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How to Build a Credit Rating, Part 1
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To improve your credit standing, you must first know how the credit reporting system works. The Big Three credit-reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These are the giants of the credit-reporting world, although there are actually hundreds of credit bureaus out there.
The old, conventional wisdom was that a big part of improving your credit was amassing new debt (i.e., getting a credit card, mortgage, or auto loan)and then paying those bills on time. Nowadays, we recognize that there are a number of other strategies you can utilize to bolster your credit record, without having to go into debt to do so.
Make Sure Your Credit Report Is Accurate
Begin by getting your credit report from one of the credit-reporting agencies. Even better, you can get both your credit report and FICO credit score from Fair Isaac, creator of the FICO credit scores that are used by most lenders in this country.
The amount of data that they collect on the average consumer is mind-boggling: everything about any student loans you've ever had, information about where you've been employed, listings about your current or previous addresses, data about mortgages, credit cards, or auto loans you've taken out, and so on. Now what do you think would happen if one of these Big Three agencies had some erroneous information about you? Needless to say, it could create a nightmare for you. Not only a paperwork nightmare, not only a financial nightmare, but often times, consumers have to put in a lot of work and time to fix some errors in their credits report.
Unfortunately, mistakes of all kinds occur in credit reports all too often. The Consumer Federation of America and a number of other consumer groups estimate that 70% of all credit reports have mistakes in them. If you find that your credit report contains errors, it definitely behooves you to fix those mistakes as soon as possible. This is one way in which you improve your credit rating without taking on new debt.
Examine the report for errors. Let's say you find that there is an error in one or more of them. It may be something like an account listed that is not yours, or a debt that shows up belonging to John James Sr., and you are John James Jr., or maybe your name is spelled wrong, your address is not listed, or your employer is omitted. All of these errors or omissions are very important when it comes to your credit file.
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Article Title : How to Build a Credit Rating, Part 1 |
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