| Tips on improving your credit score
Your credit score influences many areas of your life. A prospective employer will check your credit when considering you for employment. Your insurance agent may check your credit when deciding to insure your car or home. Your lender, whether for a home loan or other consumer debt, will check your credit score when making a determination. Your credit report shows the history of your borrowing activities as they have been reported to the credit reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) by lenders, court records and others at a point in time. The credit score helps credit grantors to evaluate this information quickly because it gives a snapshot of your payment history. Thousands of credit grantors send updates to the bureaus -- usually once a month. These updates include balances, monthly payment amounts and whether there have been late payments.
For more information
Generally, you will need to freeze at all three bureaus - TransUnion, Equifax and Experian - to make it effective. It's possible, however, that a bureau doesn't have a report on you - and it's silly to pay to freeze something that doesn't exist. So before you apply, get a copy of your free annual credit report from each bureau to see who has a report on you. You will also want to check the freeze terms at each bureau before deciding. How to apply: TransUnion has its system up and running. Send your name, Social Security number and a credit card number and expiration date (for the $10 charge) to TransUnion, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, Calif., 92834-6790. If you are a victim of ID theft, freezes and thaws are free. For more information, call 1-888-909-8872.
Credit freeze: Three largest credit bureaus will put a lock on data reporting to protect against fraud
As of Nov. 1, consumers wanting stronger protection against identity theft can freeze their credit reports at all three major credit-reporting agencies -- regardless of their state's laws. TransUnion was the first of the three largest credit bureaus to grant credit freezes to all consumers. It rolled out its plan on Oct. 15. Equifax and Experian mirrored the offer weeks later, and introduced their universal credit freeze plans on Oct. 31 and Nov.1, respectively. Consumers living in Michigan and other states that don't have credit freeze laws (or just limited ones), now have the ability to place a freeze on their TransUnion, Equifax and Experian credit reports. Victims of identity theft will be able to place, lift or thaw, and remove the freeze for free, while nonvictims will pay $10 each time.
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