Guides and tips on repairing your credit score and removing negative items from your credit report.
Three kinds of credit report mistakes regularly damage people’s credit through no fault of their own: identity errors, where the credit bureau mixes your file with someone else’s; collection errors, where debt buyers and collectors report duplicates, wrong balances, or re-aged dates; and creditor errors, where a lender or servicer reports a late payment you …
3 Credit Report Mistakes That Aren’t Actually Your Fault Read More »
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the federal law that governs credit reports. It gives you the right to see what’s in your credit file, get free reports, dispute inaccurate information, have unverifiable information removed, limit who can access your report, and place free credit freezes. It also sets time limits on how long …
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): A Complete Guide Read More »
A secured credit card works like a regular credit card, except you pay a refundable security deposit when you open it. The deposit usually becomes your credit limit — a $300 deposit typically means a $300 limit. You make purchases, receive a monthly bill, and make payments, and the issuer reports your activity to the …
How Secured Credit Cards Work (and How to Use One to Build Credit) Read More »
Most negative items stay on your credit report for seven years. Late payments stay seven years from the date of the late payment. Collections, charge-offs, and repossessions stay seven years plus 180 days from the date you first fell behind on the original account. Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays 10 years from the filing date, and …
How Long Do Negative Items Stay on Your Credit Report? Read More »
To rebuild credit after a financial setback, work in this order: stop new damage by keeping every current account paid on time, fix what’s wrong on your credit reports, resolve open collections carefully, add new positive history with a secured card or credit builder loan, lower your credit utilization, and then let time work. Negative …
Rebuilding Credit After a Financial Setback: Your Complete Recovery Guide Read More »
ChexSystems is a consumer reporting agency that tracks how people have handled checking and savings accounts. When you apply for a new bank account, many banks and credit unions check your ChexSystems report. If it shows an account that was closed with an unpaid negative balance, repeated overdrafts, or suspected fraud, the bank may deny …
How ChexSystems Works and Why It Can Block a New Bank Account Read More »
To dispute a fraudulent credit card charge, lock your card, call your card issuer’s fraud department right away, and ask for the charge to be removed and a new card number issued. Then follow up in writing — under the Fair Credit Billing Act, send your written dispute within 60 days after the first statement …
When someone dies, their credit card debt doesn’t disappear — but it also doesn’t automatically pass to their family. The debt is generally paid from the person’s estate, meaning the money and property they left behind. If the estate doesn’t have enough to cover all debts, unsecured creditors like credit card companies may simply go …
A past eviction or collection can follow you for years because it lives in several places at once: your credit reports, tenant screening reports, court records, and banking databases like ChexSystems. Most collection accounts stay on credit reports for seven years plus 180 days from the date you first fell behind, and eviction-related records can …
Autopay itself doesn’t affect your credit score — credit bureaus don’t know whether you pay automatically or manually. But autopay can protect your score by preventing late payments, which are the biggest threat to your credit. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans, including pay-in-4 options such as PayPal Pay in 4, may or may not …
Does Autopay, BNPL, or PayPal Pay in 4 Affect Your Credit Score? Read More »