Having a healthy credit score is close to being a necessary consumer asset today. If you don’t have a healthy credit score that fact can affect your ability to get a mortgage, rent an apartment and even get a job.

Lending institutions, employers and landlords are just some of the people and organizations that can request access to your credit score and will use that information in making their decisions about you. (more…)

The credit card statement may not be a welcome piece of mail in most homes, but if it is not checked correctly or thoroughly credit card holders could be incurring more costs than they realize.

At first glance the credit card statement can be confusing, but once you know what to look for you can save yourself money and even protect yourself against fraud.

First you’ll want to ensure that you look over the “purchases or new charges” section to review what you purchased over the previous period. Ideally you should keep your charge receipts for all purchases so that when you receive your statement you can check those charge slips against the charges listed on your statement. (more…)

So you’re checking your credit score; that’s great. It’s the best way to prevent identity fraud and to make sure the report that potential creditors are seeing represents you correctly. It’s also a great way to get a hold of your finances if you’ve been operating in the dark up until now. But what do you do if you find errors?

The first step is to contact the credit reporting agency. There are two main agencies:

Equifax
Experian

Send them in writing a letter that outlines what is incorrect, any information you have on the error and the account, and a copy of your credit report. You must also ask them to make the corrections. Send your letter by recorded delivery, “return receipt requested.” This enables you to track the letter and document any communications. Keep copies of everything related to this process. (more…)