A high FICO score can secure a good loan, a great job, or standard rate insurance. The Privacy Act is supposed to help us keep our information quiet, but your score is available to many more than you know. Did you know mailing lists may be compiled by your score?
FICO score is a computer analysis of the following items: Payment history 35%, Amounts owed 30%, Length Time of Credit History 15%, Types of Credit in Use 10%, and New Credit 10%. Lowest number score is 300 and highest is 850. You don’t need to know who invented the computer model or who owns Fair Isaac (call me if you do). There also are Vantage Score, Trans Risk, and Score X, (branded models not yet used much by Lenders).
To improve your score get a full merged report with all three reports,” Credit Cops": Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Each of these companies may report your information differently, and therefore you will have three scores. You are entitled to free credit report once a year from: annualcreditreport.com however you are not entitled to Free scores. Do not go to Free credit report.com or any scam company that loops you into billing monthly and fails to release the monthly credit card bill. Trans Union, Equifax and Experiam offer websites direct as well. They do not advertise on television, they do not need to.
Review trade items on each report. Derogatory items are at the top of the report. The name of creditor and account number (often shy four digits for security) show for each. Below the account name is available line and payment history. The history also may show as a time line calendar below in reverse order as line ticks.
If anything is incorrect, you begin your letter writing campaign. Write; do not call, to each individual creditor. In the letter include: Your name, home address, the account number, today's date, the reason why you dispute what shows and sign the letter. Be simple for example: Dear Bank of America: I never was late on 4/2009 here's a copy of my cancelled check...The letter does not have to be perfect- it has to be done and in the mail. Do not include your telephone number you want a written response.
Make a folder with a time line on the front. Day one sent letter asked for response in ten days. If they fail to answer in thirty days you are going to write and mail follow up letters. Include in the letter that you wrote them asking to correct the inaccurate item on x date and they failed to respond in thirty days. Also include that they are required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to investigate and they failed to do so. You may also state you intend to file a complaint with the FTC. You want them to send you a letter deleting the item and to correct the information they report to all credit companies. Once you have the letter deleting the item forward to Equifax PO BOX 740241 Atlanta GA 30374-1111, EXPERIAN PO BOX 2104 Allen TX 75013, TRANS UNION PO BOX 390 Springfield PA 19064.
Tips on raising your score:
Pay everyone on time. Get delinquent accounts current now first and pay the minimum on the remaining accounts. Keep revolving balances 68.9% below the available line. Do not use Finance Companies. Do not open accounts with furniture/ mattress/computer stores that promise 90 days no payment as is sold to a finance company. These types of accounts lower your score. If you have finance accounts pay it off.
Do not allow car dealers to shop a loan for you and add needless inquiries to your score. Don’t sit there and hand them your driver’s license, bring a copy of the license and say I am not required to give you m social security number to test drive a car. Do not close accounts - just pay them off. Do not use disreputable Consumer Credit Counseling companies- they often allow late payments to roll and interest and balances to grow. Do not fall prey to anyone who claims you can buy a new social security number. Do not pay huge fees to credit repair companies who won't work as hard as you can on your own letter writing campaign. Anything that sounds too good to be true like “we can erase $10000 of your credit card debt with the new Obama bill” is too good to be true. Negotiate with all collection companies to delete the disputed item in exchange for paying part or all of it.
Opt out of all junk mailing lists. Be ever so careful entering your private information on any website. Do not use matching passwords with easy to guess tags. The internet is a wonderful place but not everyone on there is who they say they are.
Opt-out request list via phone or email:
Opt-Out Prescreen will allow you to opt out of receiving credit card and insurance offers. Call 1-888-567-8688 (888-5-OPT-OUT) from your home telephone, or visit their website at http://www.optoutprescreen.com/.
Abacus Direct: Email your removal request to optout@abacus-us.com
ADVO, Inc.: Call 1-888-241-6760 or go here http://www.advo.com/consumersupport.html
Acxiom U.S: To request an opt-out form, call 1-877-774-2094 or go here: http://www.acxiom.com/opt-out-request-form
Direct Marketing Association: Visit www.dmachoice.org (online registration is free, while it costs $1 by mail)
Publishers Clearinghouse: Email request to privacychoices@pchmail.com
Val-Pak: Visit http://www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm
All credit is healed with time. No one can do it better than yourself.
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Gerardo All rights reserved.
5/05/2010
5/04/2010
Goldman Employees Donate Houses in the Hamptons
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/jail-time-for-wall-st-crime-senate-weighs-deterrents/#preview
Cyrus Sanati writes today about the Senate considering Jail time for Goldman Sachs employees.
In watching the Senate hearings, I believe Senators did not ask the right questions.They failed to deeply understand the nature of the business. Banking/finance/and secondary has anachronisms that perhaps hide from general public language to abbreviate models. I should have mailed some cue cards to Arlen Specter.
If a law is passed that a broker dealer has to disclose all trading positions (short or long) would it stop an investor from touching what they believe is gold? Maybe not.
If the accounting is rigged or there is fraud, then yes punishment is in order.
Does jail time deter anyone? Violent crimes occur in death penalty states.
These high achieving personalities are about success measured in dollars. Huge financial penalties might be a bigger deterrent. Make the fines usurious, bankruptcy remote and put them on the chain gang?
