New Review Site: Credit Report Review 2009

By CJ Preece Sep 17th, 2009

One of my favorite SNL commercial parodies, "Don't Buy Stuff," is a biting commentary on our general tendency to buy things we can't afford with credit cards. In an era where kids leave high school and college expecting to have the American dream ready and waiting, there's a lot of pressure, both internal and external, to get the house, the car, the big boy toys, the big TVs etc., etc.

I agree wholeheartedly that younger adult generations tend to think they need or deserve everything that their parents worked years, even decades for, but sometimes there is a genuine need for a more reliable car or a bigger home, or maybe the last big storm tore half your roof off and your insurance company will kindly reimburse you for the 5k needed for repairs. What about education? Investing in your own education is expensive no matter which route you take, especially for those without rich parents or 4.0GPAs footing the bill.

Even with government-backed school loans, you still need a decent credit score, and whether for identity theft protection or to battle the very ills that plague the grand system that is personal credit, you need to monitor your credit scores diligently. You can get a free report from the "Big Three" credit agencies once a year, but that's not enough to meet the monitoring needs of the average citizen. You can even payExperian, Equifax, TransUnion and sites like FreeCreditReport.com (owned by Experian, btw ) to monitor your credit and send reports, and some even offer additional services identity theft protection and insurance, but which is the best deal?

That's why our own Nick Dragon reviewed the top ten credit reporting services, published just this week. I've listed the top three below, but go check out the side by side comparisons and figure out which one suits your needs.

FreeCreditReport.com - TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award Winner

Experian - TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award Winner

Equifax - TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award Winner

Finally, if you've ever applied for a loan and been turned down, you probably received a letter from the bank stating why with a bunch of cryptic codes. Thanks to the majesty of the internet and great sites like Consumerist, I give you the table below. When a financial institution denies your loan app, they do so for various risk reasons. Some are obvious, like not paying your bills and owing too much money relative to your income, but others might surprise you.

**Reasons lenders might deny your loan application and the associated codes**
Risk Reasons	Equifax (EQ)	TransUnion (TU)	Experian (EQ)
Amount owed on accounts is too high	1	1	1
Level of delinquency on accounts	2	2	2
Too few bank revolving accounts	3	N/A	3
Too many bank or national revolving accounts	4	N/A	4
Too many accounts with balances	5	5	5
Too many consumer finance company accounts	6	6	6
Account payment history is too new to rate	7	7	7
Too many recent inquiries last 12 months	8	8	8
Too many accounts recently opened	9	9	9
Proportion of balances to credit limits is too high on bank revolving or other revolving accounts	10	10	10
Amount owed on revolving accounts is too high	11	11	11
Length of time revolving accounts have been established	12	12	12
Time since delinquency is too recent or unknown	13	13	13
Length of time accounts have been established	14	14	14
Lack of recent bank revolving information	15	15	15
Lack of recent revolving account information	16	16	16
No recent non-mortgage balance information	17	17	17
Number of accounts with delinquency	18	18	18
Date of last inquiry too recent	N/A	19	N/A
Too few accounts currently paid as agreed	19	27	19
Length of time since derogatory public record or collection is too short	20	20	20
Amount past due on accounts	21	21	21
Serious delinquency, derogatory public record or collection filed	22	22	22
Number of bank or national revolving accounts with balances	23	N/A	23
No recent revolving balances	24	24	24
Number of revolving accounts	26	N/A	26
Number of established accounts	28	28	28
No recent bankcard balances	N/A	29	29
Time since most recent account opening too short	30	30	30
Too few accounts with recent payment information	31	N/A	31
Lack of recent installment loan information	32	4	32
Proportion of loan balances to loan amounts is too high	33	3	33
Amount owed on delinquent accounts	34	31	34
Serious delinquency and public record of collection filed	38	38	38
Serious delinquency	39	39	39
Derogatory public record or collection filed	40	40	40

New Review Site: Credit Report Review

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