The 9 Credit Reporting Rights of Every Consumer

Consumers have legal rights to correct mistakes

Good credit is essential for everything from buying a car or new home to applying for a job. Credit reports are compiled by credit bureaus with information gathered from creditors. The three largest credit bureaus are Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.

Not all creditors report information accurately or completely to the bureaus. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that was enacted to regulate the collection and use of consumer credit information. It requires compliance from credit bureaus to protect the consumer and forms the base of consumer credit rights.

The FCRA is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of every credit bureau. Most credit bureaus gather and sell information on you. For example, whether or not you pay your bills on time or have filed bankruptcy. This information is potentially given to creditors, employers, landlords, and other businesses.

One of the most important provisions of the FCRA allows a consumer to dispute information on a credit report. In turn, the credit bureau must either remove the disputed information from the credit report or verify its truth with the creditor if that information is to be left on the credit report.

A study released by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that 79% of the consumer credit reports surveyed contained some kind of error or mistake. Consumers affected can invoke their rights under the FCRA to review and correct their credit reports.

The FCRA gives consumers 9 specific rights:

Right #1- Consumers can challenge the accuracy of a credit report at any time.

Right #2- The credit bureau must investigate anything challenged.

Right #3- The credit bureau must investigate within 30 days.

Right #4- Access to a consumer's credit information is limited.

Right #5- If the credit bureau does not or cannot confirm the information challenged within 30 days, it must delete the information from the credit report .

Right #6- If a creditor verifies the information challenged, the negative marks must remain on record. Consumers have the right to maintain the information reported is in dispute and can submit a Consumer Statement of the issue. This statement (100 words max) is then attached to every report that is sent out to explain the consumer's side.

Right #7- Consumers must be told if information on their report has been used against them.

Right #8- If a consumer is denied credit within the last 60 days, they are entitled to a free copy of their credit report.

Right #9- A consumer's consent is required for reports that are provided to employers or that contain medical information.

The length of time information remains on a credit report for credit and collection accounts is seven years from the date of last activity, for courthouse Records is seven years from the date filed, and for bankruptcy chapters 7 and 11 are ten years from the date filed. The complete statute of the FCRA is located at http://www.ftc.gov/

Adjustable Rate Mortgages are On the Rise

What you need to know to save money with the increasing rates.

There is an estimated two million 3 and 5 year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs
) set to adjust in coming months. The adjustable rate mortgages that are about
to adjust are all predicted to go up as high as fifty percent. This fact has many homeowners ready to panic since there are around five billion to one trillion dollars worth of adjustable rate mortgages that are on the rise.

The good news is that by having an adjustable rate mortgage you have already seen a savings in interest of thousands over the last few years. Now if you are worried that the new rate for your ARM is going to be a bit more than you can manage there is good news there as well. The options that exist for those facing an increase in both interest rates and monthly mortgage payments may surprise you.

Many Homeowners Need Not Worry

There are options for refinancing to a fixed rate mortgage. If you are worried about basically starting over with a mortgage that you are nearly through paying off you shouldn't be. By refinancing to a fixed rate mortgage you will no longer have to worry about your interest rate adjusting every few months as the market works to find some measure of stability. In the event that you cannot find a fixed rate that you are comfortable with then there is also the option of refinancing your home with another mortgage with an adjustable rate.

When you refinance to another adjustable rate mortgage it provides you with a lower interest rate that is set for a specified amount of time, usually 3 to 5 years. Both of these options will save you on the currently increasing rates. Even an interest increase of one percent can make payments go up from a hundred to five hundred dollars or more a month.

Since the adjustable rate mortgage will follow the market trend check a reliable refinance calculator on the web. When you refinance not only do you have the possibility of a lower interest rate you could possibly lower the monthly payment.

Some homeowners are opting for a fixed rate mortgage in order to get the security that goes with knowing that the rate will not increase in the future. Due to the current status of the market the interest rate for a thirty year fixed rate mortgage is not much higher than it is for a short term adjustable rate mortgage.

Those with hybrid mortgages that are fixed for a time then adjust should look into refinancing now. Once the adjustable rates kick in there is the possibility of having higher payments and interest rates. If you are in an adjustable rate at the present time it is, of course, in your best interest to refinance before your payments start to increase. If you have a home equity line of credit or second mortgage, more than likely the interest rate has already increased dramatically and it will be better to consolidate that into the refinance.

New Mortgage Sites Give Quotes Without a Catch

Empowering consumers with anonymous, hassle-free answers marks change in industry

For years, well-known mortgage sites have operated by collecting a borrower's contact information and selling it to four lenders who call with a quote. Of course, this can lead to unwanted calls, spam, and junk mail.

