Have You Seen Your Credit Report Lately?

By MoonDog | May 9, 2008

A few weeks ago I took advantage of the free annual credit reports all of the credit bureaus must provide consumers. A review of all three gave me pause to consider just how many people don’t know what’s contained within their credit report.

Most consumers don’t understand who has the right to view your credit, how often they can view it and what circumstances they can view it. Moreover, many don’t understand their rights afforded them by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

Reviewing my credit report last year, I noted an erroneous entry from a company claiming I owed $192.00 for long distance services. Knowing this wasn’t true I had to dispute the entry with all three credit bureaus. Within 45 days the erroneous entry was removed from my credit report but I began to wonder just how inaccurate credit reporting is in the U.S.

In speaking with a representative of Experian, one of the three credit reporting bureaus along with Equifax and TransUnion, I learned some very interesting facts. The Experian representative told me “we depend on the creditors to report factual information about the consumer.”

After making that statement I asked how Experian verifies the information being reported to them. “We don’t,” she replied. “We trust those reporting to provide accurate information.”

Therein lays the problem with credit reporting in general. The credit bureaus, tasked with providing information to potential creditors, can no more verify the validity of the information contained within a consumer’s credit report than the man in the moon.

As I mentioned, every American has the right to receive a free annual credit report from all three credit bureaus. You may think that idiot singing about FreeCreditReport.com is on to something, but in reality that isn’t the site to get your reports.

All three of the credit bureaus will point you to AnnualCreditReport.com to acquire your reports. Once you’ve entered the basic information, you’ll be able to view and print your credit report from all three bureaus. It is important to note that each will provide a “report” number that must be used when referencing the report, especially if you need to file a dispute.

Once you’ve printed your credit reports, you’ll need to ensure everything is accurate. A 2004 study released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that 79% of the consumer credit reports surveyed contained some kind of error or mistake. As a result, many consumers frequently invoke their rights under the FCRA to review and correct their credit reports.

Before you file a dispute it would be good to know what your rights are under the guidelines set forth by the FCRA. As with any other federal law, it’s lengthy and full of legalese but its well worth your time to review it. If you have any questions regarding the FCRA I suggest you speak with an attorney or someone familiar with credit reporting laws.

I came across this site and it appears to offer a lot of good information. It was written by a person that had major credit issues and went about the process of repairing his credit. It has links and telephone numbers to all of the bureaus and information on how to properly dispute erroneous information on your credit report.

The dispute process can be done online by visiting each of the credit bureaus web sites. You can also file a dispute by mail, but it’s a messy process, especially with Equifax and Experian. TransUnion is the only credit bureau that offers a simple form and asks for very little additional information. With Equifax and Experian, you basically have to provide what amounts to a small telephone book of information to dispute errors on your credit report.

Remember, the information on your credit report hasn’t been verified by the bureaus. Sadly, it is the responsibility of the consumer to ensure it’s correct and up to date. Moreover, the credit bureaus have made it so that disputing errors on your credit report can be time consuming. It’s a rather sad commentary knowing your time is being spent correcting the mistakes made by those reporting to the bureaus.

Now let’s take a look at the different types of queries that can be made with regard to your credit report. There are two types of queries; a “soft” query is a potential creditor, usually a credit card company, wishing to see if it would be worth their time to mail you an offer.

A “hard” query takes place, as an example, when you’re out looking for a new car. Perhaps you visit several dealers and they need to run your credit to find out if they can finance you. As a side note, never get your financing through the dealer. They are going to charge you at least two points more than what they’re being charged from their bank.

Soft queries do not have an effect on your credit score. I’ll discuss credit scores more in depth in a moment. Hard queries do have an effect on your credit score. About six years ago I had the good fortune to buy furniture from someone that worked for Citi Bank at one time. He told me hard queries will lower your credit score six points every time they’re processed.

If you happen to be window shopping and visit several stores looking for a new dining room set, keep in mind every time your credit is run, it lowers your score six points. It would also be a good idea to notify a potential creditor that your credit has been run several times recently so they know your score has dropped some.

It’s also important to know that other open accounts with various credit limits can affect your credit score. For example, let’s say you purchased a new bedroom set and paid $3000.00 over one year. Even if you’ve paid the note in full, the account will still be open unless you tell the creditor to close it. By having too many open accounts on your credit, it can lower your score and raise a red flag to potential new creditors.

Let’s turn our attention to credit scores and they’re importance in determining credit worthiness. We’ve all seen the commercials about web sites where you can obtain your credit score. Credit scores are one important element in determining credit worthiness, but they aren’t the only thing a creditor is going to look at.

If you really want to know what your credit score is, instead of going to a web site and paying $7.95, ask your bank if they’d do it. It won’t cost you anything and who better than your bank to tell you if you are credit worthy.

Now, each credit bureau uses a different means of arriving at your credit score. TransUnion uses the Empirica, Equifax uses the Beacon and Experian uses the FICO. To learn more about those, visit the same site I noted above.

