Credit Law Issues - FAQ's (Page 1)
How Can I Increase My Credit Score?
Here are the steps you need to take to increase your credit score:
- Order your credit reports directly from the credit reporting agencies
- Receive an evaluation from our office. Our firm regularly offers free evaluations, which involve a thorough review of all errors. Warning: Don't be surprised if we mark dozens of items, yes dozens! Most reports contain many, many errors. We recently reviewed a doctor's reports and found 81 mistakes.
- Retain us to prepare demand letters to the credit reporting agencies for correction and deletion of the errors contained on your report. The process usually takes about 30 days to hear back, with corrections and a new higher score.
How Do I Know If I Have Errors On My Credit Report?
The only way you can know if there are errors on your credit report is to have them reviewed. You can do this be ordering or reviewing them on your own, or you can use us to do it for you. Our staff has collectively reviewed hundreds of thousands of reports, and we know what we are looking for. Currently, the evaluation is free.
How Can I Prevent Identity Theft? (Part 1)
There are several things that you can do to protect your identity from being stolen. There are too many ways to mention all of them here, but here are a few:
- Limit the number of credit card offers you receive. Do you ever receive credit card approvals without even asking for them? If you do, it's because your information is sold to credit card companies by credit reporting agencies. These are known as pre-screened offers. Sometimes this mail can be intercepted from your mailbox and people begin to use your name and credit for their own purposes, ruining yours. You can prevent these pre-screen offers from being sent to you by going to www.prescreenoptout.com.
- Limit the use of your social security number.
- Watch out for phishing. Many emails may come to you looking like they come from real sources, such as paypal or Ebay. Never click on links and give someone your name and password. They can access and ruin your credit.
- Do not let any merchant take your credit card out of your sight. Many fraudulent dealers will swipe your credit card in a separate machine and download your credit information and use it.