New mortgage sites are reversing that model by offering answers without requiring any personal information. This signals a new trend in the mortgage industry: Putting borrowers in control by giving quotes with complete anonymity. Borrowers are provided with answers and then decide if they want to contact a lender without the hassle of lenders calling them.

This trend to empower borrowers is being led by three sites, each with a different approach and focus:

Zillow Mortgage Marketplace - purchase or refinance - Zillow recently launched its Mortgage Marketplace where borrowers and lenders come together in an open, anonymous, and free marketplace. Borrowers submit mortgage requests anonymously and then an unlimited number of mortgage lenders can respond to borrowers' private Zillow accounts by submitting mortgage quotes. Borrowers are anonymous to lenders.

Name, address, phone number or Social Security number is not required. Based on the information provided, mortgage quotes, from an unlimited number of lenders, will be sent to the private Mortgage Quotes section on Zillow. The borrower can then contact the lender, either by e-mail or phone, and ask more questions about the loan quote or apply for the loan.

LionSaves - refinance, debt consolidation - This mortgage refinance calculator focuses on consolidating debt and gives a complete analysis while you remain anonymous. LionSaves is a HUD approved lender that uses FHA and Fannie Mae mortgage refinances to consolidate debt, for which the savings potential can be high. Designed for a borrower with a few debts to consolidate, it request information without requiring any contact info. The site performs a thorough and more personalized analysis to give a debt consolidation/mortgage quote based on real time interest rates while the borrower maintains their privacy.

If there isn't enough equity to payoff all debts, it prioritizes credit card payoffs to maximize monthly savings. Borrowers can play with "what-if" scenarios and view different loan options while they remain anonymous until they choose to apply for the loan with LionSaves.

Mortgage Marvel - purchase or refinance- MortgageMarvel provides a connection portal to different lenders. It requests basic information, including the loan amount, property value and ZIP code, then returns a list of rates offered by specific lenders. Mortgage Marvel gives quotes in complete privacy.

It enables the borrower to get rough quotes quickly by entering only three pieces of non-private information, this requires a few assumptions, which are listed at the top of the results page. It displays up-to-date mortgage rate and fee quotes from multiple lenders in an easy-to-understand table to compare rates, fees, and disclosures. Borrowers can get a quick look at interest rates for the loan they are considering, and then click directly to a lender’s site to complete a loan application.

Most Lenders Don't Want You To Know This Refinance Tip

This key number can negate refinancing.

Whether you need the extra money for bills, home improvement, or your child’s college education or you simply want a lower interest rate, refinancing your mortgage is an option homeowners can consider.

Most homeowners, however, don’t look at one of the most important factors when deciding if refinancing is the right choice for them. This factor is the Payback Period.

What is the Payback Period?

Payback Period is an economics term that refers to the amount of time it takes an investor to recoup his or her original investment. For example, if you gave a friend $1,000 to start a business, the payback period would be the amount of time it took for your friend to return that $1,000 to you.

In terms of mortgage refinancing, the Payback Period is how long it takes for the monthly savings on the refinancing to equal or exceed the closing costs of the new loan.

Calculating the Payback Period

While you can use a refinance calculator to figure out the exact payback period for your situation, let’s look at a hypothetical example to illustrate how those calculations are determined.

Let’s say you refinance your home and end up saving roughly $300 per month because of the reduced interest rate and the lower principal (by the time you refinance you should have already paid a chunk of your home’s cost). The closing costs associated with that loan are $3,500. The question is – based on these numbers – how long the payback period would be.

To find the answer, you simply divide the closing costs by the monthly savings. In this case, that would be $3,500 divided by $300. The result would be just over 11.6 months, so the payback period for this mortgage would be almost one full year.

Why Does the Payback Period Matter?

Knowing the payback period, whether you do the calculations by hand or use a refinance calculator, can help you determine whether refinancing is the best choice at this time. Let’s come back to the example we used above.

If you are planning to put the house on the market in six months, then you’ll be selling the house before you’ve been able to recoup your investment through the savings. That would be an unwise investment decision.

On the other hand, if you have no plans to sell within the next year, you would accumulate enough monthly savings to make the investment in the refinancing worth the cost.

Other Factors to Consider

Using a refinance calculator can help you determine the payback period, but there are other factors you want to consider as well. For example, if you refinance a home you’ve been paying on for five years then you need to consider if the extra savings will also be enough to cover the additional five years of interest you will be paying on the loan.

If you took out the original loan in 2008, the loan should have been paid in full by 2038. If you refinance after 5 years, you won’t pay the mortgage off until 2043. Those extra years could add on enough interest to outweigh your initial monthly savings.

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