Most banks consider your low end credit score to be 660. That’s not to suggest a score lower than that won’t get you financed, but your chances of doing so drop dramatically. As I mentioned a moment ago, there is another contributing factor in determining credit worthiness, and that is the debt to earnings ratio.

Depending upon the entity issuing credit, your DER can’t exceed 45% if you expect to get financed. Other factors taken into consideration are the type of loan, down payments and collateral. Those factors will affect your ability to get financed and your interest rate as well.

Keep in mind you can have a high credit score but a DER that exceeds what a creditor considers safe.

For example, you may have a credit score of 700 but your DER is 50%. While the credit score is fine, the DER is too high. It all depends on the person you’re dealing with and whether other factors that may be taken into consideration will get you financed.

Conversely, you may have a lower credit score but have a low DER. You may actually fair better than the person with the higher credit score and DER, especially if you are in a position to collateralize a loan.

Incidentally, that’s an excellent way to improve your credit worthiness. Let’s say you don’t need a loan but you’d like to improve your credit score and credit standing in general. Go to your bank and explain what you’re trying to accomplish. Take $1000.00 and put it in a one-year or even a six-month Certificate of Deposit. Borrow the $1000.00 from the bank and repay the loan over the same length of time as the CD. Actually what you’ll need to do is factor in the loan fee and interest rate the bank is going to charge you.

Here’s the beauty of a collateralized loan. Let’s say the CD pays 4% for one year. Since you’ve collateralized the loan, the bank doesn’t have to worry about getting their money back if you default. As a result, the bank should (mine definitely does this) charge you two points higher than what the CD pays.

Based on a 4% interest rate for the CD, and the bank charging you two points above that rate, the interest rate on the loan will be 6%. Most banks charge $50.00 for a loan fee. Pay the loan fee up front. You’re going to put $1060.00 in a one-year CD and borrow $1000.00 from the bank.

Over the one-year period of the CD, you’ll make $42.40 in interest. Factoring in the $60.00 interest on the loan, you’ll lose $17.60 over the life of the CD and the loan. However, is $17.60 a price you’re willing to pay to improve your credit score and overall credit standing?

If your bank isn’t willing to give you the two points over interest rate, please contact me and I’ll put you in touch with my bank.

Remember, this is your credit report and credit score. It’s up to you to ensure what is being reported is accurate and your credit worthiness depends upon your concerted efforts.

 
   

Topics: General Topics, Social Issues | 2 Comments »

Chick Pic of the Day - Jennifer Aniston

By MoonDog | May 9, 2008

Before I get to the main Chick Pic of the Day, please take a look at this lovely young lady. She is indicative of the typical Tennessee Vol co-ed. See how stylish she looks sporting the colors of the Big Orange.

Some of you may recall (highly doubtful) the very first Chick Pic of the Day was my girl Jennifer Aniston. Poor Jen-Jen is without a husband and is having trouble trying to figure out who she’s going to share her love and her $120 million with.

I’d like to take this opportunity to offer my services. I’m very available Jennifer. In fact, I’d drop everything I’m doing forever just for the opportunity to snuggle with you (yea, right).

In all truthfulness, I love Jennifer. I’ve always liked her and I honestly think she has grown more beautiful as the years have passed. She couldn’t go cougar on me because I’m older than she is, but she can still take a run at me anytime.

Without further delay, some pics of Jennifer I think you’ll enjoy.

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Topics: Chick Pic of the Day | 8 Comments »

Hot Link of the Day

By MoonDog | May 9, 2008

Attorney, web site designer and all-around good guy LawVol wrote an excellent piece that’s right up my alley. It seems there’s trouble brewing between the Fan-Sided Network and their site StripeHype and the team they cover, the Cincinnati Bengals.

As LawVol made clear, most of us could give a rat’s ass about the Cincinnati Bengals, but this story deals with alleged trademark infringement. For those of you that have read my blog more than once (my three loyal readers notwithstanding), copyright and trademark law is a subject that hits home with me.

Take a moment to read this story at Gate21. It deals with an issue that is important for anyone having a web site and wants to learn something about trademarks. For further reading on this subject, you can view the article I wrote about copyright laws here.

With football season still nearly four months from the opening kickoff, some of us are getting antsy. For those of you that haven’t noticed this site in my links section, Picture Me Rollin is a great blog dedicated to the Alabama Crimson Tide. The author is a good guy, writes exceptionally well and happens to be someone I consider having very similar views to yours truly.

He wrote a review of the Tide’s schedule and as you can imagine, being a huge Vol fan, I took a particular interest on his thoughts regarding the annual Alabama-Tennessee game this season. An excerpt of what he had to say:

“It won’t matter; the tide has turned (no pun intended) on this rivalry, and for all the talk about renewed offense and improvement, this is Phillip Fulmer’s last season as the head coach. I don’t know why I believe this - it could very well be my utter loathing of the University of Tennessee - but I think they are in for a tumultuous season.”

