Here is the crux of the problem. The ads offer free credit reports to consumers. That sounds fairly up-front on the surface. But many of these commercials are actually trying to sell a monthly subscription service for credit monitoring. That is a far cry from a single free credit report.

Some of the confusion arises because the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act gives consumers the right to get a free credit report each year from each of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus. Once you understand this fact, the commercials offering a free credit report really don’t make sense. Obviously they are selling something but people are getting charged after trying to obtain their free credit report through the advertiser’s website.

What they are getting charged for is a monthly credit monitoring service they did not intend to sign up for. Consumers are claiming they are required to enter their credit card number before they are able to ask for the free credit report. The credit card statement arrives and there’s a charge. Upon inquiry they find out that authorizing their credit card was actually authorizing a monthly subscription service.

When any company offers something free and you are required to enter payment information, there is an excellent chance you are not getting anything for free. Btu the advertisements can be confusing and deceptive, and that’s why Schumer wants to make some changes through FTC regulation and rule enforcements.

First, Schumer is asking the FTC to force these credit subscription services to include a statement on their websites and commercials letting people know the government entitles them to free credit reports from the credit reporting agencies. Second, Schumer he wants it made clear on these same websites or in commercials that consumers who ask for credit information from the company are not accessing the only authorized website where credit reports authorized by the law can be requested.

There is only one website at annualcreditreport.com that consumers should use to request their free credit reports that the government allows. Schumer wants consumers to understand while watching the commercials that they do not have to pay anything for their free credit reports that are authorized by the government annually.

Senator Schumer said, “If these companies want to say – or sing for that matter – that they are giving people free credit reports, then they can’t charge people $15 a month, simple as that. For years, these companies have said with a smile that they will provide a free credit report – even though the government already requires a credit report be provided for free every year – and then suddenly, months later consumers get a bill in the mail for their credit monitoring services. My plan would finally bust up this scam an give consumers some honest choices.”

In today’s economy, your credit score has become a critical part of your financial identity. You’d have to look far and wide to find many places willing to lend you money without first checking your credit history. The option to get a car loan, buy real estate, refinance your home, leverage some money for a small business, and even to have a reasonable credit limit on your credit card, all hinge on that credit score and history.

Fortunately, Congress gave consumers the gift of one free credit report per year via AnnualCreditReport.com. Unfortunately, consumers had to sift through a lot of advertisements and confusing copy on the websites of each major credit bureau: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This enables people to check and see what their credit history looks like to lenders. However, these sites are not obligated to give you your credit score for free, and they will try to sell you their credit monitoring services with a free copy of your credit score as an incentive.

What’s confusing to consumers is the whole process of finding out their credit history through AnnualCreditReport.com, and the number of other websites that offer “free” credit reports. Consumers have to dodge advertisements and hard sells of these services, and if they aren’t sure what their rights are, they might inadvertently purchase something that they didn’t want. The Federal Trade Commission (or FTC) is now authorized by the Credit CARD Act of 2009 to put a stop to the deceptive marketing practices of the credit bureaus by February 22 of next year.

This is a beneficial move because it makes it easier for consumers to find out what their credit histories are before they are inundated with advertisements by the various credit bureaus. Only AnnualCreditReport.com is authorized by the federal government to provide a free credit report, and there are competing websites that claim to provide credit reports without adequately differentiating themselves from AnnualCreditReport.com. This is something that the FTC has been commissioned to change as well, by requiring a very obvious disclosure on the website, and also an obvious link to AnnualCreditReport.com.

Getting your credit score at each of the three credit bureaus is still going to cost you a small fee. Currently, it’s possible to sign up for one of their credit monitoring services to get a free copy of your credit score, but then you have to remember to cancel within 30 days, or else you will charged monthly until you do. At any rate, the importance of keeping track of your credit history is now more important than ever, and Congress is actively working on making sure that Americans can do just that.

