Staying on Top:

1
Staying on Top

• Credit Reports and Scores

2
Whats in Your Credit File?

• Personal identification information
• Public record information
• Collection agency account information

3
Whats In Your Credit File?

• Credit account information
• Companies that requested your credit file
• Most negative information stays on your file for
  7 years, except for bankruptcy which can stay up
  to 10 years

4
Mistakes on Credit Reports

• Wrong name
• Clerical mistake copying handwritten name and
  address to electronic source
  
• Inaccurate Social Security Number or clerical
  mistake in copying number
  
• Loan or credit card payments inadvertently
  applied to the wrong account

5
Whats Your Credit Score?

• Information in your credit report is used to
  calculate your FICO credit score
  

6
Whats Affects Your FICO Score?

• Payment history
• Amounts owed
• Length of credit history
• New credit
• Types of credit used

7
How Actions Affect Credit Scores Examples

• Run up 2 credit cards to the max
• Score drops from 780 to 700
• Pay off a credit account
• Score increases from 600 to 680
• Pay late on a bank loan payment
• Score drops from 720 to 645
• Pay all credit accounts on time
• Score increases from 707 to 727

8
Your Credit Report and/or Score Impacts

• Purchasing a car
• Purchasing a home
• Obtaining a loan
• Renting an apartment
• Auto and life insurance
• Acquiring a cell or home phone
• The deposit on utilities
• Finding employment

9
Beware of Higher Cost Credit

• Tax Refund Loans
• Rent-to-Own
• Car Title Loans
• Bounced Check Protection

10
How to Obtain Your Credit Report

• Access one free credit report a year from each
  credit bureau at www.annualcreditreport.com. You
  must contact the individual credit bureaus for
  the other two free reports.
• EQUIFAX 800-685-1111 www.equifax.com
• EXPERIAN 888-397-3742 www.experian.com/freestate
  
• TRANS UNION 800-888-4213 www.transunion.com

11
What is a Good Credit Score?

• Over 700 GREAT
• 660 - 680 Average
• The higher the better!

724
790
615
660
680
12
Your Credit Rights

• You have a right to know whats in your credit
  report and who has received a copy (Fair Credit
  Reporting Act)
  
• Creditors cant discriminate on the basis of
  race, color, religion, national origin, sex,
  marital status, age, or because an applicant
  receives income from a public assistance program.
  Creditors must tell consumers specific reasons
  they were denied credit (Equal Credit Opportunity
  Act)

Source www.privacyright.org/fs/fs6-crdt.htm
13
Your Credit Rights(Continued)

• Lenders must disclose credit costs and repayment
  terms before you enter into a credit transaction
  (Truth-In-Lending Act)
  
• You have rights when you dispute charges on a
  credit card bill. If a credit card is lost or
  stolen, your losses are limited to 50 per card
  (0 if you notify the lender before the card is
  used) (Fair Credit Billing Act)
• Debt collectors cant harass you they cant call
  your workplace if you say no or your home after 9
  p.m. (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act)
  

14
Credit and Debt Counseling Services

• Budget Counseling
• Debt Repayment Plan
• You agree to not use the cards
• The debt counselor may arrange for you to make
  smaller payments and pay less interest and fees
  
• You pay the debt counselor who pays your
  creditors
  
• The debt counselor will not put the repayment
  plan on your credit report BUT creditors may

15
For individual help with serious debt problems,
contact
Consumer Credit Counseling Service
www.cccsatl.org
800-251-CCCS
16

• For more information, contact
• The Peer Financial Counseling Program
• PFC_at_uga.edu
• www.uga.edu/osfa/pfc

17
Special Thanks to...