Get Your Free Credit Report from FTC

A credit report has effectively become the “report-card” for grown-ups like you and me, telling creditors of our performance in the subject called ‘Credit’. As a serious individual, we cannot deny that our credit reports are our responsibility. Whatever goes into the credit report may not be significant to all of us but to the person looking for a new line of credit or a new job - the credit report becomes the single most important document in his life. Your credit report can also become your own weapon in fighting off identity theft . Now here is a piece of really good news…

FTC for Free Credit Report

Realizing importance of the credit report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has built a new website where US residents (see below, whether your state is covered or not) can get their free copies of their credit reports. These credit reports are developed by the three major credit bureaus namely Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. The FTC website is an extended effort on the part of FTC in a move to bolster the system for the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act enacted a few months ago. The unnecessary hoopla over credit report and the presence of a large number of scamsters in the credit report supply system, had forced FTC to make the system more transparent. The website ensures quick delivery and above all accurate credit reports. To avail this offer, the credit reports must be ordered from the FTC site to get them for free.

Note: If you happen to order your credit report from one of the Credit Report Agencies or their official websites, you’ll be required to pay a fee for the report. It will not be free any more.

Why FTC Credit Report

There are a large number of websites on the internet which also offer free credit reports but the catch is the proof of owning a credit card so that you can be put down as a free trial membership. The reports are of course free but for a limited period of time and after that you will have to cancel the trial offer, or else you will be billed. Forgetfulness can prove to be a costly affair.

Note: The new FTC site has no gimmicks and on top of that you don’t require a credit card to get your free credit report. How’s that!

Plan your Free Credit Report

Instead of going for credit reports from all three credit bureaus at one go, time the three credit reports so that you receive one by one at a gap of 4 months. This will allow you to check your credit report for errors and ensure a good cushion of time so that mistakes can be corrected. Once you’ve received your credit reports, go through them in detail. By ensuring that all the information contained in the reports is accurate, you will automatically ensure fair rates from your creditors if you manage the standard requirements.

Note:

• The free credit reports are available to US residents in the following states ONLY. Residents living in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming can obtain free credit reports from the FTC website.
• Residents of the Midwest can obtain their free credit reports from March, those eligible from South can avail the offer from June and residents in the East have to wait till September. This system has been done to avoid rush and make the delivery smooth.

Credit Card Balance Transfers - Need To Know

Remember as teenagers we used to transfer whatever we owed to a large number of friends to a single individual, usually our best friend. I don’t know about you but at that time my best friend was the most important person on planet to me. Credit card balance transfer also involves using a single credit card to pay off the outstanding amount on one or more credit cards. What this means to you is the total debt (total amount you owe) moves to one single card. Interesting isn’t it? With many creditors or credit cards, the problem seems bigger than it is. A single account is much simpler. Learn how…

Credit card balance transfer offers

The most important benefit of balance transfer is that it saves your money. An increasing number of companies are offering 0% interest rate for a fixed period only on balance transfers made by new customers. This is something you can definitely use as this allows new cardholders to make sizeable savings in interest repayments. Remember that interest free periods will vary from one company to another. Some credit card companies offer lower than average interest rates on the transferred balances for the whole period of the balance transfer. Paying back credit is not easy and this is obviously good news for credit card users who are not planning to pay back credit card debt immediately.

How does the thing happen

Transferring credit card balances is not rocket science. It is usually a simple process which begins after a new credit card application has been approved. You can call your new card issuer to transfer the balance from the other cards. Nowadays, many credit card companies offer an online service which makes balance transfer possible on the Internet. Interestingly transferring the whole balance to a single account may not have a big impact on your Debt to Income ratio . But the extra time after the new card approval is the thing to look out for. Please do not confuse balance transfer with minimum monthly payments. The accounts requiring a minimum monthly payment have to be still paid. If you fail to pay any minimum payments, fines will be levied and or interest free offers may be pulled back. Cross the credit limits and a similar fate awaits you. Caution is the keyword here.

Watch out for offers that…

• Ask for any additional fees to be paid when balances are transferred from your account(s)
• Ask you to make a minimum monthly payment by using the new credit card to avail the promotional balance transfer rate
• Have no specified time limit to make a balance transfer after approval of new card
• Have no mentioned interest rates on new purchases made using the new credit card
• Do not reveal the interest rate after the initial promotional period has finished

Before taking up a balance transfer card offer, take off some time to decide on the amount you want to move or need to move. This will help on how much you intend to pay off and within what time. Let these be the only factors that influence your new credit card balance transfer decision. Good luck!

Second Credit File - Start Now

Before Federal Trade Commission notices the article, let us give you a secret about your 2nd Credit File. Yes you read right…SECOND credit file. This is not illegal but a loop in the credit market, which you can use to your benefit. As they say, winds and waves are for the ablest navigators - but in the consumer credit market, the idea is a bit different. A clean credit file makes you a credit-worthy person in everyone’s eyes. Here’s how…

Importance of a Credit File

Your personal credit file is long and hard look at your credit transactions and different forms of personal information. Say, if your name and your best friend’s name is Smith Jones, both of your credit files are separated from each other depending on a range of factors. Your names might be similar but driver’s license numbers, birth dates and/or spouse’s names are different. But the foremost identifying number on your credit file that separates you from the rest is your Social Security Number. With a credit file, any creditor with sufficient permission can validate your identity, review employment details, check credit history and verify public records. So you see your credit file is very important, at least to your future creditors. Read the rest of this entry »