MSN Money - Free credit reports spread to the South
Here's a great article from MSN that explains a little bit more about the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, beyond just getting your free annual reports.MSN Money - Free credit reports spread to the South
Millions have already taken advantage of easy access to their reports. Be sure to use the official site, though, because criminals and unscrupulous companies are preying on the unwary.
If you're in the South, June 1 is your lucky day -- that's when you can join residents of the West and Midwest in getting easy, free access to your credit report.
Millions of Americans have already requested this critical synopsis of their financial history, which formerly cost as much as $9 a peek. But beware: This much activity attracts the attention of the Internet's thugs as well. Fake Web sites and spam have mushroomed, trying to trick the unwary into paying for something they can get for free.
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law in December 2003, gives every American the right to a free credit report every year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) are eligible June 1. Residents of Western states have had access since Dec. 1, 2004, and Midwestern states joined the list March 1. Eastern states complete the rollout on Sept. 1.
A credit report has information about where you live, how you pay your bills and even whether you've been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy. This information is sold to insurers, creditors, employers and other businesses. With it, they evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, a job or renting a home. Find a loan that's
right for you at the
Loan Center
Credit reports are also used by the credit bureaus to create your credit score, the three-digit number lenders typically use to gauge your creditworthiness. While reports are free, you still need to pay one of the three bureaus to see your current score.
Steve Casteel, of Madison, Miss., recently applied for a loan with his wife, Cindy, to build a house. The bank charged the couple $60 for a credit report -- whereupon the Casteels rudely discovered that one credit report mistakenly listed an old medical bill as unpaid. It wasn't a deal-breaker on eventually getting the loan -- the snafu was "an insurance issue rather than a delinquent payment," says Casteel, a minister -- but the whole experience pointed out to him how useful a periodic look at his report would be.
"We're certainly going to take advantage of that," Casteel says.
But wait, there's more
There's a lot more to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act than free credit reports. Here's a quick summary:
Uniform standards on what goes into a credit report have been made permanent.
Credit-card and debit-card numbers must be hidden on store sales receipts, listing only the last five digits. Merchants have until Dec. 4, 2006, to phase out any existing registers or terminals that print full account numbers on receipts.
A bank must tell you if it reports any negative information about you to the credit bureaus. A bank will also have to tell you if it grants you credit at less favorable terms than those received by most other consumers.
Any debt collector who learns that information on a consumer's report is fraudulent must inform the creditor.
Identity-theft victims who file police reports will be able to block fraudulent information from appearing on their credit reports.
Once a credit bureau receives a fraud alert from a consumer, it must take steps to ensure that the consumer and not the thief will be granted credit in the future. This extra step could be something as simple as calling the phone number listed in a consumer fraud alert whenever a new application for credit pops up.
Americans in the armed forces will be able to place special alerts in their credit files while they are serving overseas to help minimize their chances of becoming victims of identity theft.
Millions have already taken advantage of easy access to their reports. Be sure to use the official site, though, because criminals and unscrupulous companies are preying on the unwary.
If you're in the South, June 1 is your lucky day -- that's when you can join residents of the West and Midwest in getting easy, free access to your credit report.
Millions of Americans have already requested this critical synopsis of their financial history, which formerly cost as much as $9 a peek. But beware: This much activity attracts the attention of the Internet's thugs as well. Fake Web sites and spam have mushroomed, trying to trick the unwary into paying for something they can get for free.
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law in December 2003, gives every American the right to a free credit report every year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) are eligible June 1. Residents of Western states have had access since Dec. 1, 2004, and Midwestern states joined the list March 1. Eastern states complete the rollout on Sept. 1.
A credit report has information about where you live, how you pay your bills and even whether you've been sued, arrested or filed for bankruptcy. This information is sold to insurers, creditors, employers and other businesses. With it, they evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, a job or renting a home. Find a loan that's
right for you at the
Loan Center
Credit reports are also used by the credit bureaus to create your credit score, the three-digit number lenders typically use to gauge your creditworthiness. While reports are free, you still need to pay one of the three bureaus to see your current score.
Steve Casteel, of Madison, Miss., recently applied for a loan with his wife, Cindy, to build a house. The bank charged the couple $60 for a credit report -- whereupon the Casteels rudely discovered that one credit report mistakenly listed an old medical bill as unpaid. It wasn't a deal-breaker on eventually getting the loan -- the snafu was "an insurance issue rather than a delinquent payment," says Casteel, a minister -- but the whole experience pointed out to him how useful a periodic look at his report would be.
"We're certainly going to take advantage of that," Casteel says.
But wait, there's more
There's a lot more to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act than free credit reports. Here's a quick summary:
Uniform standards on what goes into a credit report have been made permanent.
Credit-card and debit-card numbers must be hidden on store sales receipts, listing only the last five digits. Merchants have until Dec. 4, 2006, to phase out any existing registers or terminals that print full account numbers on receipts.
A bank must tell you if it reports any negative information about you to the credit bureaus. A bank will also have to tell you if it grants you credit at less favorable terms than those received by most other consumers.
Any debt collector who learns that information on a consumer's report is fraudulent must inform the creditor.
Identity-theft victims who file police reports will be able to block fraudulent information from appearing on their credit reports.
Once a credit bureau receives a fraud alert from a consumer, it must take steps to ensure that the consumer and not the thief will be granted credit in the future. This extra step could be something as simple as calling the phone number listed in a consumer fraud alert whenever a new application for credit pops up.
Americans in the armed forces will be able to place special alerts in their credit files while they are serving overseas to help minimize their chances of becoming victims of identity theft.
posted by ray at 9:58 PM
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