Credit Report Checkup

As a prospective homebuyer, your financing quest will be much more successful and less time consuming when you have an exceptional credit rating. Also, you'll be more likely to receive that encouraging smile, rather than the serious, all business look from money lenders. Why? Because exceptional credit demonstrates that you have been responsible with your debts and, of course, lenders only want trustworthy customers who pay at least the minimum and pay on time.

If you were to put yourself in the shoes of a lender, would you continue lending money to deadbeat friends or others who rarely or never pay you back? Since you are reading this and are probably more like the rest of us, who are borrowers, let's hope you have been pretty good and responsible. If not, you can turn over a new leaf and start repairing the damage by getting a credit report.

   Getting Credit Reports

If you have been good, an exceptional credit rating will help you qualify for a loan or mortgage much easier. Of course, any credit rating blemishes should be repaired as soon as possible. How do you find out your credit rating? You can obtain a report for under $10 or, even, for free with some services.

You are eligible for a free report if you have been rejected for credit due to damaging data in your credit profile. Once you determine the bureau that supplied the credit report, the bureau will provide you with a free report within 60 days of the rejection date. Other qualifications for a free report are listed as follows:

• you are unemployed and plan to seek employment within 60 days
• you are on welfare
• your report is inaccurate due to fraud

If you live in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey or Vermont, you are eligible for a free copy of your credit report ordered by phone or mail. Call 800-888-4213 for your free credit report from Trans Union LLC.

  Credit Report Information

If you have or have had credit cards, an automobile, or a home, then chances you will have a pretty lengthy credit report. This information may be as scary or even scarier than what Uncle Sam knows about you. Don't fret! If you've been good, then you should have no worries, because your credit report will contain information about your identification, credit and lending, public records, and inquiries. If you are verifying the report, make sure your standard personal information is correct.

However, if you have been bad, then you'll have some work to do to correct your blemishes. The most important information will be the credit blemishes, if any, with banks or lenders, retailers, and credit card companies. Next will be the public court records which include bankruptcies, liens, and monetary judgments. Finally there will probably by the inquiries or applications for loans or credit. These listed inquiries may bring about questions of credit overextension.

  Credit Reporting Services

Some of the most prominent online credit rating companies that propertySites has examined are listed as follows:

• TrueCredit
• QSpace
• ConsumerInfo.Com
• Monitrust.com
• Equifax

  Types of Credit Information

To fully understand your credit rating, you should be familiar with the following reporting information.

• A Single Credit Report is a report compiled by one of the industry leading credit bureaus such as Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. The report is a compilation of your credit history according to the reporting bureau. This report can be obtained online or via regular mail.
• A Comprehensive Credit Report or 3-in-1 is a report with combined data compiled by the three national credit bureaus Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. This report is useful for comparing credit information easily, because information collected by the bureaus may vary. This report, depending on the service to which you have subscribed, can be obtained online or via regular mail within 24 hours by most of the credit bureaus.
• Your Credit Score or index is your creditworthiness interim report card, which must be a good grade when approaching lenders. The score, which is compiled by the leading credit bureaus listed above, tells lenders how responsible you have been with your bills and ranges from from "Very Poor" to "Very Good". Most importantly, the score explains why your credit rating is in its current state and the actions you might have to take to improve your rating. Just like you had iterm reports in grade school telling you to "shape up", your credit score, if low, must be a passing grade when seeking money from lenders.
• Credit Monitoring provides you with a "virtual watchdog" for your creditworthiness. Depending on the service you have subscribed to, email, regular mail, or scheduled checkups can alert you of suspicous activity to prevent fraud and damage to your credit.

  Repairing the Damage

Many of us may not be so fortunate due to careless recording keeping, tough financial times, or inadvertant errors unknow to us. Whatever the issue, you have to be proactive in understanding the damage, if there are any, the severity of damage, and of course how to fix it.

Obviously, you must examine your credit report with the utmost scrutiny. This is very important. Remember, your credit rating is more or less a personal report card and, if completely accurate, it reflects on your ability to be responible and trustworthy on to others.

You must do all you can to repair your credit. You will have to really tighten your belt and pay off any balance you can. This will allow your creditors to update your file. If you cannot make any payments, you will have to wait seven years for any negative information and 10 years for any bankruptcies to be removed from your credit report. If you've had any unfortunate incident such as unemployment or sickness, then submit a brief explanation to the bureaus. This may help if any compassionate creditors exist. And you thought getting points on your drivers license was bad! Refer to credit repair specialists such as National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), Idebthelp Debt Consolidation Services and Consumer Credit Repair for more assitance.

Unfortunately information, that is correct, cannot be removed. You should refer to the Federal Trade Commission's site at www.ftc.gov for more information regarding credit information.

Once the credit rating is repaired, loan pre-approval should be a much easier and less work required.Of course, any bad credit rating blemishes should be repaired as soon as possible. Once the credit rating is repaired, loan pre-approval should be a much easier and less involved step.