Did you know that a low credit score could be costing you hundreds and even thousands of dollars per year, and perhaps even more?What's more, were you aware that there is something you can do about that? Now that I have your attention, let's find out what I am talking about.
There are three major credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Each of them keeps a separate credit history on you, which includes accounts you currently have, and also tracks accounts that you have had in the past, up to 7 years ago, and what your payment history was with each creditor.
One of the big problems here is that these three credit report agencies do not share information between them.
They each keep their own set of books, which means that the credit score that they calculate for you is going to be different from each one.
That is because some creditors only report your credit history to one of them.
Very few places, except perhaps for a big ticket item such as your mortgage loan, report your credit history to all three of them.
Now one of the big problems that accompany that, which most consumers are not aware of, is that the majority of the credit reports from these credit agencies have ERRORS on them.
That's right - even though your credit score is likely to be different from each one, the sad fact remains that each of those reports very likely contains at least one or more errors, which really means that the credit score that they report is totally worthless! But even so, it is the best number that can be obtained for a consumer, so the credit score given by the credit bureaus is the one that new lenders or potential lenders will go with, simply because there is not a better alternative.
So you are thinking this is a big problem?You are right.
Don't those errors get corrected automatically at some point?No they do not.
The viewpoint of the credit bureaus is that they only report the news, they do not make the news, so if one of your creditors reports something inaccurately, that is the way the credit bureau will report it, forever.
Except for the informed consumer, it is not reported inaccurately forever.
The informed consumer realizes that his credit report very likely contains errors, and he will get a copy of his credit report at least once a year (perhaps more often), getting a separate copy of it from each of the three credit bureaus, then he will go over it with a fine tooth comb to weed out the inaccuracies.
When he finds inaccurate or purely bogus information on his credit report, he will dispute that information with the credit bureau that reported it that way.
The credit bureau then has 30 days to either verify the information as being accurate, or to correct it or remove it.
The problem is that the vast majority of consumers don't realize they have this right (or more accurately, DUTY) and therefore do not even know what data is contained in their credit report, nor how to correct the bogus information being reported about them.
Back to the title of this article, how does this end up costing you money?Because when you apply for a new loan or refinance your car or refinance your mortgage, your credit history is obtained from the credit bureaus and the terms and interest rate of your new loan is a direct reflection of that credit score.
So if your credit score was 500 (where if you got the errors fixed and got the erroneous information correct, it would actually be 650), you are given an interest rate that is higher (sometimes MUCH higher) than you would have gotten with a TRUE picture of your credit history.
The bottom line is to get your credit report fixed now.
Find the errors that are almost certainly reflected there and you may be surprised to find out the great rates you can get with a true picture of your credit score.
There are three major credit bureaus, which are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
Each of them keeps a separate credit history on you, which includes accounts you currently have, and also tracks accounts that you have had in the past, up to 7 years ago, and what your payment history was with each creditor.
One of the big problems here is that these three credit report agencies do not share information between them.
They each keep their own set of books, which means that the credit score that they calculate for you is going to be different from each one.
That is because some creditors only report your credit history to one of them.
Very few places, except perhaps for a big ticket item such as your mortgage loan, report your credit history to all three of them.
Now one of the big problems that accompany that, which most consumers are not aware of, is that the majority of the credit reports from these credit agencies have ERRORS on them.
That's right - even though your credit score is likely to be different from each one, the sad fact remains that each of those reports very likely contains at least one or more errors, which really means that the credit score that they report is totally worthless! But even so, it is the best number that can be obtained for a consumer, so the credit score given by the credit bureaus is the one that new lenders or potential lenders will go with, simply because there is not a better alternative.
So you are thinking this is a big problem?You are right.
Don't those errors get corrected automatically at some point?No they do not.
The viewpoint of the credit bureaus is that they only report the news, they do not make the news, so if one of your creditors reports something inaccurately, that is the way the credit bureau will report it, forever.
Except for the informed consumer, it is not reported inaccurately forever.
The informed consumer realizes that his credit report very likely contains errors, and he will get a copy of his credit report at least once a year (perhaps more often), getting a separate copy of it from each of the three credit bureaus, then he will go over it with a fine tooth comb to weed out the inaccuracies.
When he finds inaccurate or purely bogus information on his credit report, he will dispute that information with the credit bureau that reported it that way.
The credit bureau then has 30 days to either verify the information as being accurate, or to correct it or remove it.
The problem is that the vast majority of consumers don't realize they have this right (or more accurately, DUTY) and therefore do not even know what data is contained in their credit report, nor how to correct the bogus information being reported about them.
Back to the title of this article, how does this end up costing you money?Because when you apply for a new loan or refinance your car or refinance your mortgage, your credit history is obtained from the credit bureaus and the terms and interest rate of your new loan is a direct reflection of that credit score.
So if your credit score was 500 (where if you got the errors fixed and got the erroneous information correct, it would actually be 650), you are given an interest rate that is higher (sometimes MUCH higher) than you would have gotten with a TRUE picture of your credit history.
The bottom line is to get your credit report fixed now.
Find the errors that are almost certainly reflected there and you may be surprised to find out the great rates you can get with a true picture of your credit score.
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