Credit Check

Checking your credit reports with all three bureaus is free and is simply a smart thing to do.   It is estimated that less than half of all consumers bother to take this most basic step in financial security.   This can be a serious mistake.    Accuracy errors in credit reports are astoundingly high.

Agencies and non-profit organizations which have looked into the matter, have found that somewhere between 30% and 90% of all credit reports have inaccuracies.   These numbers are too large to simply ignore.        

Credit Databases

Credit information is gathered from databases and a variety of sources.   This is often the cause of problems, as people with the same, or even similar names may often get filed inaccurately.  Simple data entry errors can create surprising and severe problems which may affect such important things as getting a house, a loan in time of need, car insurance or even a job.    Credit bureaus have infiltrated society deeply and operate to a large degree without scrutiny.   This is one of the unfortunate effects of living in an information rich society, there are no real controls on the quality and accuracy of that information and privacy safeguards are substantially limited.

Error Rates on Credit Reports

Alright, so your smart enough to know that a lot of your data is floating around out there.  Every time you pay a bill, even a utility bill, your information passes through a lot of hands.  Hands, which you don’t see.   If you have a common name, have previous marriages, or simply moved around a lot you may be at risk.   You may be shocked to learn that it is reported that the Attorney General’s office of New York puts the inaccuracy rate in credit reports at a stunning 40 percent.   That puts your risk at four in ten, not such good odds.  You may have dodged the credit bullet, but you could as easily have things on your report that are causing you problems in your financial life.   So the next question is, obviously, what to do about it.

Get A Credit Report

Credit reports are easy to obtain, you’ve seen ads everywhere.   You don’t need to pay anything, although it is pretty likely that they will try to upsell you with annual credit reporting services and credit monitoring services.    Decide on that later, first thing is to get the report.   You can contact each of the three bureaus separately or do it the fast way and go to a central clearing house designed to handle this from a single place on the web.   Writing a letter is also an option, but it is better to do things when you are thinking about them.  For your convenience, the web addresses and telephone numbers of the various agencies have been provided.

Credit Bureaus Contact Information

Equifax
800-685-1111
equifax.com

Experian
888-397-3742
experian.com

Trans Union
800-916-8800
transunion.com

What is on a credit report

Your credit report will have a surprising amount of information about you.   Even if the information is completely accurate you may be surprised at what you find there.  It is also possible that you may find information about bills that you were completely unaware of, having the list will make the process of getting those paid and removed from your report much easier.

Credit Errors

It is also a possibility that some big red flags will jump up.   If you find that your report is trashed through no doing of your own, then it is a good idea to resolve the problem before it gets worse.  Check out the information on our site to learn how to deal with these situations, how to identify potential problems and learn how to expedite the process of removing incorrect information from your report.    Technically the Credit Bureau is required to verify information which has been challenged, and remove errors.   In practice this may be easy or quite challenging due to the bureaucratic nature of the credit bureaus.     There are ways to get it done cheaply, and quickly, without resorting to legal action, this will be covered in another report.

First things first.  Secure your data, find out if you are being held hostage by some faceless credit company that probably doesn’t know or care who you are.   If nothing else, you will at least have the satisfaction of knowing where you stand.  

Credit Loans

You will also have the valuable information of knowing which credit bureaus score you the highest.  Even with a marginal score, this can make the difference in such routine tasks as getting an apartment or other interactions with small businesses that check only one credit agency.    By knowing which credit service they use, you have a better chance of negotiating favorable terms on deposits, rates, insurance and other credit related factors in your life.