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10 Signs You May Need Credit Counseling
Debt management programs can be of real help for people that discover they cannot face their debts. At first, they will attempt to solve the situation all by themselves by cutting down on spending and keeping a close eye on accounts. If this doesn’t...
Bankruptcy vs. Credit Counseling: What Should I Do?
Credit Counseling and bankruptcy are both ways to relieve the stress of debt. However, they are very different and it is important to understand both before making a decision as to which is best for you. Credit counseling is a program designed to...
Building Credit in Despair
Building credit can lead to despair if you do not know where to
get started. Creditors come in all forms and some of them are
out to take you for a road, so this alone makes the struggle
increase. If you have bad credit or no credit then you know...
Building Good Business Credit After Bad Credit
Can you establish good business credit if you have bad personal credit? The answer is yes...but with a few caveats. Business credit reports and personal credit reports are generally completely separate databases for legal reasons. However, there...
Credit Score An Introduction
There's a lot of confusing information about credit scores out there. There are people out there who believe that they don't have a credit score and many who think that their credit score doesn't count for much. Your credit score can spoil your...
How Credit Card Applications Can Effect Your Credit Score
Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier to receive and submit credit card applications. It can be very tempting to fill out all of the online forms available to you. But be careful, it could end up costing you--consider the following...
Ordering the Right Credit Reports to Repair Your Credit
In this week’s article, I am going to offer some valuable tips and insight regarding how to order the right credit reports needed to repair your credit. Believe it or not, a majority of the credit reports offered on the internet don’t have the...
Student Credit Cards
With graduate debt averaging over £12,000, the ability to spread the cost of further education using a student credit card is obviously attractive. Adding to their appeal is the fact that these cards are relatively easy to obtain. Unlike many...
What Sets A College Student Credit Card Apart From Other Credit Cards
With college student credit card that today, most parents
contend that it is okay to let college students obtain their
very own credit card. Not only because they want to let their
kids manage their finances alone but also because having...
Why Consumers Need A Nationwide Credit Freeze Now
What do a shoe retailer, an online discount broker, and a popular clothing retailer all have in common? All three - DSW Shoe Warehouse, Ameritrade, and Polo Ralph Lauren - sustained breaches to their customers’ accounts. Unfortunately, these three...
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Consumer Action: Putting The “Freeze” On Credit Files
In the wake of 40 million MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express accounts recently being breached, consumers and legislators are scrambling for ways to protect their personal and financial information from being hijacked and used fraudulently by hackers and ID thieves.
One type of privacy protection being widely debated is the option to “freeze” your individual credit reports. Californians have been protected by such a law since 2002. Vermont, Texas, and Louisiana have also passed “freeze laws” and other states are taking a closer look at enacting similar types of consumer protection.
Placing a freeze on your credit files with the three major credit reporting agencies - Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - effectively shuts out potential lenders from accessing your credit files in order to make you an offer for credit. It would also protect your data from being used by identity thieves. When applying for new credit accounts or loans, consumers would use a special password to “unfreeze” their accounts.
Consumer advocates who support such a freeze point out that this type of privacy protection “prevents the damage before it occurs.” Consumer action groups see this as one of the most effective measures available because it places the control in the hands of the consumer and not the data-collecting agencies who profit from selling consumer
information.
Companies that sell credit file data, including the credit reporting agencies, argue that freezing credit files is “overkill.” For some people, such a freeze could become a constant hassle. Before applying for a loan or opening a new bank account, they would have to contact the credit bureaus to temporarily unfreeze their files, a process that could take several days.
They also claim it would prevent consumers from taking advantage of instant credit promotions such as “10% off purchases” when applying for a new store-issued credit card. And applying for a mortgage would become “more complicated, with even more paperwork.”
Whether you feel the option of being able to freeze your credit data is a good idea or a bad idea one thing is becoming increasingly clearer - consumers want more control over who has access to their personal and financial information.
© 2005, http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com
About the Author
James H. Dimmitt - James is editor of "TO YOUR CREDIT", a free weekly newsletter with tips to help you manage your personal finances. Subscribe today and receive his e-book “IDENTITY THEFT- How To Avoid Becoming the Next Victim!” and other free bonuses by visiting
http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com
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