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Posted
Nov 04 2008, 11:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
What's the No. 1 way to tell that a credit-repair firm is not legitimate? It asks you to pay upfront for services that haven't been rendered, "Blunt Money" says.
Another tip-off, she writes: No matter what they claim, "no one can remove accurate negative information from anyone's credit report."
Unfortunately, many desperate people have responded to ads containing bogus claims, often paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to shady firms promising to improve their bad credit. As a result, the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have launched a crackdown on unlawful practices, targeting 33 companies.
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Posted
Feb 27 2008, 12:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Mike Richard at Master Your Card was intrigued by the LifeLock commercial in which the company CEO shares his Social Security number with the viewing public, as if to say, "LifeLock's services are so good that I dare you to try to steal my identity." So Mike decided to check out LifeLock's anti-identity-theft service -- which costs $120 -- to find out what all the fuss is about. "As it turns out," he writes, "every preventive service they offer is relatively easy, convenient and readily available for consumers to do themselves."
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Posted
Dec 04 2008, 10:48 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Martin H. Bosworth at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. If there's one thing Kristen King knows, it's how to use a credit card smartly. The Richmond, Va.-based communications consultant uses her American Express Open Blue card to finance purchases for her self-owned business, including supplies, travel costs and regular expenses. "I made every payment early and amounts well over the minimum due -- and by 'well over' I mean several hundred dollars more than the minimum," King said. "I never exceeded my limit." Thus it came as a shock when she received a notice via e-mail that American Express was cutting her credit line, effective immediately, with no advance warning.
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Posted
Jul 24 2009, 07:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
Earlier this week we took a look at how to get your free FICO credit score from myFICO.com. Operated by the Fair Isaac Corp., creator of the FICO credit score, it offers consumers a free credit report and FICO credit score when they sign up for a 30-day trial of Score Watch. The FICO credit score myFICO.com provides is from Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus.
And that's where some confusion can creep in.
There are three major credit bureaus: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. And each of these credit bureaus calculates a consumer's FICO credit score, which can be and usually is different for each credit bureau. In other words, you likely have a different FICO credit score from each of the three major credit bureaus. And to add to the confusion, each of the credit bureaus calls its version of the FICO credit score by a different name.
So let's quickly sort all this out:
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Posted
Jan 14 2009, 03:50 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Have a credit card you haven't used in the last year or so? It might be canceled.
Numerous credit card companies are cutting costs by closing accounts due to inactivity, and they're doing it without warning.
Can this ding your credit score? The simple answer is: Yep.
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Posted
Dec 03 2008, 06:45 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Filed under: banking, The Dough Roller, mortgage rates, credit rating, credit cards, credit reports, credit card rates, credit score, bad credit, car insurance, insurance rates, homeowners insurance
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. We all know just how important our credit score is when we apply for a loan. High credit scores get approved, while low scores do not, subject to other factors, of course. But your credit score and credit history affect a lot more than whether you get approved for a loan. Here are seven unexpected ways your credit score and credit history can affect your finances.
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Posted
Jul 31 2008, 09:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If you're paying big bucks to credit-repair companies to piggyback on other people's good credit and artificially increase your score, the credit-score police will no longer be fooled.
So says Fair Isaac Corp., the company that devised the widely used FICO credit score. Fair Isaac has figured out a way to detect when people are abusing the privilege of authorized-user status on other people's credit cards. "Fortunately, we were able to come up with technology that makes it much harder to game the system," Fair Isaac chief operations officer Mike Campbell told CreditCards.com.
This is good news for consumers.
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Posted
Dec 02 2008, 06:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Filed under: banking, credit, Bargaineering, online banking, financial planning, credit cards, credit reports, homeowners insurance, mutual funds, estate planning, wills, executor, emergency fund, income tax, tax software
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Popular Mechanics created a list called "100 skills every man should know," which naturally gravitated toward DIY/physical skills like jump-starting a car and splitting firewood. The Frisky listed "30 skills every woman should have before turning 30," which actually touched on more than physical skills (though No. 12 is physical), with a handful of financial skills (Nos. 17-20). The following isn't a checklist of things you necessarily need to do in your life. It's a list of things you should know how to do in case the need arises.
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Posted
Jun 06 2008, 04:54 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Most of us -- or so we hope -- are aware of credit reports. But did you know about other databases that contain histories of your insurance claims, medical care and other personal information? "Isn't it scary how much of your information is floating around out there?" says Jonathan at My Money Blog, who explains how you can get these reports for free. Since they're used to determine how much you pay for -- and sometimes whether you get -- insurance and other necessities, it may be worth your time to find out if the information in these reports is accurate. It's bad enough that a prospective insurer can find out you're being treated for "American Idol" addiction, and even worse if you're really not.
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Posted
Nov 07 2008, 09:09 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Several high-schoolers and college students have asked me for advice on how to build a credit history in a safe and responsible manner. One of them is "Jenna": I'm currently a freshman at Washington University. I know I need to build up some good credit for the future, when I have to get a car loan and such, but I don't know where to start. I'm worried about getting way into debt like some people I know. Building a positive credit rating was one of the things I did right during my college and early professional years, and it has paid off time and time again with low insurance rates and good terms on student loans, car loans and our mortgage. How do you go about building a positive credit history if you have never applied for any form of credit?
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