Credit Repositories

A consumer should review their credit report at least once a year to make sure the info on their credit report is correct. They may obtain a copy of their credit report by contacting the following credit reporting repositories:
TransUnion
P.O. Box 4000
Chester, PA  19022
(866) 887-2673
www.transunion.com		 Experian
P.O. Box 2002
Allen, TX 7501
(888) 397-3742
www.experian.com/reportaccess		 Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA  30374
(800) 685-1111
www.equifax.com
If the consumer notices incorrect information reported on their credit report, they have the right to request the repositories to re-investigate any item they feel has been reported incorrectly. The repositories will investigate the dispute by contacting the creditor to confirm the data in their records. If the data was reported incorrectly, the repositories will change it in their records.
Improving Your Credit Score

A credit score is a number between 350 and 850 and is intended to indicate the consumer’s credit worthiness. The higher the score, the better. To improve one’s credit score, here are some potential strategies one can use.
Pay your bills on time. Late payments and collection accounts have a substantial negative impact on your credit score.
If you have missed payments, get current and stay current. The longer you pay your bills on time, the better your score.
If you are having trouble keeping up with your payments, contact your creditor or credit counselor to help.
Keep your credit card balances low. A high balance would have a negative impact on your credit score. Credit scores will increase by reducing the balance rather than closing the account.
Rather than transferring balances, pay off your credit card balance. Minimizing the amount of credit cards with debts may help improve credit scores.
Don’t open a new credit card, instead, increase your current credit cards limit.
Re-establish your credit if you have had problems in the past. Opening new accounts and paying them on time will help increase credit scores.
Monitor your credit by ordering a credit report directly from the credit repository every so often. By requesting it directly from them, it won’t affect your score.