Gyroscopic Investing

Battle the Credit Bureaus ... and Win

Whether you’re contesting an error or combating fraud, use our guide to give yourself the best shot at success.

https://www.kiplinger.com/article/credi ... d-win.html


An excellent, highly comprehensive article.

A few nights ago I did go to annualcreditreport.com. I was puzzled that for all its identifying questions each of them had NOTHING to do with me and I therefore had to keep answering "None of the Above". At the end of the process I was told it could not supply me with online reports. I could not tell if I AM going to be receiving these in the mail.

Reading this in the article surprised me:

"(accounts in good standing continue to appear on your reports for about 10 years after they’re shut down)"

I cannot tell from this if the closed accounts do show up on the report as "closed".

That was my primary motivation for requesting the reports: To find out how many active credit cards that I have.

Over the last five decades I've had so many credit cards. Many of them have been closed because of inactivity but I've not created any system for keeping track of those. Therefore as I write this I have zero idea how many open credit cards I have. 10? 20? More?

Vinny

why so many

boglerdude wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:33 am why so many

Usually better rewards. Also, many have given a bonus for charging so much on the card within the first three months.

Vinny

yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:01 pm A few nights ago I did go to annualcreditreport.com. I was puzzled that for all its identifying questions each of them had NOTHING to do with me and I therefore had to keep answering "None of the Above".

Same here. When I've occasionally been asked a series of challenge questions on the credit bureau web sites, the correct answer to 90+% of the questions (sometimes all of them) is "none of the above." Not sure why they designed it that way.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:01 pm Over the last five decades I've had so many credit cards. Many of them have been closed because of inactivity but I've not created any system for keeping track of those. Therefore as I write this I have zero idea how many open credit cards I have. 10? 20? More?

You must receive an obscene amount of junk mail.

Tortoise wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:00 pm

yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:01 pm A few nights ago I did go to annualcreditreport.com. I was puzzled that for all its identifying questions each of them had NOTHING to do with me and I therefore had to keep answering "None of the Above".

Same here. When I've occasionally been asked a series of challenge questions on the credit bureau web sites, the correct answer to 90+% of the questions (sometimes all of them) is "none of the above." Not sure why they designed it that way.

yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 5:01 pm Over the last five decades I've had so many credit cards. Many of them have been closed because of inactivity but I've not created any system for keeping track of those. Therefore as I write this I have zero idea how many open credit cards I have. 10? 20? More?

You must receive an obscene amount of junk mail.

I seek it out!

Vinny

Everybody seems to be providing free credit reports nowadays including Turbo Tax and Credit Karma so why is it so hard to get? Even the credit bureaus are required to provide one free report per year plus anytime you get declined due to information on the report. At least that used to be the law when I was in the business.

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:10 pm Everybody seems to be providing free credit reports nowadays including Turbo Tax and Credit Karma so why is it so hard to get? Even the credit bureaus are required to provide one free report per year plus anytime you get declined due to information on the report. At least that used to be the law when I was in the business.

Do they provide them online or via the mail?

Vinny

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:43 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:10 pm Everybody seems to be providing free credit reports nowadays including Turbo Tax and Credit Karma so why is it so hard to get? Even the credit bureaus are required to provide one free report per year plus anytime you get declined due to information on the report. At least that used to be the law when I was in the business.

Do they provide them online or via the mail?

Vinny

Turbo Tax and Credit Karma are online. The bureaus used to be through the mail but I suspect theirs are online too nowadays.

Both Turbo Tax and Credit Karma will tell you what factors are affecting your score the most so that can be very useful.

Having a lot of open accounts with zero balance might not be having as much of an impact as you think. Actually, in calculating the percentage of available credit that you are using it would have a positive effect.

pp4me wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 11:01 am

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:43 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:10 pm Everybody seems to be providing free credit reports nowadays including Turbo Tax and Credit Karma so why is it so hard to get? Even the credit bureaus are required to provide one free report per year plus anytime you get declined due to information on the report. At least that used to be the law when I was in the business.

Do they provide them online or via the mail?

Vinny

Turbo Tax and Credit Karma are online. The bureaus used to be through the mail but I suspect theirs are online too nowadays.

Both Turbo Tax and Credit Karma will tell you what factors are affecting your score the most so that can be very useful.

Having a lot of open accounts with zero balance might not be having as much of an impact as you think. Actually, in calculating the percentage of available credit that you are using it would have a positive effect.

I am regularly getting my credit card score via a few of my credit cards. It's the whole credit report that I'm after just to make sure there is no activity on any cards I'm no longer using or never used.

VInny

yankees60 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 2:37 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2020 11:01 am

yankees60 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 6:43 pm

pp4me wrote: ↑Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:10 pm Everybody seems to be providing free credit reports nowadays including Turbo Tax and Credit Karma so why is it so hard to get? Even the credit bureaus are required to provide one free report per year plus anytime you get declined due to information on the report. At least that used to be the law when I was in the business.

Do they provide them online or via the mail?

Vinny

Turbo Tax and Credit Karma are online. The bureaus used to be through the mail but I suspect theirs are online too nowadays.

Both Turbo Tax and Credit Karma will tell you what factors are affecting your score the most so that can be very useful.

Having a lot of open accounts with zero balance might not be having as much of an impact as you think. Actually, in calculating the percentage of available credit that you are using it would have a positive effect.

I am regularly getting my credit card score via a few of my credit cards. It's the whole credit report that I'm after just to make sure there is no activity on any cards I'm no longer using or never used.

VInny

Experian allows you to make an account and check online for free. Credit Karma is your Vantage score, similar but not exactly as FICO, it's supposed to be more modern and you can check your credit report weekly.