Sigh. Now, as I said, I like this guy so please don’t visit his site and threaten him with bodily harm. But I would like you to pay him a visit and offer any counter points to his opinion. Take a moment and check out the whole article here and tell him what you think the mighty Vols are going to do to the Tide this year.

Speaking of the Vols, the NCAA announced sanctions against a host of schools for not meeting academic standards. Tennessee will lose one scholarship for the men’s basketball program as a result of these academic inefficiencies.

Not that it comes as any consolation, but the Vols aren’t alone. SEVENTY programs lost football and basketball scholarships because of their failure to meet the NCAA academic requirements; that number represents over 21% of NCAA schools participating in basketball alone.

To see the article and the entire list of school’s losing scholarships, visit Rivals by clicking here.

 
   

Topics: Bloggers, College Football Schedule, General Sports Topics, General Topics, Hot Link of the Day, SEC Football, SEC Schedule, SEC Teams, Southeastern Conference, Tennessee Vols Football, University of Tennessee News, blogosphere | No Comments »

Cardinals Exceeding Expectations

By MoonDog | May 7, 2008

The St. Louis Cardinals continue to exceed expectations improving their record to 22-12 with a 6-5 win against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night in Denver.

With so many predicting the Cards to finish near the bottom of the National League Central this season, St. Louis has gone about proving everyone wrong.

The most surprising aspect of this Cardinal team is their pitching.

A makeshift starting rotation that was thought to be barely functional has been superb to this point. St. Louis has an ERA of 3.59 entering tonight’s game, good for third best in MLB.

Beyond their good pitching, one might think the Cards success has been the sole result of Albert Pujols. But that hasn’t been the case. Pujols continues to produce, batting .348 with six homers and 24 RBI’s.

Those are good numbers considering he’s getting the Barry Bonds treatment, having been walked 34 times.

With Pujols getting limited run-producing chances, the rest of the Cardinals roster has provided significant contributions. Skip Schumaker has done a fantastic job as the leadoff hitter batting .297 with a .376 OBP.

Outfielder Ryan Ludwick is having a tremendous start to the 2008 season, hitting .349 with four homers and 17 RBI’s in only 83 plate appearances.

Rick Ankiel has made the transition from pitcher to outfielder and has done so in dramatic fashion. Tuesday night in Denver, Ankiel made two of the most spectacular throws of this or any season to gun down base runners. While Ankiel strikes out more than you’d like, he’s still managed to hit six homers and drive in 18 runs.

Troy Glaus, acquired in a preseason trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Scott Rolen, hasn’t found his stroke at the plate, hitting only .229 with one homer and 21 RBI’s. However, the primary concern entering the season was Glaus’ ability to field his position and to this point he’s done a very good job at third base. Glaus has committed two errors in 34 games, sporting a .980 fielding percentage and a .874 zone rating.

The Cardinals defense has improved dramatically over last year, having committed 15 errors so far tying them for third-fewest in the majors.

The Cards aren’t scoring a ton of runs, averaging 4.7 per game in 34 games, but their team batting average is .281, good for fifth best in the majors, and their OBP is .373, the best in MLB.

St. Louis should actually have two more victories this season, with Jason Isringhausen having blown three save opportunities thus far. The Cards managed to win one of those three games with an 11^th inning victory last Friday against the Chicago Cubs.

Despite the blown saves, Isringhausen has 11 saves thus far and the Cards bullpen has done a solid job of protecting leads or keeping games close. Kyle McClellan and Ron Villone have been fantastic out of the pen, combining to pitch 31 2-3 innings, allowing 21 hits, striking out 29 and issuing just 11 walks. Villone has an ERA of just 0.63 and McClellan’s is 2.08, giving St. Louis a good left-right combination against opposing hitters.

It’s still early and the starting pitching will have to prove it can hold up through the remainder of the season. With Mark Mulder having major problems in his rehab starts and Cris Carpenter not expected to return until at least after the All-Star break, the Cards will need their starting rotation to perform at this current level.

Keep in mind one other important fact. This is a Tony La Russa managed team, and like all of La Russa’s teams the Cardinals are going to play hard and compete for nine innings. La Russa set the tone in spring training making it clear he expected this team to contend despite the critics’ thoughts to the contrary.

So far the Cardinals are making La Russa look like a prophet.

 
   

Topics: MLB Standings, MLB Teams, Major League Baseball, National League Central, St. Louis Cardinals News | 5 Comments »

Chick Pic of the Day - Jolene Blalock (Part 2)

By MoonDog | May 7, 2008

Before all of this site transferring took place, I loaded the first set of Jolene Blalock pics on the old site. If you haven’t seen those, I’d suggest you do so because you’re missing out on one very fine specimen of womanhood.

Today I finally can post the second set of images and they’re just as good, if not better than the first. Please don’t drool on my site.

Updated: With MoonDog’s fancy little gallery creator:

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Topics: Chick Pic of the Day, Social Issues | 2 Comments »

Hot Link of the Day

By MoonDog | May 7, 2008