credit report help!!

[Person24]

Here is my problem.
My credit is pretty good, but on my credit report it says "Amount owed on accounts is too high." I don''t really understand why it says that. I have no debt. I have never taken out a loan in my life. My credit card is payed in full every month. I don''t get it? Does this mean someone out there stole my identity and took out a loan in my name?

thanks for the help!

 

[D&T]

did you go through each item one by one to see if any of the creditors is not one you''ve opened up an account with?

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Look at all of the accounts on your credit report and see what your credit limit is and what your balance is. It could be that you had a balance a the time of the report before you paid it off for the month. usually the ratio and/or total dollar amount of the balance to your total available credit is what triggers that.

If someone stole your identity and opened an account in your name, that account should also show up on your credit report. Is there anything unusual?

 

[Person24]

It was not a full report. Just one you get when you apply for a loan that the government requires the lender send to you.

So what should I do now that you all know this! thanks

 

[Hera]

If you pay your total in each month, the total might have reported before you had a chance to clear it to 0. Look at the day it reported, would your balance have been 0 on that particular day?

 

[Person24]

My credit card was paid a few days before they ran the credit report. So could a problem be that I have no income? Therefore, even tiny balances look bad? (i am a student).

 

[Hera]

Would it have posted to your account by then? It can take a couple of days if there was a weekend.

 

[Person24]

No idea . . .

I am going to call the credit agency on Monday to see what is triggering it. I will just have to be in suspense until then!

 

[Hera]

I'm thinking your income is not part of that equation. You could try calling your credit card issuer and finding out the day that your payment posted to cross reference it with the day they reported. Also, You might want to post over at creditboards.com to see what they say.

 

[D&T]

use this site. You get a free credit report from all three bureaus once a year and you don't need to sign up for any trial periods like other sites. You can dispute your items online or phone call. Very user friendly and in depth.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

 

[Person24]

Thanks for the information everyone! I appreciate it.

 

[Hera]

Date: 1/23/2010 6:39:38 PM
Author: D&T
use this site. You get a free credit report from all three bureaus once a year and you don''t need to sign up for any trial periods like other sites. You can dispute your items online or phone call. Very user friendly and in depth.


https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Yes, it''s always good to see your reports every year. I can predict the only explanation it will give is "One or more of your accounts is too close to it''s limits" or something unhelpful like that.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 1/23/2010 6:27:02 PM
Author: heraanderson
If you pay your total in each month, the total might have reported before you had a chance to clear it to 0. Look at the day it reported, would your balance have been 0 on that particular day?

Ding ding ding! Heraanderson would be correct. A credit report is a snapshot of your credit situation on the day and exact time that the information was being reported.

If you suspect that there are errors on your reports then you should go to www.annualcreditreport.com and pull all three of your reports, which is FREE once per year. After you get your reports you need to look at each entry and determine if it''s being reported accurately. Look at the amount owed (balance), credit limit, payment amount, etc. and make sure the information is correct. If there is incorrect information contained on any one entry then you must file a dispute directly with the credit reporting agency reporting the information.

When you dispute information the best way to do it is via Certified U.S. Mail, return receipt requested. This is because the CRA only has a certain amount of time to correct the information, and if they don''t then you can sue them under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and sometimes the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). In order to sue, however, you must make a paper trail showing that you attempted to remedy the situation in a timely fashion and the CRA failed to comply with one or both of the laws referenced above.

It is also important to note, however, that many of the comments listed on your credit report are "boilerplate" meaning that they appear on nearly everyones report and so it is probably not affecting your score. The best thing to do to get and maintain good credit is to pay your bills on time, every time and to maintain balances less than 20% or so of your established limits.

 

[Mara]

go online and get your free credit report and look at each of the balances individually to make sure it all looks kosher.

you should do this at least once a year anyway to stay apprised of what is on your report.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Yes, for sure everyone should get a copy of their report each year. That reminds me that I need to check mine.

The deal with me was a few years back I had a $7.00 error on my report and it actually, belief it or not, prevented me from getting a loan. No joke!

 

[fossilrock]

does anyone know a reputable website that I can pull my credit SCORE? I pull my credit report from annualcreditreport.com, but i would like to see what my beacon score is as well. i know its not provided by anyone free, but im not sure of a legit place that i would want to give my info to

 

[perry]

There is no "free" site to get your credit score.

There are several sites that can give you a rough estimate.

One problem is that each credit agency calculates the score a bit differently; but they all usually agree within a normal band.

Perry