How Can I Check to See If My Fraud Alert Is Still Active?

Individuals who have been victimized by identity theft need to protect their credit information. If you have been victimized, you can place two different kinds of fraud alert on your credit reports. You need only contact one credit bureau. That company is required to contact the other two credit bureaus to place fraud alerts on the credit reports they maintain on you.

Instructions

1

Contact the credit bureaus. Call Equifax at 800-525-6285 (equifax.com), Experian at 888-397-3742 (experian.com) and TransUnion at 800-680-7289 (transunion.com). An initial fraud alert is active for 90 days. This alert requires each credit bureau to contact you before a credit history in your name is provided to an identity thief. Request the initial 90-day alert when your wallet or purse have been stolen or lost, or if you have been victimized by a phishing scam.

2

Request an extended fraud alert, which is good for seven years, once you know you have been victimized by identity theft. To change the initial fraud alert to an extended alert, provide the credit bureau with an identity theft report.

3

Include a copy of a police report and proof of your identity at the time you request an extended fraud alert.

4

Keep copies of your police report and identity theft report in your records. If you need to request another extension when the seven-year mark for your extended fraud alert gets near, having this documentation handy will be a help.

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Forms & Processes for Disputing Credit Reports

If your credit report contains errors, dispute them to have them fixed and prevent them from artificially dragging down your credit score. When you find an error, you need to dispute it with each credit bureau that displays the error on its credit report for you. Each credit bureau has a slightly different process for disputes.

Order Credit Report

All three credit bureaus require that you have the file number of your credit report if you would like to file a dispute. To get a free copy of your credit report, order it online through the Annual Credit Report website. If you have already ordered your free report for this year, you can purchase a copy of your report by visiting the credit bureau's website. After you receive your report, read it carefully and note each incorrect or missing item that you would like to dispute.

TransUnion

Dispute errors on your TransUnion credit report online, by phone or by mail. To dispute online, enter the information on the dispute form at the TransUnion website. To dispute by phone, call 800-916-8800. To dispute by mail, download the form from the website, print it, fill it out and mail to the address listed on the form. Regardless of the method, you will need to provide the file number on your TransUnion credit report and your personal identifying information. For each of the inaccurate items, you need to list the company name and account number found on your credit report and your reason for disputing the information.

Experian

If your Experian credit report contains errors, you need to fill out a dispute through the credit bureau's website. In order to submit a dispute, your Experian credit report must have been obtained within the past 90 days. Enter the credit report number along with all of the other requested information in the online form. After you submit your dispute, you can check its status online and will receive an email when the dispute is resolved.

Equifax

Initiate a dispute for your Equifax credit report online, by phone or by mail. Find the phone number for disputing information listed on the bottom of your credit report from Equifax. If you would like to dispute by mail, download and print the form from the Equifax website and fill it out. You will need the confirmation number from your credit report to submit a dispute through any of the three methods.

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How to Repair My Credit Report on My Own

Your credit report contains detailed information about your past borrowing habits and your current debt levels. Lenders can legally deny your applications for new credit because of negative information listed on your credit report. While you cannot undo the past, you can take steps to improve your credit score. It may take months or years for you to see a significant increase in your credit score; but the sooner you start to address your credit issues, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of having a good credit report.

Instructions

1

Order a free copy of your credit report from each of the national credit reporting bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The three firms gather the same kinds of information; but the three reports are not necessarily the same, as some creditors only report to one of the bureaus. You can obtain all three free reports from annualcreditreport.com, the only credit reporting website that the federal government endorses.

2

Review your credit reports and ensure that no inaccuracies are listed, such as debts showing as never having been paid which you have in fact settled. Contact the bureaus with such supporting documentation as receipts or payoff letters, to prove that you have paid off any debts that are incorrectly listed as still active.

3

Contact creditors and service providers to pay off your delinquent or "charged-off" debts. When a firm charges off a debt, it simply lists it as a bad debt, as opposed to an income-generating asset. You must pay off charged-off debts, as well as debts that are still listed as active.

4

Pay down the balances on your credit cards and other types of revolving debt, like home equity lines of credit. High balances on revolving debt have a negative impact on your credit score, so try not to utilize more than 30 percent of your available credit lines.

5

Pay all of your bills on time, including credit related debt, medical bills and service contracts. Medical firms and service providers can report unpaid bills to your credit bureau, so be sure that no late payments appear on your credit report. If you maintain good payment habits, your credit score will begin to rise.

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How Credit Scores Are Done

Having a good credit scores helps a person out when it comes to getting a good rate on a home loan or buying a car with available low financing. Various components of a person's credit history make up the credit score, including any past late payments and whether or not someone applies for new credit cards.

Algorithms

Credit scoring provide a means for lending institutions to judge an individual's ability and likelihood to repay a loan, as well as the additional interest. Complex algorithmic formulas decide a person's credit score. Each of the three credit bureaus uses its own formula to determine a credit score, causing some degree of difference in the scores. In addition, credit bureaus rely upon the VantageScore, a formula devised by all three of the credit bureaus.

Importance

An individual's credit score carries a great deal of impact on many areas, ranging from the amount of interest the individual pays on a mortgage loan to whether or not businesses will lend him money. In some instances, the difference in credit scores results in interest rates that differ by as much as 4 percentage points, with higher credit scores paying a lower interest rate. Before engaging in any kind of financial borrowing, a person should always check out his credit score to get an idea as to how lenders view him.

