Free Credit Reports and the Importance of Accurate Records
By George L Currie

No-one has the right to credit, but what do you do if you have been refused credit or you just want to know what's on your credit file?

Before any agreement can be made by a lender they have to establish whether you are a good credit risk or not. A lender will contact credit reference agencies to access your credit worthiness. The main agencies the majority of lenders deal with are Experian, Equifax and Call Credit. These agencies compile credit histories from a variety of different sources including the County Court Judgments (CCJ's), Sheriff Court Decrees (Scotland), the electoral roll and how well previous debts have been paid.

Although you don't have a right to credit you have a right to know which credit reference agency the lender used and to ensure that the information held by that agency is accurate. To obtain this information contact the lender within 28 days and ask which credit reference agency they used. Then contact the agency and ask for a copy of your file.

Having received your file, check it for any inaccuracies. It is in the interest of the agency to store correct and accurate information about you.

If you find any wrong information (note, unwanted information does not count as wrong!) write to the agency requesting your record is changed. The agency will change the record if it agrees, although you may need to correspond with the company which originally filed the error.

Sometimes you may find that the company will refuse to amend your file. Should this happen you are entitled to enter a "notice of correction" in which add concise factual explanatory information.

It is certainly worth while checking your credit reference file from time to time. Regularly checking your credit report for changes you did not make is one of the best ways to combat identity theft. In addition to this there may be some authorized changes to your report which may impact on you getting a loan, credit card or even mortgage. Remember forewarned is forearmed.

How to get your files?

There are two ways to get your files by post and online. The cheapest way is by post which costs £2 per agency. Your right to view your file comes from the Consumer Credit Act and the right to charge you a £2 fee for this come from the Data Protection Act. Online, will cost around £16 for immediate access to your report or around £70 a year for a credit and fraud monitoring service.

By post
Write to the credit reference agencies and ask for a copy of your file. You will have to include certain details. We have done the hard work for you. Just down load the templates, fill them in and post them off.

Template letters
The following is a simple sample letter to the information you need to check your credit score.

Dear Sir / Madam,
Under section 158(1) of the Consumer Credit Act I am requesting a copy of my credit report. Please find
enclosed the statutory fee of £2.

My personal details are:
Name:
Current Address:
Date of Birth:

Your contact details (Phone / Email):

In the last 6 years I have lived at the following addresses:

Yours faithfully

Online
You can apply online for one off reports or sign up to the various agencies monitoring services using the following links.

Equifax offer three products which help you monitor your credit score and highlight any fraud activity. Its worth checking out the Credit Watch Gold £69.99 which offers a 30 day free trial. If you don't want to proceed cancel it.

Experian also offers a free trial and free credit report for its £5.99 a month Credit Expert product. Again if you just want a free report sign up and then cancel.

Callcredit's Mycallcredit has two products. A quarterly unlimited access for £8.95 or the E-alert which offers a 30 day the free trial and then £44.99. Once again this is a great way to get access to your credit file for free. If you're not happy with the service just cancel it.

Note
Be careful of companies which advertise credit repair services. They cannot do anything more that you can actually do yourself. There are no magic tricks with credit repair companies except making your cash disappear.

For more information about debt and debt consolidation visit www.debtwatchdog.com

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How Canceling Credit Cards Can Affect Your Credit Score
By Mick Bernard

Although some credit restoration companies may encourage participants to cancel their cards immediately, the fact of the matter is that doing so can negatively affect your score. Any credit repair program worth your time will know this, and help you navigate through the complex system. People looking to go through the credit restoration process should know that canceling cards may temporarily drop your overall credit score, but over time that number should go back up. Here's why:

• The length of your active accounts will be cut down. Having a couple of credit cards that have been in good standing for years can help boost your score. Cancel them, and you cancel out some of your positive history.
• The type of credit you use will be less diverse. Cutting down on your revolving credit may be a good idea for long-term credit restoration, but in the short term it hurts your score.
• Your overall credit limits will go down - and that can be a bad thing for your credit score. On the other hand, by having lower limits, you'll be less likely to get in over your head in debt - something that can save you a lot of time dealing with credit repair programs.

In short, there are benefits and drawbacks to pretty much any decision you make dealing with credit. The key is to make sure you make the best decisions possible for your future; thinking long-term is going to benefit you much more than focusing on the short term.

If you're not sure what to do, get in touch with a credit repair program or talk to a restoration expert. Make sure you choose a company or individual who knows what they're talking about and has good references, and you'll come out on top.

Mick is a Certified Restoration Expert and President of Credit Strategies, a credit consulting firm in Scottsdale, Arizona. Credit Strategies works with consumers with less than perfect credit increase their credit scores so they can qualify for the best possible financing. If you're looking for some credit restoration then conciser our credit repair program.

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Your Credit Card - Use It Or Lose It
By James Exum

Now that banks want to cut back on lending, they're lowering credit lines for even their most reliable cardholders - and they're closing unused accounts.

While that might seem OK to you - because you don't want to use the card and go farther into debt - it really isn't OK. Your credit score is compiled from many factors, and one of them is the amount of unused credit you have available to you. Thus, when a credit card account is canceled, your available credit goes down - and so does your credit score. The best thing to do - take that card out and use it now and then. And when the statement arrives, pay it in full. That will keep the card active without costing you any money in interest payments. So use it for something you would have purchased anyway - such as groceries or gasoline.

According to a Reuters article in December, the credit card industry plans to cut more than $2 trillion in credit lines over the next year and a half - that's a 45% decline in the total credit available to consumers. One reason credit card companies want to close your dormant accounts is that it costs them money to keep an account on the books - and if you aren't spending any money, that means they're going in the hole by keeping your account open. Don't give them an excuse - use it just often enough so you don't lose it. Identity theft is a second reason to use your card...

Most of the time, if you have no current balance and you had no balance the previous month, your credit card issuer won't send a statement. Thus, a person using your identity would have no problem in contacting the card issuer, having "your" mailing address changed, and using the card until the credit limit was reached. Since the bills would be going to a different address, and since you wouldn't be expecting a bill for a card you weren't using, this could go on behind your back for months. You wouldn't know that you had unpaid accounts until you attempted to get credit yourself and learned that your good credit wasn't so good any more.

That's why credit experts advise that you regularly check your credit report and/or enroll in a credit alert service.
Since identity thieves like to zero in on those unused accounts, use your card at least every other month, so the use shows on your credit report. Doing so will make that credit card less attractive to would-be thieves.

BestRateForCreditCards.com is your on-line resource for credit card comparsions

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New Credit Store News Blog

Hello, my name is Francisco Alba. I want to inform you about my new blog. I name it "New Credit Store News Blog"! This blog's mission is to provide credit news articles. I promise this blog will offer great content.

Credit Store News will offer great content. For example, the blog's content will include articles from me and other great writers. The credit news will help readers with their personal credit. The blog will include credit news to help readers solve their credit problems. Read the latest credit news.