Some strategies that you use to eliminate your debt and help your credit may not be helping if you don’t do them the right way. Here are some tips to make sure that you keep a good credit rating.

Don’t Stop Using Your Credit Cards

This may sound counterintuitive. Most financial advice tells you to cut back on your credit card use as much as possible until you pay off all your debt and to be careful with credit card spending even after you do. While you should be careful when using credit cards, you do not want to stop using them altogether. This tactic does not do you any good.

Your credit score is not improved when you stop using your credit but when you use it well. When you stop using your credit cards completely then the only information that credit bureaus have is old information which may not be the greatest. You want to keep using your credit cards in a responsible way so that your most recent credit history shows how well you manage your finances and your credit specifically. Credit card companies have also been known to close inactive accounts which can hurt your credit score so this is another reason to keep using your credit cards.

Don’t Close Old Accounts

Old accounts, even if you rarely use them, are a good thing. Part of your credit score is based on how long your credit accounts have been open. If you close one then you can decrease the average length of time that your accounts have been open and your credit score along with it.

You want to keep these old accounts open. The best way to ensure that they stay open is to use them at least once every six months. This activity will help to show that you use it enough for the credit card company to keep the account open. As stated earlier, inactive accounts sometimes get closed.

Protect Your Credit Score

Aside from taking the necessary actions to get a good credit score, you also have to work to protect that score. You want to check your credit report regularly to look for erroneous information. If you do not check your credit report for mistakes then they are likely to just sit there and mess up your credit score. Remember to destroy anything with your personal information on it because identity theft can ruin your credit score too.

These tips to help your credit score detail what not to do and how to protect yourself from bad credit that is not your fault. You need to work to maintain your credit. Use your credit cards, keep old accounts open, and protect your credit so that your credit score will be maintained.

One of the first things people should turn to when looking to fix their financial situation is a credit report.

Basically, a credit report is one of the most essential aspects of financial recovery. Getting past your debt means recognizing where it comes from and what it is in particular, and a credit report will give you not only a score which measures your financial standing, but also give you particular information regarding your creditors and how much you may owe and for what particular reasons.

With that kind of information at hand, you can pursue the formulation of a plan which will enable you to pay off your debt while keeping yourself taken care of at the same time. You simply can’t wait for creditors to send you angry letters in the mail stating you owe them. Without taking the initiative, you’ll only be stressed by the pressure that these groups put on you to pay up and may detract from having a broader perspective on the issue.

Don’t wait to figure out how much you owe, either. Some debt can continue to negatively affect your credit up to a certain point, leaving you with a lower score than you could have by paying your debt sooner. Visitors should also be aware of free credit reports scams.

It’s also important to see whether or not some debts remain outstanding. By law, seven years is the statute on debt, and after that period is over, any debt that is older than that is required to be removed from your credit.

One cannot underestimate the value of a credit report. Finding out your exact financial situations practically begins with one, and it remains a valuable measure of your standing as you work to improve your life and the finances that represent it.

First of all, the easiest thing to do is to eliminate any bad habits you may have at the moment. Even if you went back to try and fix all the errors and poor choices you made in the past that have contributed to a bad credit score, things won’t change if you don’t improve the way you manage your own money and bills. Make a list of all the expenses you incur on a monthly basis, and develop a sound strategy to pay them on time and in full from here on out.

While you’re at it, try and see if you can remove some of these items and reduce the list to only what is necessary. This will help you from damaging your credit score in the future and free up a lot of money that you may otherwise be spending recklessly. Once you’ve done this, you should start paying off any outstanding amounts that you owe. This should be much easier now that you have some extra capital to utilize. Even if it doesn’t seem to provide you anything in the short-term, the influence this will have on your credit score is easily the hugest change you can make to ensure that your score improves.

When you peruse your credit report, take the time and evaluate what shows up. If there is anything on the report that seems unusual, strange, or incorrect, write a letter to the Credit Rating Agency and ask that for the number of errors that you have found to be removed. The CRA will then have 30 days to investigate the issue, and they’ll write to the creditor and ask them to verify the payment information. If the creditor doesn’t respond or verify the information, the CRA will then remove the negative information in question from your profile.

