What personal information will I find on my credit file?

What personal information will I find on my credit reports?

The data on your credit reports may include:

-Your Name

-Present and Past Address

-Present and Past Employment

-Your Social Security Number

-Your Date of Birth

Typically, this is the personal information you supply when you apply for credit.

What is considered a public record?

Concerning credit bankruptcies, court judgments, and tax liens are most commonly [items] found in the public records section of your credit reports. Public records are available to anyone who requests to see them.  

How long can information stay on my credit file?

Generally, information can remain in your credit file for around 7 years from the date of default.

Is It Best To Buy A New Car Before Or After I Buy My House?

I am often asked, "Is it best to buy a new car before or after I buy my new house?"

If your goal is to refinance or purchase a home within the next 6-12 months, it is likely best to wait until after you close on your home before taking out any additional new loans, including but not limited to auto loans. New indebtedness may cause your credit scores to drop by lowering your average age of accounts, increasing your number of accounts with balances, and adding new hard inquiries to your credit report(s). Therefore, a new loan could have a negative impact upon your credit scores even if you are making all of the payments on time. 

Furthermore, the new loan may have an effect upon the size of home loan for which you can qualify as the new loan will likely have to be factored into your DTI (Debt to Income Ratio).  Simply put the new loan, whether car or any other type of financing, could lengthen your time frame before you would be eligible to purchase/refinance your home and would likely cause you to qualify for a smaller home loan amount than you would have previously. 

If you are considering trading in, refinancing, or buying a car it is probably best to wait until after you close on your new home loan to do so.

Are You Aware of The New Federal Housing Credit?

There is a lot of confusion about a new federal housing tax credit that was part of the new stimulus package passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama this week.

According toFederalHousingTaxCredit.com Congress enacted a bigger and better home buyer tax credit.  A tax credit of up to $8,000 is now available for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. Unlike the tax credit enacted in 2008, the new credit does not have to be repaid. For more details on frequently asked questions you can go to http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/faq.php#1.

Free Credit Report

Are you aware that you are entitled to a free copy of all 3 of your credit reports each 12 months? You can go to www.annualcreditreport.com to claim your free reports. It is a good idea to check up on your report periodically to be sure you are not a victim of identity fraud or a victim of inaccurate credit reporting information that could adversely affect your credit scores.

HOPE4USA specializes in helping you try to get inaccurate credit reporting information corrected. Please call us at 704-499-9696 and we will happy to help you.

What Can I Do If I Am A Victim Of Identity Fraud?

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you were a victim of identity fraud? We live in a day where our information becomes available to scam artists who are looking to harm you. With the wonderful invention of the internet comes the ability for someone to get our personal information and use it to damage our credit standing.

You must be very careful with whom you share your personal information. We had a young lady come to our program who had never pulled her credit report. She was ready to buy her first home and wanted to know how her credit looked. When we looked at her report there were seventeen accounts that did not belong to her. She was 25 years old and a woman who was 70 had stolen her social security information and opened many accounts fraudulently, using our client's social security number.

HOPE4USA was able to help show her how to get all of these fraudulent accounts removed from her credit reports, but not until our client filed fraud reports, police reports, signature affidavits on each of these accounts and made many, many phone calls. In the end HOPE4USA was able to help teach her how to establish healthy new credit and she was ultimately able to purchase the home of her dreams.

Of course any one has the right to try to tackle the process of repairing credit report damage caused by identity theft on their own. However, anyone who has ever tried to overcome the incredible obstacle of identity theft on their own knows that recovery process can be tedious, frustrating, and involves a lot of red tape. If you would like to hear more about how we can help you please call 704-499-9696 to see if hiring our team of credit experts might be the right fit for you.