Greg Snow - Southwest Florida Real Estate Expert provides real estate services to Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Islands

Most people know about credit reports and that a good credit score makes obtaining loans easier and cheaper. Typically in a credit report one finds information about creditors, account numbers, types of accounts, dates the accounts were opened, amount of credit or loan, payment amounts, balalnces, and if any of the accounts are past due, and how long they may be arrears. Accounts that have been closed or paid off usually remain on the report for seven years. Magnetic tape is supplied to the three repositories monthly reporting the status of accounts creditors have in their records.

Judgments, tax liens, bankruptices, and other Public Records information is supplied by local Court Houses with the information remaining on credit reports for seven years (except for bankruptices stay on 10 years and open tax liens stay on for 15 years). All inquiries made during past two years show up with the name of lender, the date, and often the type of credit being requested. Your information can differ in each bureau for myriads of reasons from dates it was reported to family members with same names being confused. It is an excellent idea for everyone to check their credit yearly with alll three bureaus. It usually costs about 8$ each, and if you have been turned down for credit, the report should be free.

The proceedure for challenging an item you disagree with, is to notify the agency of your dispute. The agency will send the creditor a dispute form, and the creditor has twenty business days to respond. If the twenty days go by, and no response has occured, you have the right to have the status changed. If a response does come back, and you still disagree, you can enter up to 100 words on the credit report explaining you view.

More later. :)