Wednesday, December 18, 2002

More and more, insurers are using credit report scores, because they have found that your credit is a good predictor of insurance claims. 9:04:43 AM

Monday, December 02, 2002

30,000 Credit Reports in Massive Identity Theft Case: Was yours one of them? Regarding the recent arrests for the "biggest identity theft case" ever, several companies have been mentioned in the press, implying that if you've done business with one of the companies, you are a possible victim. Actually, it wasn't files from these companies that were stolen. Rather, it was their credit bureau passwords. Credit reports were pulled on people who were not necessarily customers. If you are a victim, you probably have one or more unexplained inquiries on your credit report - done by an identity thief, but appearing to be from one of the following companies: Ford Motor Credit, Washington Mutual Finance, Dollar Bank, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, Personal Finance of Frankfort, Indiana, the Medical Bureau of Clearwater, Florida, Vintage Apartments of Houston, or Community Bank of Chaska Minnesota. The inquiries could be on your Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union credit report. To find out, you can check your own credit report. 2:56:39 PM

Thursday, November 14, 2002

You've been good for 10 years. Are you home free? Derogatory credit report items "drop off" after 7 years. Bankruptcies are removed after 10 years. But there are things that could still affect your credit score negatively, based on a "long-ago" past problems: If a collector is still looking for you, he is not allowed to place the old debt on the credit report again - unless you agree to start making payments on it again. If collectors are still looking for you, they may do inquiries. The fact that you have one or more inquiries from collectors can reflect negatively on you! Finally, it may look suspicious that none of your accounts are more than 10 years old. This will keep you from getting the highest credit scores. 3:07:31 PM

Thursday, September 26, 2002

I've never been late on this credit card. Why are my rates going up? It might be because credit card companies are watching you! It is entirely possible that you might be "punished" by higher interest rates, fees, and terms on your Citibank Credit Card, for example, based on troubles you might be having with (for instance) your Sears card. This could happen even if you've kept all your payments up to date on the Citibank card. That's because credit grantors periodically check the credit reports of existing account holders, and adjust terms accordingly. You can get your own credit report to see how often creditors are checking up on you. Each time anyone looks at your credit report, it's known as an inquiry. You, as a consumer, can see who's inquired over the past several months. 1:56:26 PM

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Know the risks when you co-sign a loan. The Federal Trade Commission says that as many as three out of four co-signers are requested to make payments on a loan. When you're asked to co-sign, you're being asked to take a risk that a professional lender won't take. If you do co-sign, there are some things you should do to help protect your credit report. For instance, be sure to ask the lender to notify you immediately of late payments or any other troubles on the loan. 12:20:19 PM

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

What's next: A credit report in order to get an airline ticket? Currently, the Fair Credit Reporting act appears to prevent that from happening, but this article hints that changes could be on the way. There are provisions for allowing the FBI to get credit reports when "specific and articulable facts" give reason to believe that a specific person is a foreign spy or terrorist, but complete credit reports are not, as of yet, available for random screening of airline passengers. Section 608 of the FCRA might be just enough, however, to determine some important, non-financial things. It allows the release of "header" information that could help a profiling system determine whether the person is rooted in the community: A consumer reporting agency may furnish identifying information respecting any consumer, limited to his name, address, former addresses, places of employment, or former places of employment, to a governmental agency. 5:25:51 PM

Friday, September 06, 2002

Your credit score can affect your insurance rates. A study found that 92% of the nation's top automobile insurers use credit scores, based on a correlation between high credit scores and lower claims costs. An insurance score with some differences, uses the same factors as a credit score for lending purposes: Outstanding debt, length of credit history, late payments, new applications for credit, types of credit used, payment patterns, available credit, public records, and past due amounts. 4:24:25 PM