making it near impossible to acquire new credit.
Hence, difficulty qualifying for a home, a car loan, a new credit card or even a simple bank account.
And for those that can qualify for financing, you will be saddled paying a higher interest rate.
This is why it's so important to review your credit report and identify any errors, they are surprisingly common.
Now, while the credit bureau will tell you how easy it is to correct your credit report and how to ask them to review any inaccuracies, the truth is, they do not make it easy to correct your file.
Sure, it's simple to dispute inaccuracies with a letter, but the hard task is getting them to actually remove those inaccuracies.
For one, you have three different reports, developed by three different credit bureaus and they contain exclusive information put there by creditors.
This information is not shared by all three credit bureaus, meaning that you will see different information from all three of the agencies.
Each creditor opens an account with a credit bureau they select to deal with.
It may be all three, or it may be only one agency.
This makes it difficult for the consumer to keep abreast of what is actually on their credit report.
That is why it's suggested you get the 3 in 1 credit report.
This way, all information is consolidated from all 3 agencies.
You could come across a mistake on one report (say, the Experian one), while data provided by Equifax and TransUnion are correctly stated.
So now you can understand how coordinated you must be to keep up with 3 different agencies.
When disputing a mistake on your credit report, you must contact the specific company that contains that erroneous information.
So, you find inaccurate information on one of your credit reports and you submit a dispute to the credit agency.
Seems to be a simple task, right? Not so fast.
One thing you should understand about the bureaus.
They make money from every consumer's plight, whether be it positive or negative.
If you are unable to get those negative marks off of your credit report, it's not affecting the credit bureau one bit.
They sell data your hard luck to lenders, marketing companies and other businesses that want to market their products to you, according to your credit history.
For example, if your credit is damaged and you are unable to get a favorable credit card, lenders will purchase that type of info to send you promotional secured credit card and other offers befitting your situation.
So as you can see, the credit bureaus are in the business of consumer predicaments, whether good or bad.
Contact a credit reporting agency about a mistake on your report; you'll quickly realize that you are not their customer.
The mortgage company paying to obtain your credit information is a preferred customer.
The car dealership, the credit card companies and the banks are all close associates.
But you, my friend, are not their customer.
And when you began demanding they review and remove a mistake, you become a nuisance and this fosters negative repercussions.
This is not to imply you cannot get negative marks removed from your credit report.
For some, the task is an easy road, but for others, the credit bureau makes it a difficult undertaking.
You must have a good understanding of how creditors verify information, how credit bureaus verify your disputes and how you can manage to exercise authority over your information.
This means knowing your rights, under the law.
Take control and exercise your rights.
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