Credit Reporting Agency - Know The Truth Before Buying

By Justin Fox

Credit Reporting Agency - You already know that getting a good credit report and score is your key to financial security. It's a fact that it's one of the most important things in life. It's basically your lifeblood, you want that nice car, big house and happy family. Bad score equals bad life, period!

So where do you get your Credit Report and Score from? A Credit Reporting Agency of course.
But,

I'm Justin and I got ripped off. See they want your money, bad! If you don't know the following information then will take it from you and you'll end up with something you don't need.

Now, It's important you understand I'm not saying don't get a credit report, actually you have to, there's no way around it, but, you will get sold extra services you might not need and that's what you need to be aware of.

To understand this better, lets have a quick look at the three huge companies that has effectively locked out any competition and generate massive profits. The three main credit report bureaus are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Do you know that the group that represents the three bureaus spent a record $1.4 million on federal lobbying in the year 2006? and nearly double what it spent in the year 2004. According to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Why's this you ask, what are there motives, don't they just store my credit info. Well not quite, they commonly publish news items in the main media outlets that help sell and hype the idea that identity theft is a massive problem and you need to protect yourself or your life will be ruined.

Misinformation is truly the best friend of credit bureaus as it dissuades so many people from even attempting to dispute their credit.

Let's have a look at some other facts about Credit Bureaus:

1. The credit bureaus are still enormous corporations with enormous power.
2. They have double digit revenue growth
3. Investigating credit disputes is something they are forced to do
4. They have developed a full arsenal of tactics to keep from investigate disputes.
5. Tactics include general propaganda, to strong-arm tactics, to methods of questionable legality.
6. In 2006 litigation-related matters, increased 8 percent to 57 cents from the second quarter of 2006. (Equifax)
7. There primarily motivated to collect your information and then sell it off.
8. Credit bureaus were the definitive source for your credit information - so they started off ahead of any competitor.
9. They have absolutely no motivation to ensure its completeness or accuracy
10. They just take the information they provided to them. The add it to your credit reports and sell it off.

The Government has helped, but: If the group that represents the three bureaus spent $1.4 million on federal lobbying just last year then these rights will be eroded away again, The government has help consumers in the following ways:

• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)The FCRA was passed to add accountability to the credit reporting process so they can no longer collect whatever they want.
• You have right to a free yearly copy of your credit reports
• You can dispute the accuracy of the items in your credit reports
• But, it does not mean the credit bureaus now make sure your reports are accurate.

It has to be said that knowing the history and the motivations behind the credit bureaus is your very own tool to understanding the true nature of the credit reporting system.

I really do sincerely hope this gets your mind ticking and that this article gives you with a few tips and provides you some good advice to think about when getting your credit report.

To get more advice and information on credit report dispute, or Credit Score and Credit Reports click on credit-reporter.net

Written By: Justin Fox

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