Busting Myths about Business Credit

in Forum: Accounting & Financial Management
Source of this discusssion: /media/episodes/9160/business-credit-myths.htm Page description: We debunk the myths and get people on a path to sound business credit practices.
Aug. 04 2008 at 1:21 PM
RabbitMountain Posted by: RabbitMountain
This podcast inspired me to go check out AnnualCreditReport.com to see what's up with my credit. I haven't paid much attention to my credit since I cut up my credit cards and dispensed with my loans back in 1995 so it was quite an enlightening exercise. My credit isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be for not having used it in all these years.

I do have 2 questions.... does a change of address affect a person's (or business's) credit score? Also, my address is wrong on all my reports, which I'm fixing, but I'm wondering if having a wrong address on there would have prevented anything (good or bad) from being added to my reports?

Thanks,
—paula
Rabbit Mountain, LLC, print and digital communications
• NEW! The Sustainable • Local Centre County Shopper's Guide
Aug. 08 2008 at 5:30 PM
Gerri Posted by: Gerri
One thing many consumers don't realize is that credit reports are only created when they are requested. That means that out of all those billions of bytes of information in the credit reporting agencies' databases, they have to find which ones belong to you, assemble the report, and serve it up for the company that requested it, and do so very quickly..

When you request your own report, the CRA has a lot of information to go on. After all, when you order your report you supply your name, current address, Social Security number, etc. When a creditor requests your report, however, they may not have all of that information, or they may have made a mistake in entering your information. So there is some leeway in the matching process that may result in information being incorrectly included in (or ommited from) your report.

Generally, a change of address is not a major issue, because people are mobile these days. However, I would be concerned if there were addresses listed at which you have never lived because that could be a warning that either your credit information is getting mixed up with someone else who has a similar name, or it could be an indicator of identity theft.

You are taking the right action by disputing the incorrect addresses. Let us know what happens!


Gerri Detweiler
Credit expert and author
Co-founder, TheXBanker.com


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