March 27, 2009
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Small Business Financing Tied to Credit Score, Pt.4
Delving your credit report.On the flip side, there are surely ways to hurt yourself with credit cards. Being late is one of the worst. Just being a little bit late can whack your score by 25 to 60 points. Being a lot late can easily whack 100. This has been shown to cost firms thousands of dollars over just a few years just for one incident. Another way to hurt yourself big is exceeding your credit limit. As a woman found out last week in appeals court, the courts will side in favor or the credit card lender even when they take you to the cleaners if you ‘live on the edge. The woman always kept her card close to the limit. So, when she accidentally went a little over for the second time in 12 months, the bank slammed her hard. The court sided with the credit card lender, calling the woman reckless and irresponsible. This can get very expensive. Overhead that few small businesses can afford in this day and age.
When it comes time to get serious and delve into credit card reports, there are some good remedies to be found here. Note that we're all entitled to receive three credit reports every 12 months – one from each of the three main reporting bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). By staggering each one by 4 months, a person can continue to receive freebees the year around. They can downloaded from the AnnualCreditReport.com website or by calling (877) 322-8228 and requesting a free written copy. Make sure to specify you're after the freebee (they usually cost). Stay clear of Freecreditreport.com, however. They'll find some way to manipulate money out of you. Also, beware of debt consolidation companies who promise to get your credit card debt forgiven. Even if they do deliver (and most don't) they'll string you along with payments to them so that, in the end, they've sucked all the moneys out of that you might have saved.
When you get your free credit report, quickly scan down for inaccuracies that might be hurting you (you'll probably find a few). Then, dispute them immediately on line (you can do that). Be prepared to provide supporting evidence for your claim. In the case of credit card fraud, this shouldn't be very difficult. Also, have the bureau place a fraud alert on your account so the activity can go no further. The alert will usually stay in effect for 90 days, in which time, no one will be able to make changes in your behalf without directly contacting you first.