| Insurers Win at US Supreme Court on Credit Law (Update4)
June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court limited the rights of consumers under a federal credit-reporting law in a victory for insurers Safeco Corp. and Geico Corp. and other financial services companies. The justices today said the Fair Credit Reporting Act doesn't require insurers to notify every consumer who is offered something short of the lowest premiums when seeking a rate quote or applying for a policy. ``Notices as common as these would take on the character of formalities, and formalities tend to be ignored,'' Justice David Souter wrote for seven of the court's nine justices. The court also unanimously limited the applicability of a provision that permits damage awards even when consumers don't suffer any injury. Although the justices didn't go as far as the insurance industry had sought, they said Safeco wasn't subject to the provision because it didn't recklessly violate the law.
5 small mistakes that cause big damage to a person's credit history
Credit history and credit score if good can get us good loans and credit cards at better terms. We make a lot of efforts to remain in good books of credit rating agencies. But little things such as those listed in this article if not taken care can do serious damage to a person's credit history. Make sure you don't make these mistakes. 1. Not checking credit reports for wrong credit card charges can land you in serious trouble, and adversely affect your credit score. All this for only a simple fault that you didn't keep track of your expenses, false charges increased your monthly credit card bills, which you weren't able to repay and got a negative mark in credit report. Isn't that silly? .
3 compelling reasons why you shouldn't use a credit repair agency ...
Having negative entries in your credit card report? Looking for a credit repair agency to wipe out the blemishes. Stop! You could be heading for trouble. The three reasons listed in this article will open your eyes to the credit repair fraud. Read on to know how the credit repair companies are ripping you apart. 1. Credit repair companies take advantage fears of credit card holders with negative credit reports, and use it to fill up their coffers. To do this they aggressively market themselves as if they can get every single negative entry on your credit report removed. This is simply not the case. Naturally plenty of people see this as a great opportunity, aggressively marketing their credit repair companies to those in trouble. .
The cruelest card
Pay down debt: The closer you are to the limits on accounts, the more it lowers your score. Get your available-credit-to-credit-used ratio under 50%.
Loan yourself money: Open a savings account and take a loan with the savings as collateral.
Keep older accounts: You need to show stability on your credit history, so keep accounts that have been established for more than three years.
Check your credit: By law, you're allowed one free copy of your credit report each year from each of the three credit bureaus. Printer friendly version Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery .
Fight Identity Theft With Credit Monitoring Services?
There are many counselors suggesting their clients to resort to credit monitoring services in order to fight identity theft. Though such procedure may be a good suggestion, you may wonder whether its the optimal procedure in your particular case and whether it is worth the money it cost. Lets analyze its benefits and drawbacks and what other alternatives you may have. Credit monitoring is the key to avoiding identity theft; yet, it is not the only measure you can take in order to impede unscrupulous people from obtaining your credit details and social security number to use them for their advantage. There are other things you can do to reduce the risk of being a victim of identity theft and you can even monitor your credit yourself without hiring third party services. Credit Monitoring Services Explained A credit monitoring service provides you with updated information as regards to any access to your credit report.
Need Good Credit? Borrow Mine!
People with bad credit can spend years trying to make up for past mistakes. But an increasing number of people have found a quicker way: buying a share of someone else's good credit rating. The practice is called piggybacking, and lenders and credit reporting agencies aren't happy about it. At first, it may sound like identity theft. But people with good credit are voluntarily working with those with bad credit. In fact, according to a recent AP story, you can make decent money selling your good credit -- with the financial companies that act as intermediaries taking a cut as well. How it worksThe idea behind piggybacking is elegantly simple. By adding someone as an authorized user on your credit card, you essentially give him access to your good credit. Obviously, you wouldn't want to let a stranger actually use your credit card to make charges.
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