Your Credit Report & You

Like it or not, shades of the future have arrived. There is an enormous amount of data available on each of us- from where we went to grade school to who our spouses, children and pets are- that is available to anyone with an Internet connection and who knows where to look to get it for free or buy it. The available data includes your credit report, and in some cases, a range of your earnings.

We, as mortgage brokers, receive almost daily solicitations from companies trying to sell us “leads”. These are lists of people that these companies have obtained from a variety of sources including public records, “family of companies” (read the privacy statements from your creditors) and, much of the time, the credit bureaus.

The three major credit reporting agencies, as a matter of business, sell names and contact information of people with certain requested credit profiles to these companies. The only way to prevent your name from being sold (and the resultant sales call/letter) is to contact the bureaus and have your name removed. This step will drastically cut down on your junk mail; I know it has for me.

As I mentioned, your whole life is available with a few keystrokes. Unfortunately, sometimes those keystrokes aren’t accurate. When this happens to your credit report, the results can be disastrous. It takes no proof from any company that reports to the credit bureau of the accuracy of the data that they are reporting. In truth, the vast majority of this is reported correctly. But when your account is reported as past due, or your credit file is crossed with someone else’s, it is a long and entailed process to correct it that can take months. If you are buying or refinancing a home you don’t have months.

Scheduled for December is a law that requires the credit reporting agencies to provide you with a free copy of your report annually upon request. Keep an eye on the papers for how to request; but do request it and start any clean up now before it’s time to see me.

Fixed Rates for conforming mortgages (under $333,700) at 0 points as of 6/21/04 (a.m.)
For Jumbo Loans (over $333,700) add about a quarter to the rate
30 year fixed: 6.25% (APR 6.34%) payments are $2,054.65/mo.
15 year fixed: 5.625% (APR 5.77%) payments are $2,748.93/mo.