January 16,2009
-
Surviving the CC Earthquake, Pt.3 –
– Start with the easy stuff.Notice the free report does not come with your credit card FICO score. Ultimately, you'll need to know your FICO Score but, if you already know it's bad, you may want to wait until you've fixed some things before paying for it. If you don't know where you stand now, it's well worth finding out before spending much time wrestling with an unwieldy credit report. Still get the free credit report but note, this may be the best time to also order your credit card FICO Score for $7 to $9. You will be offered the ‘opportunity'. If you have a WaMu (JP Morgan/Chase-owned) credit card account, you can get your FICO Score any time you want for free. Just open up a web account with them (log on to their website) and choose the "FICO® Credit Score" hyperlink.
Once you have your credit report in-hand, you can quickly scan down through the categories. Note that Credit Cards will only be one area covered but that other areas can still have a detrimental effect on your credit card score (FICO):
Irregularities: You'll probably spot irregularities quickly. Those can usually be fixed, though it may take a month-and-a-half (depending on when you catch the cycle). Even though unrelated, they can still affect your credit card score. Typical situations are the same claim is listed in two different ways.
Disputes: Next, look for disputes. Don't be surprised to find something you believe is unfair. There are easy on-line methods to dispute just about any item. The bureaus are charged, by law, to investigate your disputes for accuracy. They are only given 30 days with which to respond and remove inaccuracies and non-verifiable charges (it may take longer for the administrative part, however). Just like ‘Irregularities', unrelated claims can still affect your credit card score.