I'm not Mike Whitney and I love Prada shoes, so I hope the reform is orderly.
Cyrus Sanati writes today about the Senate considering Jail time for Goldman Sachs employees.
In watching the Senate hearings, I believe Senators did not ask the right questions.They failed to deeply understand the nature of the business. Banking/finance/and secondary has anachronisms that perhaps hide from general public language to abbreviate models. I should have mailed some cue cards to Arlen Specter.
If a law is passed that a broker dealer has to disclose all trading positions (short or long) would it stop an investor from touching what they believe is gold? Maybe not.
If the accounting is rigged or there is fraud, then yes punishment is in order.
Does jail time deter anyone? Violent crimes occur in death penalty states.
These high achieving personalities are about success measured in dollars. Huge financial penalties might be a bigger deterrent. Make the fines usurious, bankruptcy remote and put them on the chain gang?
I'm not Mike Whitney and I love Prada shoes, so I hope the reform is orderly.
BP what about the men that Died?
Tony nice press release but a few things already don't add up. Oil business is dangerous work. Little has been mentioned about the men who perished on the rig. Little has been released about why the line has so
many deferred maintenance cracks and holes. Some of your command center decisions lack leadership.
I don't know it you have children, but allow me to share a story. When mine were younger we used an imaginary person to blame when things went missing, or tops of flowers were batted off with a lacrosse stick .I would put the guilt on "Alfredo Sauce". I blamed a naughty "Alfredo" for eating all the oatmeal cookies again, and they would laugh. "Alfredo" has been a running joke of not owning up, of failing to fully raise your hand and say "Forgive me, I will fix it."
My children like that white cream cheese sauce, but it's really not good for anyone. In my mind it's indirectly linked today to the oil slick - the deadly murk of poison cholesterol coming to our Gulf shores.
Fifteen men died on the Texas rig, I know that's in the past but this time do us a favor, accept the big mistake. Tony Hayward are at the helm of the ship, you are a scientist, you measured the risks verses the profits and failed to investigate before leasing an unsafe situation.
“What I learned was
that we’d become far
too introspective at the
top. In particular, we
weren’t listening to the
operating people on
safety and reliability"
Tony Hayward 2008
“People who work for BP care deeply about the company; they have green and yellow blood in their veins,” ... “and I think that’s because this is a company that tries to do the right thing.” Tony Hayward
Please don't rely on America to foot the bill for your error we don't want to nickname you Alfredo Sauce.
Get the British fleet over here and get on it man. Say something inspiring to rally volunteers on the Gulf shores, there must be some better solutions than spraying chemicals on the surface of choppy surf and booms like paper boats. Don't we have some science to cap the source?
many deferred maintenance cracks and holes. Some of your command center decisions lack leadership.
I don't know it you have children, but allow me to share a story. When mine were younger we used an imaginary person to blame when things went missing, or tops of flowers were batted off with a lacrosse stick .I would put the guilt on "Alfredo Sauce". I blamed a naughty "Alfredo" for eating all the oatmeal cookies again, and they would laugh. "Alfredo" has been a running joke of not owning up, of failing to fully raise your hand and say "Forgive me, I will fix it."
My children like that white cream cheese sauce, but it's really not good for anyone. In my mind it's indirectly linked today to the oil slick - the deadly murk of poison cholesterol coming to our Gulf shores.
Fifteen men died on the Texas rig, I know that's in the past but this time do us a favor, accept the big mistake. Tony Hayward are at the helm of the ship, you are a scientist, you measured the risks verses the profits and failed to investigate before leasing an unsafe situation.
“What I learned was
too introspective at the
top. In particular, we
weren’t listening to the
operating people on
safety and reliability"
Tony Hayward 2008
“People who work for BP care deeply about the company; they have green and yellow blood in their veins,” ... “and I think that’s because this is a company that tries to do the right thing.” Tony Hayward
Please don't rely on America to foot the bill for your error we don't want to nickname you Alfredo Sauce.
Get the British fleet over here and get on it man. Say something inspiring to rally volunteers on the Gulf shores, there must be some better solutions than spraying chemicals on the surface of choppy surf and booms like paper boats. Don't we have some science to cap the source?
5/03/2010
Thanks BP
Chemical dispersants sprayed on the surface by helicopter are supposed to break the oil 5000 feet down? That makes as much sense as using a can of spray paint to stop a hurricane.
US Coast Guard Petty Officer B. B.confirms they are using Corexit manufactured by Nalco. They are also testing another chemical (unknown name)
Corexit is dispersed by sprayer in100% solution. It is like a heavy detergent that changes the oil to heavier droplets, which will fall to the bottom of the sea floor.
It also counters or breaks up the mousse like oil foam at the shore. Chemicals like this were used in the Exxon Valdez spill. Active ingredient butoxethanol is used as a solvent in oil paint. It can cause headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses.
So to summarize my view of BP’s plan:
Add toxic chemicals to make the oil sink and be out of minds of America.
So when the oil and poisons sink to the bottom, everything on the bottom carries poison.
Good thing I can't eat shellfish, but what about the rest of the food chain?
So when the oil and poisons sink to the bottom, everything on the bottom carries poison.
Good thing I can't eat shellfish, but what about the rest of the food chain?
http://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/d/dpage/html/oilspill.shtml
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