Hello Everybody. As you know, in addition to voiceovers, I also have a job in real estate. I thought Id try something here. I normally only post this on my other page, but if you all find it valuable, let me know and I will post the other pieces Ive written. I just think when it comes to improving credit, the information should be shared with EVERYONE. Anyway, feedback is key, so let me know if you like this. :) (The below is a reposting from back in September.) Steve’s Credit Corner – Credit Reports Welcome to Steve’s Credit Corner. I intend this to be a weekly post on Fridays. I’d like to start sharing information I have received through Nabil Captan, to keep you, the consumer, informed about how you can help your credit. When you graduate from high school or college, your credit is the “report card” of life that you will be scored on. What I’ve noticed in today’s real estate market is that, right now, there actually ARE a lot of houses up for sale. What we don’t have, are qualified buyers. The things I plan to share with you in Credit Corner, will make you qualified buyers, if you aren’t already. Those of you who already own, will still find this information useful, because better credit means saving money, and who doesn’t want to save money?? Now for this week’s thought: If you are paying a 3rd party company to monitor your credit (ie Visa, MC, Discover, American Express) and pay a monthly fee for that service, you are paying TOO MUCH! Did you know that you can still get your credit file free every four months? You really only need to check it once every four months anyway to be on top of your credit, and if you receive a notification from a company about identity theft, then you can take action at that time. But for purposes of this post, all you need is annualcreditreport. When you go to the site, scroll down to the bottom, and click on the “Request your free credit reports” button. Scroll down the next page and click the same button. You will then be taken to a page requesting you to fill out personal information. Don’t worry! You’re now on a secure server. Fill it out, including the captcha security box, and press the “Next” button. You will then be taken to the page to select which bureau you would like a report from first. Make sure you read the box to the right. It’s very helpful in ascertaining whether you should request all or 1 bureau. Requesting this report will NOT affect your score, because it is directly from the bureau, and not a third party company. You will also need to notate your calendar and pace out 4 months to select your next bureau. Do NOT click on any button for each bureau that would require you to pay money for anything, no matter how tempting it may be!!! On the next page, verify the last four digits of your social, then press “Click to continue”. You will then be asked to verify information that the bureau has obtained. If any of this info is wrong, you won’t get your report online! This is done for your protection. You will have to fill out a form and mail it in. The bureaus are in this business NOT to monitor your credit, but to make money! If you sign up for extra things bureaus may offer, all it really does is set you up to be put on a list to be sold to 3rd party companies LIKE Visa to get your business. These reports do not offer credit scores. That will be discussed in next week’s post. Please PM me with any questions you may have, or email me at [email protected].
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 00:10:01 +0000