A “revolving” credit account is an account where your monthly payment is based on your balance, which can change from month to month. Revolving balances can also be paid in full without incurring finance charges, if paid within the the “grace period.” Revolving utilization, also known as your “debt-to-limit ratio” or “credit utilization,” measures the… Read More

The biggest news this week revolved around a piece on “60 Minutes” about a Federal Trade Commission report on the accuracy of credit reports. Are Mistakes Ruining Your Credit Report? Credit.com’s Director of Consumer Education Gerri Detweiler took a look at the FTC report, which found that one in five consumers have errors on their… Read More

The federal watchdog agency tasked with ensuring consumers have more protections that relate to their finances recently released a study on the ways in which the credit reporting industry typically works, and its findings prompted a hearing on Capitol Hill. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs’ Subcommittee on… Read More

Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a study focusing on the “infrastructure and processes” employed by the three major credit reporting bureaus, Experian, Equifax and Transunion. The paper and the accompanying conference call with the media both focused on the centrality of the credit reporting industry in the lives of American consumers in the… Read More

While consumers have been able to get a free copy of their credit reports from each of the nation’s three largest reporting bureaus, there was some information compiled by other, smaller firms to which they did not have easy access. However, a new rule from the federal consumer watchdog agency recently changed that. Now, roughly… Read More

In the past, the federal watchdog agency in charge of protecting consumers’ finances and credit has taken responsibility for handling complaints about a number of different types of loans, but has once again expanded its purview. In addition to all the other types of issues over which it accepts complaints, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau… Read More

Comcast sent Karen to collections for a bill she didn’t owe, and it took her several months to clear it up. She’s angry and wants to take them to court to sue them for damaging her credit. She wants to know how much she can ask for. Here’s how Karen described it in an email… Read More

Most consumers are aware that how they manage “standard” credit obligations — such as mortgage, automobile and student loans as well as credit cards — are recorded in their credit histories at the three major national credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion).  This information is then accessed and used by lenders when evaluating a person’s… Read More

Credit does not have to be complicated. At Credit.com, we sometimes receive questions that can be vexing to an average consumer, but to a true credit expert it is actually quite simple. Reader Mike Smothers asked us just such a question recently: “When a credit card company issues me a new credit card,” he wrote in… Read More

Credit reporting can be very confusing for consumers. We get this question all the time: How do the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — gather the information in our credit reports, and how come they sometimes disagree? A Credit.com reader using the screen name “Tammy” is wondering exactly these things. Tammy wrote… Read More