Why is an entire town in Vermont having trouble borrowing money? Apparently TRW accidentally gave everyone in the town of Norwich, Vermont, a bad credit report. An anomaly, says TRW. The problem began with Margaret Herr, a Vermont housewife who works part-time for a Georgia company that gathers information for TRW on delinquent property taxes, among other things. In the course of her duties, Ms. Herr came to Norwich to acqu...

There are two kinds of credit reports; consumer credit reports and investigative consumer reports. Consumer credit reports list credit history, place of employment, social security number, and marital status. This is the most common kind of credit report and it is used primarily by potential creditors. The second kind of credit report, the investigative consumer report, provides much more detailed information. It is usually...

Three agencies virtually monopolize the credit reporting industry:

lRW, Trans Union, and CBl/Equifax. Equifax's reach is not limited to the United States; it is also a primary credit information supplier in Canada. These three agencies pro...

In their quest to become more competitive, credit bureaus have become more resourceful in their methods of data collection. In some cases they may even cross the boundaries of legality. In general, however, they use several legal sources of information.

• Current and previous creditors.
• Public records.
• Internal analysis.
• Credit applications.

Current ...

The Fair Credit Collection Act protects consumers from unreasonable collection action. Although the federal act only applies to outside collection agencies and to legal firms doing collection work, some states, as has been said, have passed state acts that have authority over in-house collection agencies. The acts prohibit the following practices:

• Using profane or obscene language.
• Threatening to harm...

The consumers of mortgage, credit card and auto loan always compare rates of different credit companies before shopping their financial products. It is very beneficial on behalf of customers to save their money via comparison shopping methods. When you are going to purchase a credit card, you should have complete information about all terms & conditions of Credit Card Company. Every credit company always offers privile...