Credit Card Companies Abusing their Powers with Credit Reports
Are Credit Card Companies Abusing their Powers with Credit Reports?
Part 2: As part of series of articles (blogs) regarding Credit and Credit Score, here we start:
A One-Dollar ($1) Late-Fee, due to inaccurate credit reporting, cost me an additional $4,300 to buy a car. Wa! Can you believe it?
This is a true story that happened to me personally. Home Depot sent my account to the three collection agencies and reported to credit bureaus that I was late 30 days (1 month) for $1!
I have never received any bills from them, after so many times calling them and explaining that I never received the bill, they CLAIMED they have sent the bill via email which I never got it. I requested to send me a copy of that email that was sent to me, as of now, almost two years later, they have not responded.
In spite of many months of efforts to resolve this inaccuracy with Home Depot and Citibank, who is the issuer of the Home Depot credit card, they did not remove their inaccurate information from my credit report which cost me an additional $4,300 to buy a car. For more information on this case please see "How a One-Dollar ($1) Late-Fee Can Cost an Additional $4,300 to buy a Car? section from the book I recently wrote and is entitled "Credit Score Tips and Tricks".
The Federal Trade Commission’s February 2013 report shows that as many as 26% of people have an error on their credit report.
60% have not reviewed their credit score within the past 12 months.
65% have not reviewed their credit report within the past 12 months.
“4Ways American are Financially Illiterate” by the Wall Street Journal published in June 2013 reported that 61% of American adults failed the basic finance test.
National independent studies show that the average American lacks the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to make the most effective decisions regarding financial matters.
These studies and other situations that I have seen, encouraged me to do extensive research and write a book to help others to become aware of things that affect their credit scores, how to go about correcting inaccurate information from their credit files, how to improve their credit scores and how to avoid becoming a victim of inaccurate credit reporting.
Remember, some creditors such as Home Depot and Citibank will abuse their power and do not care if they are causing major problems or hardships in somebody’s life by ignoring the facts. Don’t give them or any other creditor that chance.
I have decided to bring and share with you, chapters or sections of the book, as series of articles here. This is the number 2 of such a series.