What Does Your Credit Report Really Say About You?

Credit Report

When buying a car, renting an apartment, or even getting a job - a credit report is often pulled. What's on that report may surprise most consumers. According to a study by U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, one in four people have mistakes on their credit report. These mistakes have cost jobs, rejected loans, and ruined many people's lives.

"Credit is connected to our lives in every area and our scores determine our interest rates, insurance premiums and very livelihoods," says Denise Richardson, consumer advocate and author of the new release Give Me Back My Credit! "We need to expose the high price consumers are paying for dirty credit report data in order to fix a system gone terribly wrong."

Richardson is just one of the millions battling errors on her credit report. She paid a little extra on her mortgage each month, hoping to shorten the length of her mortgage and pay less interest charges. That simple, recommended practice catapulted her into an epic David vs. Goliath battle stealing her true credit identity and a decade of her life. When her 10 year saga ended and she reclaimed her good name - that victory would be brief. Soon she realized others were shredding her credit and their illegal acts perpetrated against her would ultimately steal another five years from her.

"Knowledge is power, and consumers need all the power they can get in order to protect their money and good name. Without this all important knowledge, consumers are wide open to an array of problems that could find them as easily as they found me," says Richardson.

Having been through some of the worst corporate behavior towards consumers the financing industry is capable of, Denise Richardson has experience and advice for other consumers who are going through similar situations.

Credit Report five key problems to look for:

• The dates of derogatory notations " dates affect the length of time things can be reported in your file.

• The accuracy of the status of open and closed accounts.

• Check to see that accounts paid off have been properly closed.

• Look for frivolous disputes or for bad referrals from private firms that are not on subscriber contracts with the credit bureaus.

• Any inaccurate data on any issue identified.

Denise paints a human face on the insidious affects of identity theft, and inaccurate credit reporting that can happen to anyone. She also provides well-informed tips, resources and knowledge necessary to protect a good name and true and accurate credit identity.

Denise Richardson has been an avid consumer advocate for fifteen years and has recently been appointed to the Board of Director of the American Consumer Credit Education Support Services (ACCESS) a non-profit 501 organization dedicated to protecting consumers nationwide from finance industry abuses with headquarters in Washington DC. She currently resides in Hollywood Florida.

"Give Me Back My Credit is a book that every American consumer must read. Denise exposes the truth about how our nation's credit system really works and how our consumer protection rights have slowly, but intentionally been wiped away by corporate greed and government acceptance. In a clear and simple voice, Denise teaches everyone how they can try to protect their rights and how we must collectively fight back to get back our rights and our credit." Ira Rheingold, National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA).