Transunion – National Credit Federation https://nationalcreditfederation.com Credit Repair Company Fri, 08 Apr 2016 19:19:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.7 Top 5 ways to make your credit great again https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-make-credit-great/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-make-credit-great/#respond Fri, 08 Apr 2016 12:55:32 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/?p=9831 The post Top 5 ways to make your credit great again appeared first on National Credit Federation.

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So you’ve found yourself in the position of having not so great credit. Well here are my top 5 ways to make your credit great again. One thing you need to realize is repairing your credit will take time and a lot of patience. Personal finance columnist SideBar_adand author of Your Credit Score, Your Money & What’s At Stake, Liz Weston, notes that you might not see any improvement in your score for 30 to 60 days. After all, the best way to raise your credit score is repair your history, and then continue to monitor it over time.

 

1. Check Your Credit Report

It’s impossible to fix your credit if you don’t know what is driving your score down. So your first step should be to obtain a copy of all 3 (Experian, Equifax & TransUnion) of your credit reports and check them for any apparent errors. You’ll want to keep an eye out for any inaccuracies or wrong information such as late payments, inaccurate balances or unknown accounts.

Bonus tip: We like Identity IQ as a source to obtain your reports. You can get all 3 in one place for only $1 and keep it open if you decide to monitor it.

 

2. Reduce the Amount of Debt You Owe

Your credit score is going to continue to suffer until you can pay off some of your high balances. Stop using your credit cards and start to keep track of your debt. Write down every account you have open, how much you owe, and the interest rates. Use this information to create a payment plan for yourself, paying off the cards with the highest interest rates first, but always maintaining minimum payments on the other cards. A large factor in helping the banks determine your risk factor is “Credit Utilization”, which is simply referring to your balances in relation to their limits on revolving accounts.

Bonus tip: You want to focus on getting your balances under 30% utilization.

 

3. Pay your bills on time.

This should go without saying, but paying your bills on time is the best way to raise your credit score. Payment history can account for up to 35% of your FICO score, so any late or missed payments are going to keep your score down, way down. If you have missed payments in the past, work to get your payments up to date, and then stay current on those accounts. The longer you continue to pay your bills on time after fixing these mistakes, the more you will see your score increase.

If you have a long history of late or missed payments, you may be concerned that these will keep your score down forever. But, the older the issue is, the less it will count for. If you can get your payments up to date and continue paying on time, your good payment patterns will start to erase your poor ones from the past.

Bonus tip: If your payments are constantly late just because you’re forgetful, use an automatic payment tool. This will ensure you won’t miss any payments due to being absent-minded.

NativeAD_inside blog post

4. Dispute errors

Remember when you got that copy of your credit reports and checked them for errors? Well, if you found any errors you need to dispute them with the credit bureaus. You should contact each of the credit bureaus that have the error in that report and ask each bureau to verify or remove the information. The best way to still do this is by writing them. (Yes snail mail)

Bonus tip: Your letter will be one of thousands that are received by the bureau each day, so you need to ensure you letter is clear and concise. This is not about writing an essay but being focused on the dispute error and reason, along with providing the relevant contact information to be corrected. If your letter cannot be understood clearly the chances of you receiving a response are decreased, and you may receive a stall response because of it.

 

5. Establish credit

Someone who has credit cards and has continually paid the balances responsibly is considered way less of a risk to a creditor than someone with no credit cards at all. Your credit score will increase over time if you have a couple of credit cards open as long as you don’t charge too much, and pay the bills on time.

If you’re unable to get a traditional credit card due to your credit hurdles, your best bet will be to get a secured credit card. Make sure your secured card reports to all 3 of the major credit bureaus and use it as a chance to prove your trustworthiness.

Raising your credit score is going to take time and energy, but it’s definitely worth the effort in the long run. Once you have pinpointed any errors on your credit report be sure to take the time to correct them. After you have fixed any past indiscretions, follow our guidelines to maintain your score. Remember that all your recent positive patterns are going to outweigh any past hurdles you’ve encountered.

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-make-credit-great/feed/ 0 Top 5 ways to make your credit great again https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-to-make-your-credit-great-again/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-to-make-your-credit-great-again/#respond Tue, 05 Apr 2016 02:45:43 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/?p=9812 The post Top 5 ways to make your credit great again appeared first on National Credit Federation.

]]>

SideBar_adSo you’ve found yourself in the position of having not so great credit. Well here are my top 5 ways to make your credit great again. One thing you need to realize is repairing your credit will take time and a lot of patience. Personal finance columnist and author of Your Credit Score, Your Money & What’s At Stake, Liz Weston, notes that you might not see any improvement in your score for 30 to 60 days. After all, the best way to raise your credit score is repair your history, and then continue to monitor it over time.

 

1. Check Your Credit Report

It’s impossible to fix your credit if you don’t know what is driving your score down. So your first step should be to obtain a copy of all 3 (Experian, Equifax & TransUnion) of your credit reports and check them for any apparent errors. You’ll want to keep an eye out for any inaccuracies or wrong information such as late payments, inaccurate balances or unknown accounts.

Bonus tip: We like Identity IQ as a source to obtain your reports. You can get all 3 in one place for only $1 and keep it open if you decide to monitor it.

 

2. Reduce the Amount of Debt You Owe

Your credit score is going to continue to suffer until you can pay off some of your high balances. Stop using your credit cards and start to keep track of your debt. Write down every account you have open, how much you owe, and the interest rates. Use this information to create a payment plan for yourself, paying off the cards with the highest interest rates first, but always maintaining minimum payments on the other cards. A large factor in helping the banks determine your risk factor is “Credit Utilization”, which is simply referring to your balances in relation to their limits on revolving accounts.

Bonus tip: You want to focus on getting your balances under 30% utilization.

NativeAD_inside blog post

3. Pay your bills on time.

This should go without saying, but paying your bills on time is the best way to raise your credit score. Payment history can account for up to 35% of your FICO score, so any late or missed payments are going to keep your score down, way down. If you have missed payments in the past, work to get your payments up to date, and then stay current on those accounts. The longer you continue to pay your bills on time after fixing these mistakes, the more you will see your score increase.

If you have a long history of late or missed payments, you may be concerned that these will keep your score down forever. But, the older the issue is, the less it will count for. If you can get your payments up to date and continue paying on time, your good payment patterns will start to erase your poor ones from the past.

Bonus tip: If your payments are constantly late just because you’re forgetful, use an automatic payment tool. This will ensure you won’t miss any payments due to being absent-minded.

 

4. Dispute errors

Remember when you got that copy of your credit reports and checked them for errors? Well, if you found any errors you need to dispute them with the credit bureaus. You should contact each of the credit bureaus that have the error in that report and ask each bureau to verify or remove the information. The best way to still do this is by writing them. (Yes snail mail)

Bonus tip: Your letter will be one of thousands that are received by the bureau each day, so you need to ensure you letter is clear and concise. This is not about writing an essay but being focused on the dispute error and reason, along with providing the relevant contact information to be corrected. If your letter cannot be understood clearly the chances of you receiving a response are decreased, and you may receive a stall response because of it.

 

5. Establish credit

Someone who has credit cards and has continually paid the balances responsibly is considered way less of a risk to a creditor than someone with no credit cards at all. Your credit score will increase over time if you have a couple of credit cards open as long as you don’t charge too much, and pay the bills on time.

If you’re unable to get a traditional credit card due to your credit hurdles, your best bet will be to get a secured credit card. Make sure your secured card reports to all 3 of the major credit bureaus and use it as a chance to prove your trustworthiness.

Raising your credit score is going to take time and energy, but it’s definitely worth the effort in the long run. Once you have pinpointed any errors on your credit report be sure to take the time to correct them. After you have fixed any past indiscretions, follow our guidelines to maintain your score. Remember that all your recent positive patterns are going to outweigh any past hurdles you’ve encountered.

The post Top 5 ways to make your credit great again appeared first on National Credit Federation.

]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/top-5-ways-to-make-your-credit-great-again/feed/ 0 Rental Payments and Credit Reporting https://nationalcreditfederation.com/rental-payments-and-credit-reporting/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/rental-payments-and-credit-reporting/#respond Thu, 11 Jun 2015 18:42:24 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/?p=8378 Credit history, scores may improve with bureau changes.  According to a study in May by the Consumer financial Protection Bureau about 45 million adults in the US don’t have any credit scores. It’s a huge issue since your credit scores are used by lenders to determine eligibility for credit and what interest rate you qualify […]

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]]> Credit history, scores may improve with bureau changes.  According to a study in May by the Consumer financial Protection Bureau about 45 million adults in the US don’t have any credit scores. It’s a huge issue since your credit scores are used by lenders to determine eligibility for credit and what interest rate you qualify for. Having no credit score is going to cause problems for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.
 
Relief is on the horizon though and the practice of building credit is going to become easier. The national credit bureaus are going to start recognizing more methods of payment to form the makeup of a consumers’ credit history
 

Can Renting Build Credit History

 
Historically building an impressive credit history and higher score was done by paying mortgage, student, and auto loans as well as credit cards on time. The tracking of other reoccurring payments such as rent, cable, utility and mobile phone payments wasn’t taken into account. Even if someone never missed a payment they would still end up with no credit to speak of.
 
Two of the major credit bureaus: TransUnion and Experian are now incorporating rental data in the credit profiles. So paying rent on time can now be an opportunity to increase your credit score.
 
These two bureaus are gathering information through RentTrac. So renters that use RentTrac to make payments are providing information to Equifax and TransUnion.
 
A study done by RentBureau found that after Experian started gathering this information 97% of the study group built a credit score based on their payment history.
 
This also benefitted people already with credit scores also by increasing them 29 points on average.

More Changes?

While bureaus don’t currently count payments on utility, cable, mobile phones, doctors and hospitals, there is a support growing for including some of these into credit history as well.
 
The reasons for this support is because currently paying your phone bills on time doesn’t do anything for your score. However if you fall behind and it goes to collections, that will have a negative impact on your credit score.
 

Credit history, scores may improve with bureau changes by csmonitor.com

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/rental-payments-and-credit-reporting/feed/ 0 Karon's TransUnion results in Crosby, TX https://nationalcreditfederation.com/karons-transunion-results-in-crosby-tx/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/karons-transunion-results-in-crosby-tx/#respond Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:35:17 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/?p=6391 Congratulations Karon, on the results from this credit bureau on this round! We look forward to the continued improvement of your scores while your membership progresses. 7 Items Deleted 47% of the Items Challenged were deleted in one round! Click on the image to view the full size pdf! Here are the items that were […]

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]]> Congratulations Karon, on the results from this credit bureau on this round! We look forward to the continued improvement of your scores while your membership progresses.

7 Items Deleted
47% of the Items Challenged were deleted in one round!
Click on the image to view the full size pdf!


Here are the items that were removed or improved:
AmsherCollectionServices
Concentric Rec Manage
I C Systems Collections
National Credit Systems
West Asset Management

Although these are Karon’s actual results, we have to tell you that your results WILL vary because everyone’s report is different.

But if you would like to receive results on your report, then call the number on the top of this page or click on “Join Now” and we can get started improving your credit score so you can begin living the life you deserve today!
Doug Birdsell, Crosby, Texas

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/karons-transunion-results-in-crosby-tx/feed/ 0 The Credit Bureaus have a VIP list https://nationalcreditfederation.com/the-credit-bureaus-have-a-vip-list/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/the-credit-bureaus-have-a-vip-list/#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:03:26 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/blog/?p=411 Published May 17, 2011 | FoxNews.com Sen. Dick Blumenthal wants explanations from the three credit rating bureaus about a New York Times report about a VIP list they allegedly keep that favors the rich and famous over everyone else. The Connecticut Democrat wrote a letter Monday to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion about the reported separate […]

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]]> Published May 17, 2011 | FoxNews.com

Sen. Dick Blumenthal wants explanations from the three credit rating bureaus about a New York Times report about a VIP list they allegedly keep that favors the rich and famous over everyone else.

The Connecticut Democrat wrote a letter Monday to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion about the reported separate system in which errors and disputes are resolved faster and with more attention than with other consumers, who must rely on an automated system and outsourced customer support to clear up mistakes.

“I am deeply troubled by the implication that your companies are neglecting the majority of consumers and providing preferential treatment for wealthy, famous or well-connected persons, and I ask you to confirm or deny these reports and provide more information on your dispute resolution process,” he wrote in the letter.

“An error-free credit report is vital to a consumer’s financial health, and consumers must be able to quickly resolve disputes and mistakes with the cooperation of the credit reporting bureau,” he wrote. “Every consumer deserves this cooperation, not just the rich and powerful.”

But the credit bureaus deny keeping VIP lists.

“We did respond to the senator, and to be as clear as possible, we do not have VIP lists that provides preferential treatment to anyone,” Tim Klein, a spokesman for Equifax, told FoxNews.com.

“We received the letter, and will be providing a response to Sen. Blumenthal,” Gerry Tschopp, a spokesman for Experian, said in an email to FoxNews.com. “As we’ve stated before, Experian does not have a VIP list.”

The New York Times interviewed an Arkansas resident who said she had been denied employment and credit because her filing was mixed up with a felon who had the same name and birthday, and a Louisiana consumer struggled to remove errors from her credit report that stemmed from a mix-up with a less credit-worthy person with the same name, similar address and Social Security number.

The newspaper also interviewed a number of consumer lawyers and advocates who accused the credit bureaus of lacking an incentive to improve the system because their main clients are the creditors, not consumers.

But Klein cited a new study from the Policy and Economic Research Council that showed less than 1 percent of all credit reports reviewed by the consumers prompted a dispute that resulted in a credit score correction and an increase of a credit score of 25 points or greater. It also showed that one half of one percent of all credit reports reviewed by consumers after the dispute process ended had credit scores that moved to a higher “credit risk tier” as a result of the dispute.

“We’re not perfect by any stretch, but we get it right a preponderance of the time,” he said.

Herschel’ s Rant…

Alrighty then!  Seriously?

Something is just not right in Denmark!  These boys continue to tell slanted tales and talk in half truths.

Look, VIP lists have been found in the credit bureaus training manuals a few years back.  Now they may have removed them but have us believe they don’t exist?  Hogwash!  Ex-employees have confirmed the existence of such pointed activity and total disregard for fair play for the average consumer.

Did you know when we process a dispute because it is signed by an attorney, we get a letter back from each credit bureau thanking us for the inquiry?  I challenge you as a consumer to get that kind of treatment.  Why?  Because attorneys are on the VIP list.  Same treatment as an average consumer?  Hardly…

And to say only 1% of disputes result on an increase of credit score?  It truly makes your head spin with the tales they tell.  We know for fact beyond any shadow of doubt that this statement is an absolute distortion on the real truth.  The reason is everyday we hear from members of increases in their credit scores.  Everyday we are told of another member being able to buy the home they wanted because of the rise in credit score from our program.  Tons of testimonials are on the website.  Now this might be a true statistic for the unknowing consumer trying to dispute their own credit…perhaps.  But with a company like ours?  Come on who are they kidding!

The credit bureaus are not our friends by any stretch of the imagination…

But that’s just my opinion!

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/the-credit-bureaus-have-a-vip-list/feed/ 1 Is TU stepping up? https://nationalcreditfederation.com/transunion-stepping-up/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/transunion-stepping-up/#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:06:28 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/blog/?p=365 The last couple of days has been very interesting.   I have been contacted by the guys at TU, and by guys I mean the President and the COO, who seemed to be interested about working with us in a more constructive fashion.  They wanted to discuss how we could work together to streamline the process […]

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]]> The last couple of days has been very interesting.   I have been contacted by the guys at TU, and by guys I mean the President and the COO, who seemed to be interested about working with us in a more constructive fashion.  They wanted to discuss how we could work together to streamline the process and cut costs for both of us.

My first reaction was …WHAT THE>>>  Seriously, it’s not every day one of the big 3 credit reporting agencies calls and wants to work out how we can work together. Needless to say, my interest was sparked but as well my radar was going off all over the place. After the first call I told them I felt like I was a mouse looking out of the hole in the kitchen sniffing at this big old piece of cheese that was just put on the old mouse trap. And that when I reached out for the prize… WHACK…the hammer would fall and I’d lose my head!

I can’t help it, it’s just how I felt. So caution was in the air but…

After a second call and much investigation it appears that they are reaching out to the top credit repair companies in the country. By top, I mean in shear number of disputes being sent in on a monthly basis. That was pretty cool as there is no place to go to discern where we rank in the big scheme of things but if they say we are on the list, then I wasn’t going to argue that point!  As a matter of fact, we were on the list of the top 25 in the entire country for them to reach out to based on the total volume of disputes.

As I let the discussion continue it truly seems as if they have turned a corner, at least I hope they have, in coming full circle. They acknowledged they want credit reports as accurate as possible and who better than to have “approved” vendors like National Credit Federation that know the specific items that are wrong on one of our members credit reports, to be able to help?

As I let that absorb, I advised them I felt if they were sincere in their words that it did indeed seem like a win/win/win situation.  They cut costs, we cut costs and most importantly for our members a streamlined process where we can better control the overall process.   I also advised them that the overall results still would determine the success, to which they agreed.

Wow, who says Christmas only happens once a year!  I’ll keep you updated as things progress but it does look like because of our persistence of battling with the credit bureaus and so many of you sending in your referrals as well as signing up for our credit restoration service the tide is beginning to turn!

Be Bold!

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/transunion-stepping-up/feed/ 3 FICO or FAKE-O credit scores https://nationalcreditfederation.com/fico-or-fake-o-credit-scores/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/fico-or-fake-o-credit-scores/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:31:39 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/blog/?p=333 Experian and Transunion have been playing the game for some time but now Equifax has jumped into the selling of FAKE-O credit scores. They just couldn’t hold off adding this USELESS product to add to their bottom line! Now all three of the credit reporting agencies are in the business of pushing the FAKE credit […]

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]]> Experian and Transunion have been playing the game for some time but now Equifax has jumped into the selling of FAKE-O credit scores. They just couldn’t hold off adding this USELESS product to add to their bottom line!

Now all three of the credit reporting agencies are in the business of pushing the FAKE credit scores to the unknowing consumer who thinks they are buying their FICO scores.

Shame…Shame…Shame is all I can say.

I mean really what is the purpose in selling you a credit score that not one single lender cares about?   There is no mortgage company, auto loan company or even a mattress lender out there that says “OH, YOU HAVE FAKO SCORES? SURE WE”LL BE HAPPY TO LEND YOU MONEY!”

It’s not going to happen!

This product has been created to simply dupe the unknowing consumer out of their hard earned cash! Greed has taken over the last of the big three and now all selling millions of hard working people this dope, errr I mean hope and belief that their credit scores are higher than they really are.

The credit reporting agencies are doing this because they know that probably less than 5% of the population will know the difference between a FAKE-O and a FICO credit score!

The FTC last year came out with this video to try and get the word out that these FAKE-O and useless products.  You can check it out here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krG2d7OK8MM

It’s a cutesy look but the truth of the matter is the Federal Trade Commission just doesn’t have the marketing dollars to get the word out that these fake scores are absolutely useless to you.

How can you protect yourself you ask?

  • Well, if your credit is being pulled by a mortgage broker or other lender then you are most likely safe.
  • If you go on the internet to pull your credit score make sure it says it is a FICO score because any other name or slick sales pitch calling it anything else is a FAKE-O score.
  • Real FICO scores will cost you a few bucks.  Anything giving you free credit scores are FAKE-O for sure!
  • Credit scores will not be included on your free credit reports at www.annualcreditreport.com but can be obtained for a few dollars.
  • The only scores that you should concern yourself with are FICO scores provided by the Fair Issac Corporation and can be obtained from www.myfico.com

If you have a credit report that you’re unsure of or would like some help getting real FICO scores pulled and an overall review of how to improve your credit and scores just CLICK HERE

As in all things in life…Caveat Emptor..Let the buyer beware!

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]]> https://nationalcreditfederation.com/fico-or-fake-o-credit-scores/feed/ 2 Transunion Lawsuit…time to cash in is running out! https://nationalcreditfederation.com/transunion-lawsuit-time-to-cash-in-is-running-out/ https://nationalcreditfederation.com/transunion-lawsuit-time-to-cash-in-is-running-out/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:18:15 +0000 https://newncf.wpenginepowered.com/blog/?p=288 The credit reporting agency, Transunion settled on a class action lawsuit by setting aside 75 million dollars nearly 2 years ago.  Now, this amount is but a drop in the bucket and a baby slap on the wrist for this particular credit bureau but that discussion is for another day! The reason if you’re not […]

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]]> The credit reporting agency, Transunion settled on a class action lawsuit by setting aside 75 million dollars nearly 2 years ago.  Now, this amount is but a drop in the bucket and a baby slap on the wrist for this particular credit bureau but that discussion is for another day!

The reason if you’re not familiar should knock your socks off, make you down right red eyed with blood rising to your head causing those vessels to bulge. Why?  Well during the years of 1987 to 2000 Transunion was caught selling your most private information in some cases year after year making tens and tens of millions in profit off your information.  This action is against the law, a violation of the FCRA, but if you received credit offers in the mail how do you think those marketing companies got the names and addresses of the correct people to market to?

Bottom line is you had a car loan, credit card, line of credit, student loan or for that matter almost any line of credit then you might be able to get in on the action and get some cash!

You’ll need to hurry and make your claim by Sept 6, 2010!  My man Ryan Thompson a partner with Walls, Guerra, and Craft LLP does a great job explaining so LISTEN IN and you’ll find the link to make your claim.

My recommendation…you owe it to yourself as $100 to $1000 per violation is to be paid out but it will take you some time to complete the necessary complaint forms.  Take this opportunity to get some compensation for the “grief” you’ve experienced in how the credit agencies have treated you and your most private information!

Do not let this opportunity slip by…

Herschel

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