| Free steps towards protecting your ID
Thanks to a new law in Maryland, you can now request the three major credit reporting agencies not give out your credit report. It is just the newest way to protect you from identity theft. It will cost you $15, a five dollar fee from each credit reporting agencies. But there are two other steps you can take to guard your good name and they are both free.You see ads all the time promising you a free credit report. Those ads are all too familiar to Angie Barnett, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland. “It is all over the internet, we find them everywhere, I'm listening to the radio, you hear it constantly." But Barnett warns buyers beware. She says, “that you can get these free credit reports but what they are going to do is give you something you can already get for free then secondly they are going to try to sell you a bundle or package of services that are directly related to protecting you from identity theft." She goes on to say that those services are steps you can take on your own without paying.The federal government requires all three of the major credit reporting agencies, Transunion, Experian and Equifax, to give you a free copy of your report once a year. There is only one place on the internet where you can do that and it is http://www.annualcreditreport.com“We encourage people to be sure you stagger it," says Barnett.
Industry dragging feet on 'piggyback' antidote
So-called "piggyback" credit-score inflation schemes for mortgage applicants haven't been reined in, despite industry pledges to do so at the end of summer. As a result, lenders continue to be misled into treating loan applicants with poor credit as prime-credit candidates - worsening already critical fraud and delinquency problems in the mortgage market. Fair Isaac Corp., developer of the FICO score widely used for home loan underwriting, confirmed that its "FICO '08" scoring model is not yet available at any of the three national credit bureaus. .
Cut back on your credit cards
Do you ever feel like the statements and credit-card offers just keep coming? Consumer Reports' Money Adviser says cutting down on your credit cards is one of the simplest ways to streamline your financial life.
Most people only need one or two credit cards. If you carry an American Express or Discover card, you might want to consider adding a MasterCard or a Visa because they're more widely accepted. .
New credit scores cut users' benefits
Credit bureaus are expected to adopt a new version of the widely used FICO credit score this year that will no longer benefit so-called "authorized users" on another person's credit card account. It's common for parents to add a child as an authorized user on their credit card to boost the child's credit score. That benefit will no longer exist under a new scoring model by Fair Isaac Corp., the company that developed the FICO score. You can still be an authorized user, but Fair Isaac will no longer factor authorized-user accounts into its credit-scoring formulas. The move is in response to the controversial practice of "piggybacking" in which some Web sites allow consumers with poor credit scores to hitch onto someone else's good credit record. These companies say they can boost your credit score by having you added as an authorized user on the credit cards of strangers with stellar credit, for a fee.
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