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Managing Your Credit
 

While various topics are discussed in this credit management section of ShortOnChange.com, each individual should make the appropriate decisions for their own credit management tactics as each individual's situation is different.

   
       Are you looking to fix your credit report? Is your credit history considered poor or even bad or nonexistent? There are ways to fix it or repair it. In this section, we will discuss those options.

          When making a major purchase such as a home or car or furniture or appliances - anything that you cannot pay for in cash, you are probably going to need a credit history in order for the person or company selling you the item to verify that you are likely to pay back the purchase amount in payments over time. There are three major credit reporting agencies in the United States: Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Pretty much every credit report requested in the U.S. is handled by one or more of these three companies. They need to be your best friend if you want good credit. How do you make them your best friend? That is a very good question. Let's look at what these three companies admire most.

          To be best friends with the major credit reporting agencies, you need to 1.) Have a credit history; 2.) Have paid your bills on time; and 3.) Have low outstanding balances on any available credit accounts. Now, those might seem easy or daunting, depending on your current situation. Either way, these things are attainable.

          A good place to start is by getting a copy of your current credit report. There are a couple of ways for doing this. Probably the best way is to request a free copy. Yes, you can get a free copy of your credit report. AnnualCreditReport.com offers you your free credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies; and they do this once every twelve months. There is another free way to receive a copy of your credit report as well. If you apply for credit and are denied for any credit report related reason, you may request a copy of that credit report. Credit report copies may also be purchased from the three major credit reporting agencies for nominal fees. Getting a copy of your credit report is very important as you need to know what is on your credit report in order to know what you need to fix.

          Many of us will be focusing on cleaning up bad credit reports. That can be a daunting task especially given that credit scores are adjusted down far more quickly than they are adjusted up. Plus, there are a virtually infinite number of things which could adversely effect your credit report. Late payments reflect poorly; high balances on credit accounts look bad; bankruptcy and foreclosures might top the list of things not to have on your credit reports (although this may be unavoidable in some situations). Also, your credit report will have anything on which your name and social security number are attached including any accounts on which you are co-signor or where you have joint accounts. Sadly enough, you also have to watch for people using your name and social security number to fraudulently open credit accounts.
 
          Another possibility to consider is that there might be incorrect information reported on your credit report. It might be information that belongs to someone else that was mistakenly included on your report; it might be accounts that have been paid but still show incorrectly as outstanding; it might be fraudulent activity by someone else against your account; or it might be a variety of other problems.

          Now, consider on which area you need to focus and follow these links for more details:

         I need to start a credit history.
         I need to repair my credit history.
         I need to dispute incorrect credit data.
         What other resources are out there for managing credit reports?
 


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