tems of property, and unpaid taxes. Debts which can usually be put off until later are debts such as credit and charge cards, department store and gas charges and student loans.
Any of the above factors can have a negative impact on a person's credit history. Therefore it is necessary to get a copy of your credit report and see exactly what has been indicated on it. There are three major credit reporting agencies on a national level. These include TRW, CBI and Trans Union. These agencies do not make actual comments to your files. However, they do report factual credit repayment information reported by stores and other lenders that may be negative. As a result, your report will indicate the number of times and to who, you have had 30, 60, 90 and 120 day late payments.
Anyone denied credit is entitled to a free credit report. Otherwise, the agency will send the report to you for a nominal fee ranging from $8-$15. If there is an error on the credit report you need to notify the reporting agency. The agency will send a letter to the creditor requesting an investigation. The creditor has a legal time limit of 30 days to respond to the inquiry. If there is inaccurate information, the creditor by law has to notify the reporting agency to remove the derogatory.
In reality it is worth challenging every negative overdue indicator. Often a creditor such as Sears or Penney's does not have the time to respond to the inquiry in the given time period. To make life easier they will just remove the negative comment. Also if there has been only one overdue payment on the given account, as a courtesy they will remove it. There is no reason for you to tell them about the other creditors.
If you start to receive harassing notices in the mail you can talk to the creditor directly and ask for an extension. They can be accommodating. However, it is critical that you get the name of the person who okays the late payment. Writ...