If you’re like other Arizona residents, you’ve taken an active interest in your credit score and credit reports. Now that the economy has taken a turn for the better, it may be time to undo some credit damage. In order to get the ball rolling with credit improvement, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the three major credit bureaus; TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Of course, you may be wondering what the is “best” credit bureau to use? Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer to that question. All three credit bureaus are important. In order to accurately monitor your credit report, you will need to monitor your credit report from each credit bureau.
Why Arizona Consumers Should Get to know all Three Credit Bureaus
There are actually more than three credit bureaus in the U.S. Still, the major ones are TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. None of the major credit bureaus are federal agencies. They’re actually private, for-profit companies that collect information from creditors. This information is then added to your credit reports. Because there are three companies collecting credit information on you, you have three separate credit reports.
The reported items that end up on your credit reports come from banks, credit card companies, lenders, healthcare providers, and others. This information is useful to lenders because, for a fee, they can pull one or more of your credit reports in order to see how well you’ve managed past accounts. You rarely know which credit report will be checked when you apply for a loan or a credit card. Some lenders use only one bureau while others may use more than one.
Some lenders report to one credit bureau, but not the others. This is why your credit score may be different from bureau to bureau.
If you are one of the many Arizona residents who are currently in the process of fixing damaged credit, you should also be concerned about errors on your credit reports. There are a lot more of these out there than you may think. In fact, up to 80% of all consumer credit reports contain errors of some type, and these mistakes can drag your credit score down. These inaccuracies might be lurking on only one of your credit reports, or possibly all three. This is another reason to request credit reports from all three credit bureaus when you decide to get serious about credit repair.
How Arizonians Should Choose a Credit Monitoring Service
Checking your credit reports is easy. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) entitles you to one free credit report from each of the major credit bureaus every twelve months. Just go to www.annualcreditreport.com. This website is authorized by federal law and serves as a portal to TransUnion.com, Equifax.com, and Experian.com.
If you’re interested in signing up for a credit monitoring service, you can do this with all three credit bureaus. These services are similarly priced and offer similar features. For a monthly fee, a credit monitoring service will allow you 24/7 access to your credit reports and a version of your credit score. (Note, that none will provide you with the actual credit score that is viewed by your lenders). You will also be alerted (either by email or text message) about any activity involving your credit report, or if your credit score changes.
A lot of Arizona consumers use a credit monitoring service to track their credit repair progress. Receiving alerts about hard credit report inquiries is also a good way to stay on guard against identity theft. Reading online reviews from other Arizona consumers might be helpful in deciding which one is right for you.
Unfortunately, no credit monitoring service will be able to send you a message that says, “Hey! There’s an error on your credit report!” To find these inaccuracies, you’ll need to request and look over your credit reports. However, if you do find credit report errors, you can get a FREE credit repair lawyer to help you get them removed.
The Free and Legal way to Get Better Credit
Don’t let errors on your credit reports bring your credit score down. At Credit Repair Lawyers of America, we’ve been cleaning up credit reports for consumers since 2008 for free. How do we do it? All of our fees come from the defendants in cases that are settled. This is why our clients pay nothing for the work we do.
Let’s start the conversation about what we can do for your credit. Set up your free consultation today by calling Attorney Gary Nitzkin at (888)293-2882 or sending him a message through our contact page.
