Mortgage Information

From the house you live in to the car that you drive, credit affects almost every facet of your life. The importance of credit increases every day as even insurance companies and potential employers look at your credit to make decisions. Don't let poor credit keep you from your dreams - taking measures to increase your credit score today may help;

• Purchase the home of you dreams.
• Save money for emergencies.
• Buy a car that fits your style.
• Save thousands with lower interest rates.

Credit bureaus collect and compile information about consumer creditworthiness from banks and other creditors and from public record sources such as lawsuits, bankruptcy filings, tax liens and legal judgments. The three major credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union - maintain files on nearly 90% of all American adults. These files are routinely sold to credit grantors, landlords, employers, insurance companies, and many others interested in the credit record of a consumer, often without the consumer's knowledge or permission.

The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) recently completed a study that found 79% of the credit report sampled contained errors of some kind. Some of the key findings in the study conducted by PIRG include:

• Fifty-four percent of the credit reports sampled contained personal information that was misspelled, outdated or belonged to a stranger. One report, for example, listed a consumer's birth date as 1952, when she was actually born in 1975.
• Thirty percent of those reports contained credit accounts that had been closed by the consumer but were still listed as open. Incorrectly listing closed accounts as open gives creditors the impression a consumer's credit is over-extended.
• Twenty-two percent of the reports had the same mortgage or loan listed twice. Again, this gives creditors the impression a person has over-extended his credit, or is delinquent on one loan.

Errors in your credit report can lead to credit denials, increased credit cost, the ability to get insurance and even the ability to get a job. Increasingly, lenders are using risk-based pricing to make loan decisions in both he prime and subprime markets. Even the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) had gone to risk based model after decades of treating everyone the same. In risk-based pricing, a consumer's credit risk determines how much credit he or she will receive, and the terms and features of the loan. Credit scores are a significant factor in risk-based pricing since they are a key predictor of credit risk.

As many people have discovered, it can be difficult and time consuming to get errors corrected on their credit reports. There are many sources of information on how to improve your credit score and dispute incorrect items that appear on your credit report. Your can check the web or your local book store for help.

Another method to correct errors on your credit report is to use a company that specializes in credit repair assistance. Credit repair companies have the experience to guide you through the process and handle the time consuming details. If you would like a free consultation with a credit repair company I will be happy to get you in touch with a reputable company.