When Personal Finance issues are brought to Work (part II)

Here is how to Stop Collection Calls at work and Order a FREE copy of your Credit Report

Are Debt Collectors Harassing Your Employees? As debt growns so do debt collectors. They often use aggressive techniques in their attempts to collect, such as harassing debtors at work and demanding information from employers.

There is protection under the federal law, The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Under the Act, a debt collector cannot continue to contact an employee at work if the employee tells the debt collector that his employer disapproves of the calls. This should stop the calls and the disruption to business. Also remember, employers are not to disclose any employee's information without the employee's written authorization - no exceptions!

This act only covers professional debt collectors, not the actual creditor owed the debt. Also, if a large number of debt collectors are pursuing this employee, it will take time for him to inform each one of his employer's policy. If the employee informs a debt collector and they continue to call, the employee can sue the collector in state or federal court. He can report it to: state’s attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission.

Do your employees know how the Credit Bureau works?A credit bureau or credit reporting agency is in the business of gathering, maintaining, and selling information about consumers' credit histories. It collects information about consumers' payment habits from credit grantors like banks, savings and loans, credit unions, finance companies, and retailers. The bureau stores this information in a computer database for seven years and sells it to credit grantors. When you apply for a new credit card or loan, the credit grantor orders your credit report. The bureau charges the credit grantor a fee for every credit report sold.

Although credit-reporting agencies provide your credit report to lenders, they do not make lending decisions. It is up to individual lenders to evaluate your credit report and any other factors they consider important and then decide whether or not to offer you credit.

There are three major credit bureaus providing nationwide coverage of consumer credit information in the United States: Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. Although many national lending institutions report consumer credit information to all three, smaller banks and other credit grantors may report to only one-or even none. Therefore, your credit report from one credit bureau is not necessarily exactly the same as your credit report from another.

Experian
P. O. Box 9595 [see note], Allen, TX 75013-9595 Tel: 888-397-3742 http://www.experian.com/
When ordering your credit report, you might be asked to provide the following information: First, middle and last name; current address; previous addresses for the past five years; social security number, date of birth; spouse's name. If you are not entitled to a free credit report, they will charge you a fee around $10 for a copy of your credit report
Note: Experian has a long history of changing its mailing address periodically, so the mailing address provided may not be accurate.

Equifax
P. O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 Tel: 800-685-1111 http://www.equifax.com/
When ordering your credit report, you might be asked to provide the following information: Full legal name, address, social security number, most recent former address. If you are not entitled to a free credit report, they may charge you a fee around $10 for a copy of your credit report.

Trans Union
P. O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022 Tel: 800-888-4213 http://www.transunion.com/
When ordering your credit report, you might be asked to provide the following information: First, middle and last name; current address; previous addresses for past two years; social security number, date of birth; current employer; phone number. If you are not entitled to a free credit report, they may charge you a fee around $10 for a copy of your credit report.

If you want to order your credit reports online, you are entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the three credit bureaus -- Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

How to Request Your Free Credit Report
To comply with the FACTA legislation, the three major credit bureaus have jointly set up a website so that the public can order their free credit reports over the Internet. The website is http://www.annualcreditreport.com/.
You can also request your free credit reports by calling 1-877-322-8228 or by writing to:
Annual Credit Request Service
P. O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

If you don't qualify for free credit reports because you've already requested a free one this year through the FACTA program, find out if you can get a free credit report based on another reason, such as unemployment, identify theft or credit denial.

Why take advantage of the free credit report offer?
It is a good idea to check your credit report with each of the three credit bureaus once a year in order to make sure there are no mistakes that are causing you to pay higher interest rates and that no one is using your credit identity to obtain financing or services. There are millions of identity theft victims each year. You should definitely check all three credit reports a year before applying for a mortgage loan so that you can improve your credit rating as much as possible to save thousands on the purchase of your home and lower your monthly mortgage payment significantly -- a higher FICO credit score can lower your monthly mortgage payment.