Dispute Bad Credit Reports Before Notifying FTC

Looking for a Credit Card for Christmas Shopping? Before you submit a credit card application, first review the main points which will help you choose the right credit card for your needs.

What Charges You'll Make - If you're going to use the credit card mainly for booking airline reservations and hotels, it might be best for you to get a travel credit card that offers sky miles and hotel points or cashback. If this will be an emergency credit card only, then your main concern may be for a low interest rate credit card with low fees.

When You'll Repay Charges - Will you pay off credit card charges in full every month, or will you carry a balance month to month? If you're going to carry a balance, you want the lowest possible interest rate as well as a low introductory rate. But if you'll payoff balances in full every month, then interest rate really doesn't matter so no annual fee and/or a long grace period would be a bigger concern. If you're going to carry a balance, be concerned about how the finance charge is calculated. The most common method is the Average Daily Balance, which means that the daily balances are added together and then divided by the number of days in the billing cycle. Stay away from credit cards that compute the balance using two billing cycles, as this method costs more money in financing fees.

What Amount You'll Charge - If you're going to use the credit card for all your monthly expenses, then you need a card that has a high credit limit and a high cashback percentage.

More info about Interest Rates, Credit Limits, Incentives, Fees and Penalties

Interest Rates - The interest rate (Annual Percentage Rate) APR can either be a fixed rate or a variable rate that is tied to another financial indicator, most commonly the prime rate. With a fixed rate credit card you know what the interest rate will be every month, whereas a card with a variable rate can fluctuate. Of course, even the interest of a fixed rate card can change based on certain events, such as paying your credit card bill late, exceeding your limit, or simply because the credit card issuer decides to change it after providing you ample advance notice.

Credit Limit - This is the amount of money the credit card company will let you charge to the card. This amount varies depending upon the card offer and your credit history. Be sure to get a credit card with an ample limit, because getting close to your max can hurt your credit score. Just remember that you don't have to max out your limit just because it's available.

Incentives - To compete for and to gain customers, many credit card companies offer rewards. Even if you normally use cash, why not use your credit card and then use the cash to make the payment during the grace period? You still won't pay interest and meanwhile you'll rack-up rewards. A credit card with 5% cashback will earn you $5 for every $100 charged. If your total bills come to $2,000 per month, you'll earn a free $100 every month. Look for a rewards program that you'll use and which offers flexibility, such as cashback or travel.

Fees and Penalties - Compare common charges such as late fees, overlimit fees, balance transfers, cash advances, and for making payments by telephone. Regarding balance transfers, look for credit card offers with no transaction fees and zero percent interest for at least 12 months.

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Dispute Bad Credit Reports Before Notifying FTC

By Credit Federal | Published 01/4/2009

FTC To Change Consumers' Credit Bureau Complaint Process

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a report that details the credit bureau complaint process for consumers after they've submitted a credit report dispute. According to the FTC, the majority of complaints they receive about credit bureau disputes end up being resolved to the consumers satisfaction. Most of them, 90% to be exact, are resolved before the FTC ever gets involved. The remaining 10% are typically resolved once the FTC refers the complaint to the credit bureau.

The FTC finds that consumers are submitting credit bureau complaints around the same time they submit the credit bureau dispute, which isn't how the process is supposed to work. Consumers are supposed to use the complaint process after they've gone through the normal dispute process and are unsatisfied with the result.

Of course, it's not a good use of FTC resources to follow up on complaints that have already been resolved, so they are making plans to change the complaint process so that consumers have some recourse after they've exhausted the normal dispute process.

The FTC sent 23,322 complaints to credit bureaus between 2004 and 2007. It's possible the FTC received more complaints from consumers, however, only those that met certain criteria were reported.

Order your annual free credit report to dispute and fix errors.

FTC Reports to Congress on Credit Report Complaint Referral Program

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a report to Congress on the credit report complaint referral program under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The Commission is the federal agency with primary responsibility for compliance with the FCRA and operates a system for receiving complaints from consumers about possible violations of the FCRA. Section 611(e) of the FCRA, which was added by Congress in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), requires the Commission to establish a program to refer certain consumer complaints to the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) � TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian � and to report to Congress on the information gathered in the program. The complaints covered by the program are those received by the Commission from consumers who have disputed the accuracy of information in their credit report with a CRA and are dissatisfied with the results of the process. This report covers the period from the initiation of the program in 2004 through the end of 2007.

The Commission vote to issue the report was 4-0.

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Dispute Bad Credit Reports Before Notifying FTC - by <a href=http://creditfederal.com>CreditFederal.com</a> FTC To Change Consumers' Credit Bureau Complaint Process The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a report that details the credit bureau complaint process for consumers after they've submitted a credit report dispute. According to the FTC, the majority of complaints they receive about credit bureau disputes end up being resolved to the consumers satisfaction. Most of them, 90% to be exact, are resolved before the FTC ever gets involved. The remaining 10% are typically resolved once the FTC refers the complaint to the credit bureau. The FTC finds that consumers are submitting credit bureau complaints around the same time they submit the credit bureau dispute, which isn't how the process is supposed to work. Consumers are supposed to use the complaint process after they've gone through the normal dispute process and are unsatisfied with the result. Of course, it's not a good use of FTC resources to follow up on complaints that have already been resolved, so they are making plans to change the complaint process so that consumers have some recourse after they've exhausted the normal dispute process. The FTC sent 23,322 complaints to credit bureaus between 2004 and 2007. It's possible the FTC received more complaints from consumers, however, only those that met certain criteria were reported. Order your annual <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana;" href="http://creditfederal.com/free-credit-report.html">free credit report</a> to dispute and fix errors. <a target='_top' style="font-family: Verdana;" href="http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/12/fcrafyi.shtm" target="_blank">FTC Reports to Congress on Credit Report Complaint Referral Program</a> The Federal Trade Commission has issued a report to Congress on the credit report complaint referral program under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The Commission is the federal agency with primary responsibility for compliance with the FCRA and operates a system for receiving complaints from consumers about possible violations of the FCRA. Section 611(e) of the FCRA, which was added by Congress in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act), requires the Commission to establish a program to refer certain consumer complaints to the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) � TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian � and to report to Congress on the information gathered in the program. The complaints covered by the program are those received by the Commission from consumers who have disputed the accuracy of information in their credit report with a CRA and are dissatisfied with the results of the process. This report covers the period from the initiation of the program in 2004 through the end of 2007. The Commission vote to issue the report was 4-0. This article provided courtesy of <a href=http://creditfederal.com target=_new>www.CreditFederal.com</a>, a personal credit resource of good or bad credit credit cards and loans.

Credit Tip: Need a high limit for Christmas credit card charges? If you have bad credit, consider a personal loan by refinancing your mortgage. Even if you have cash to buy Christmas presents, we recommend using a prepaid card to make purchases because it's safer than carrying cash.