credit history
The Basics—5 steps to credit repair - MSN Money
"Tens of thousands of Americans have damaged their credit ratings. They’ve misused or abused their credit cards or prolonged periods of illness or unemployment have engulfed them in financial distress. Whatever the reason, they suffer from bad credit, and must find a way to repair it to return to a normal life."
I know that my credit rating isn’t so hot, or at least it wasn’t about 2 years ago when I checked. I’m pretty curious as to what happened when we got married to my credit history. Do I still search under my SS#, or is everything evaluated under E’s? How hard will it be to get financing buy a house when the time comes? Have the recent bills that I paid late affected me at all? These questions are ones I don’t know about and would like to know. So maybe I’ll get myself a credit report when I find a place that’s got a not bad deal - anybody know of one?
Comments
The three main companies that keep credit reports are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can get reports from these companies directly (order them online... 2 out of the three will give you online reports).
Many states have caps on the amounts these companies can charge you for reports. I recently got mine as we’re starting to look for a house (this is the first step in getting a mortgage) and each of the three reports ranged between $5 and $8, I believe. But that’s in Connecticut.
Good luck!
Posted by: Dara | October 26, 2001 01:40 PM
P.S. You still search under your own Social Security Number! You will have to get separate reports for each of you.
Posted by: Dara | October 26, 2001 01:42 PM
Another little known U.S. law... If you’re ever denied credit for any reason (credit card application, rental application, etc.) you can request a free credit report with the case number to see why you were denied. They can’t charge if the request is based on a denial.
Posted by: Robyn | October 26, 2001 02:52 PM
I pull credit reports all the time at work.... you can either get a joint report, or you can pull yours and his separately....
You can go to your local credit bureau and request one, and it will probably run you about $8-$10... Or you can order one from expedia, trans union, or equifax.... and sometimes each one of these places keep different records, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a report from all three to compare...
And as someone stated, if you’ve been denied credit within the last 30 days, you can get a free credit report by showing the denial letter to your local credit bureau.
We use equifax at work, and I have a couple of pages of info from equifax on how to read and make sense of your credit report, it tells you what all the little codes and abbreviations mean.... I can send a copy of it to you, if you want! Just let me know!
Posted by: Shauna | October 27, 2001 06:27 AM