In a nutshell, the FCRA was originally passed in 1970. It is an American federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), it forms the base of consumer credit rights in the United States and is enforced by the United States Federal Trade Commission.
The FCRA was created so that consumers would be granted credit based on fair credit reporting practices. As you probably already know, the big three Credit Reporting Agencies (CRAs) - Experian, Equifax and Trans Union, are engaged in reporting on your credit report. The FCRA laws are the ones that must be followed in the practice of reporting to your credit report.
There is a 79% percent chance that you do have errors on your credit report. A recent (2004) study by an independent research group found that 79% of credit reports survey had some kind of errors or mistakes on it.
How do derogatory items affect my credit report?
Each derogatory item lowers your FICO score. the reason derogatory items have a negative impact on your credit worthiness is simple. When a creditor is considering how risky of an investment you are, they ask themselves the following question:
Do you have a good credit history? - perfect payment records, no late payments and other reflections of a good credit history
Do you have any charge-off accounts? - accounts where you settled for less than the full amount owed
Do you have any accounts in collection? - accounts that have gone beyond late and have been sent to a collection agency
Do you have any judgements? - a lawsuit in which you were the party that lost
Have you had many inquiries in the past 12 months? - attempts to get credit from several lenders
What are inquiries and how do they affect my credit score?
There are two types of inquiries; hard and soft. A hard inquiry can affect your FICO score by as much as five points. This type of inquiry can appear on your credit report if you attempted to get a car loan, a mortgage or a personal loan. A soft inquiry does not affect your FICO score, it is simply someone looking at your report, but not necessarily using it to make a credit granting decision.
What does VG Consulting remove from my credit report?
We remove derogatory items and inquiries. In general, most reports are have errors, mistakes and representations. VG Consulting works with the credit bureaus to remove both derogatory items and inquiries from your credit report.
Does removing derogatory items and inquiries raise my FICO score?
Removing derogatory items from your credit report is the most crucial part of the credit repair process. When derogatory items fall off of your credit report, your FICO score goes up for each item that is removed. Deleting inquiries from your credit report also increase your FICO score, the total impact of each inquiry can be as high as five points per inquiry.
How does a good credit report look like?
A good credit report could look many different ways. An example of such report would have the following essential elements:
3-5 revolving credit card accounts with good payment history and DTI (debt to income) ratio of 30% or less
1-2 installment accounts, such as an auto loan and a mortgage loan with good payment history and in good standing
0 judgements
As few inquiries as possible
Correct name, address and employer
A high FICO score