Vets Will Get Free Credit Reports

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Wednesday that free credit monitoring will be provided to the millions of veterans whose personal information was stolen last month.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency would seek to protect millions of veterans and military troops against identity theft after names, Social Security numbers and birth dates were taken May 3 from a VA data analyst’s home.

Those eligible for one year of credit monitoring will be any of the estimated 17.5 million people who are known to have had their Social Security numbers compromised. The VA has said up to 26.5 million could be affected, including 1.1 million military members on active duty, 430,000 members of the National Guard and 645,000 members of the Reserves.

Full Article from Kerrville Daily times

Five Myths About Credit Reports

Motley Fool UK reports on 5 common credit report myths.

Here are the myths:

1) Credit reference agencies hold credit blacklists.

2) Previous occupants of your home can affect your creditworthiness.

3) Adverse information can be removed from your credit report for a fee.

4) Your credit report shows when credit has been refused.

5) Negative information about you affects the rest of your household.

The truth from the Fool

0% Credit Card Rates and Other Offers that Seem Too Good to be True

The credit card companies spend a lot of time and money enticing customers to apply for new credit cards and use those cards more and more. All over the place we get bombarded with 0% interest rates and all kinds of sweet deals that seem too good to pass up, and even too good to be true. You've probably learned the hard way about a lot of the tricks the credit card companies use to get their hands on more of your money. Just reading through the fine print of your credit card agreement will open your eyes to all kinds of fees and stipulations that you were not aware of.

This article from MSN Money offers some good insight and tips on how to not be suckered by the marketing gimmicks of the credit card companies.

The Credit Cabal

Some good insight and thought provoking questions about the validity of the credit reporting system...

Ninety percent of American adults have credit reports. Your credit score depends on what the report says about your number and types of accounts held, length of history, late and overdue payments, whether cards are maxed out, and other information. Then creditors use that score, ranging from 350 to 850, to determine how much to charge for a loan. Someone with a low credit score, in the 500 to 589 range, may be assessed a mortgage rate that is three times higher than someone with an exemplary score over 700. Currently, according to credit bureau Experian, the nation's average score is 33 points shy of prime, at 677. Providian Financial Corporation estimates that if the average consumer credit score were raised just 30 points, Americans, would save $16 billion annually on lower credit card finance charges alone.

Full article from TomPaine.com

Credit Haiku Contest

It's been a while since I've written a Haiku. I think the last one I wrote was back in elementary school--5th grade, maybe...anyway, CreditBloggers is having a Credit Haiku Contest. So head over there and give it a try. (In case you don't know what Haiku is, it's a form of Japanese poetry that is 3 lines long, the first and 3rd line have 5 syllables and the second line has 7 syllables).

I'm going to see if I can come up with one. Don't expect too much out of me, I'm a little rusty in the Haiku department.