Composition

Credit bureaus use five different areas to determine credit scores. The largest percentage comes from a person's payment history. Payment history includes the dates of all payments made on various accounts, as well as late payments and any pending debt collections. Payment history accounts for 35% of a credit score. The next largest factor in a credit scores comes from the amount of money owed. The amount of money owed gets weighted against someone's available credit. The more available credit in someone's account, the better the credit score. The amount of money owed accounts for 30% of available credit. Credit history accounts for 15% of a person's credit score. Credit history includes both when the person first opened credit accounts and how often the accounts are used. After that, 10% of the credit score examines the kind of credit accounts someone possesses, such as installment credit and revolving credit. The final 10% of a credit score comes from any attempts to open new accounts or procure more credit. Inquiries for purposes of obtaining more credit also compose this final percentage.

Changing Score

Credit scores constantly change, depending on the activity. When someone pays down credit card debt, for example, this changes the percentage of available credit. Paying down credit card debt raises a person's credit score more quickly than repairing credit history, since the credit history contains delinquencies in the past.

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Can Overdrafting Hurt Your Credit Score?

Account overdraft occurs when you spend more money than is present in your account. Overdrafting has many negative effects on your finances. In addition to extended overdraft fees, overdrafting your checking or savings account could impact your credit score.

Effects

Overdrafting your bank account puts your account into delinquent status. If you do not have the overdraft reversed or pay off the negative balance, your account will be closed, charged off and sent to collections. In addition, many banks will report you to ChexSystems, a company that keeps a database of charged-off accounts.

Considerations

Although overdrafting your account does not directly affect your credit score, if not quickly resolved, it can damage your credit history. If your account was charged off due to overdraft, it will show up on your credit report as a collection account. Collection accounts lower your credit rating significantly, according to MSN.

Time Frame

Banks will typically send you an overdraft notice within seven days of your account going into the negative. Typically, if you do not bring your account to a positive balance, your bank will close the account 30 days after the overdraft.

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How to Increase Your Credit Score By As Many As 40 Points

While the Fair Isaac Corporation, or FICO, will not reveal exactly how it calculates credit scores, particular factors in your credit history contribute to your score. Taking certain actions can raise your score 40 points or more and help qualify you for prime interest rates. The actual number of points your credit score will rise with each strategy varies. Some approaches may give your score an immediate boost, whereas others will raise your score by 40 points over time.

Instructions

1

Work on repairing your credit. Order a free copy of your credit reports (see Resources) and then scrutinize each report line by line. Find out why you have a low credit score. Check for misspellings and any information that is incorrect or outdated. By law, a credit bureau must remove negative items listed on your credit report after seven years. Look for any unexplained items or accounts you don't recognize. Since not reporting errors can hurt your credit score, dispute any errors you find in writing so that you can have them removed. This will help raise your score and get you closer to that 40 point increase.

2

Raise your credit score quickly through rapid rescoring. You can gain up to 40 points by requesting a rescore after having negative items removed from your credit report. Consider rapid rescoring after paying down a huge balance.

3

Manage your credit sensibly. Give your credit score an even higher boost by paying your bills on time and limiting the amount of debt you incur. The positive actions you take today to improve your credit can have a greater impact on your credit score than the negative items noted on your credit report in the past. Increase your credit score by at least 40 points over a four- to six-month period by charging small purchases and then paying the entire balance each month. The points may tally up faster if you make it a habit to pay the bills early.

4

Pay more than the minimum payments each month on credit card accounts. If you don't, you could be paying only on interest. In that case, the principal balance will actually increase instead of you paying it down. Making credit card payments on time for six straight months can help give your credit score as much as a 40-point hike. Pay as much extra as you can afford. Those 40 points could make a difference when it comes to getting a low interest rate mortgage loan approved.

5

Decrease the amount of debt you owe. Craig Watts, public relations manager at Fair Isaac, warns that having high credit card or other revolving credit balances will hurt your credit score. It's not an absolute guarantee, but if other factors on your credit report look good, your credit score can potentially increase between 20 and 40 points each time you pay down a high balance credit card.

6

Apply for a secured credit card from a major bank. Try this strategy if you have no credit history or a bad credit history. Paying the balance in full when the bill comes due could raise your score by as many as 40 points each month.

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Are Medical Bills Allowed to Be Reported on Your Credit Report?

At any given time, 77 million Americans have problems trying to pay back medical debt, despite most of them owning a health insurance plan, according to New York City-based nonprofit The Commonwealth Fund. Medical bills can tax a person's finances and wreck his credit score. Paying your medical debt as scheduled, however, won't win you any points.

Identification

As of 2010, the major credit reporting agencies cannot report medical history on a consumer's credit report, because of privacy concerns. The only time a creditor or credit reporting company can list medical bills on a report is when they go unpaid. Hospitals can send any unpaid medical bill to a debt collector, which then goes on a report as an outstanding debt.

Effects

When an unpaid medical bill goes to collections, it stays on a report for seven years unless the consumer can prove that the account is listed in error. Lenders consider collections accounts a very serious offense and having one damages a score by about 100 points. The actual damage caused by a collections account increases when a person has good or better credit.

Prevention

TransUnion, one of the major credit rating companies, suggests a reserve of funds to get you through a few months on unemployment or when insurance does not completely cover a bill. Alternatively, consider a high-limit credit card only to be used for medical emergencies. Put money into a "flexible spending account" if your employer offers it; this allows you to pay for medical bills with pre-tax dollars. If the insurance company slows payment on a bill, you might want to pay it off and then deal with the insurer.

Tip

Consumers can add an explanation for a collections account on their credit report. Although an addendum does not affect a credit score, lenders and employers often consider the explanation when reviewing an application. Lenders often ignore unpaid medical debt in collections, because it is so common. Paying a medical bill won't remove it from a report, but it does look better than leaving it open.

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