Of course, even if you know you have some outstanding debt to pay, if they are older than 7 years, the law states that the negative information must be removed from your credit report. This is something else that you should be looking for. Keep in mind that if you missed a payment, let’s say, 10 years ago, and the creditor took several years to add it to your file, it may show up as a 6-year old debt or younger. If that case, you should also write to the CRA and explain to them carefully that the debt is at least 7 years old and that it should be removed from your report.

FICO’s new model is set to debut in a few months but many consumers and lenders are getting ready for the change now. FICO will keep the scale in which the credit scores appear the same. Which means consumers can still expect to see a number ranging from 350 to 800 which the higher the number reflecting the better score.

Many find that FICO 08 will be far more forgiving of consumers then the previous model.

The traditional FICO method of scoring credit looked like this:

• Diversity of Credit- took up 10% of the overall score
• Payment History- took up 35% of the overall score
• Credit History- took up 15% of the overall score
• Owed Amounts- 30% of the overall score
• New Credit- 10% of the overall score

It is important to know what your FICO credit score is as it is used by many lenders and banks to determine several fees and rates. A high score reflects positively on your ability to make payments on time and to use credit smartly. Consumers are able to retrieve a credit report form the big three credit bureaus yearly and should not hesitate to do so. The credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian are used to keep track of the credit scores and of what impact these scores.

Equifax and TransUnion are expected to implement FICO 08 as soon as possible. Experian, however, as opted to withhold that action until the lawsuit between FICO and the bureaus are resolved. The lawsuit states that VantageScore which was developed by TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian harm the FICO brand. Consumers should keep this in mind should they request a credit report in an effort to see their new FICO 08 credit score.

Many are hopeful that the new scoring method will, in fact, boost credit scores. This is since FICO is loosening a few of its policies. Many actions that were once extremely harmful to consumer’s credit are now not as bad. Though there are actions that are now considered worse.

FICO 08 is taking aim at piggybacking credit card accounts in an effort to boost credit scores. This practice was exploited heavily in 2007. Consumers with bad credit would assign their names to credit cards held by consumers with good scores. The result would be a boost for those piggy backers. FICO 08 will ignore such actions meaning that piggy backers will no longer benefit.

FICO 08 will no longer view multiple credit requests as harshly as they once did. This reflects the changing of times since many consumers find that using credit cards are preferable to using cash. Along with this change, FICO 08 will no longer punish those consumers as harshly if they fall behind on one payment as long as the other payments are kept up to date.

Overall, FICO 08 is a needed change and promises to help many consumers.

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Not just an act, but also an actual Federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act can be the only thing that can be a buffer between the consumer and these credit agencies. It gives you certain rights, which influence how the three agencies are obligated to do their job and also gives them several responsibilities.

Credit reporting agencies must make available to you the information about your credit that they have on file. This is done in the form of a credit report, and you can receive one report per agency per year. You can request your report by phone, via mail, or online.

You must receive information in writing whenever any of the information in your credit file has been used against you. This could be a credit card company, service provider, bank, loan company, landlord or employer. The information also must include which of the three agencies provided the information so that you can contact them if you believe that the information in your report is wrong.

This information will be needed by you if you were applying for credit, because the Fair Credit Reporting Act states that if you are turned down for credit anywhere because of what your credit record says, you will have 60 days in which to request a credit report from that agency at no charge. Many people do not bother, but it is a good idea to get the free report so that you can find out exactly why you were refused credit.

Also, while you are discovering why you were turned down, you can make sure there are no mistakes on the report, or charges listed that you do not remember. This is how many people find out for the first time that they have been the victim of identity theft. They are amazed to receive this type of letter in the first place, thinking that their credit is good. When they investigate, they find out that someone has been using their identity to merrily charge away.

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