tnreefer.com

This subject came up at the hobby store yesterday, and i am constantly surprised by the number of people that aren’t armed with this simple piece of information.

In 2003, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act implemented a provision that requires all 3 credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, to provide, upon request, a free credit report to any consumer once every 12 months.

This means free. Truly free. No “enrollment in $PROGRAM” or “Processing fee” or any of that garbage.

Further more, there is one…and ONLY one…site authorized by the Federal Trade Comission AND all 3 credit agencies to act as the interface for requesting your report. That site is:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

The FTC says:

AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY authorized source for the free annual credit report that’s yours by law.

ANY other site that proposes to offer you a copy of your credit report must APPLY FOR THE REPORT, just like a creditor would, and will likely be charged a fee…a fee they will somehow pass on to you…for doing so.

Annualcreditreport.com will also direct you to the appropriate credit agency links for placing a fraud alert or security freeze on your report, or for requesting your credit score. There may or may not be a fee for these services, depending on the agency and situation. FACTA does NOT require ANY of the agencies to perform these services fo give you this information for free.

Of these services/information, a “security freeze” is probably the most advisable. A security freeze basically directs each agencie not to issue a credit report to ANYONE who requests one unless they have a passcode and appropriate personal information only YOU can give them. In other words, unless you are specifically asking someone to run your credit report, or running it yourself, nobody can run it. This can go a long way to preventing identity theft, as well as stop unscrupulous collection agencies in their tracks.

The fee for a credit freeze is usually set by your state of residence, and is typically no more than $10. You must apply for a freeze with each credit reporting agency. If you’ve already been the victim of identity theft, in many states, the fee is waived.

Part of BECOMING debt free is to actually pay all your old debts. I will NEVER advocate bankruptcy, or any other method of neglecting your responsibilities. You PROMISED to pay something, and you SHOULD. Once you grab debt by the horns, and start kicking it to the curb, you’ll want to see your credit reports to make sure you’re thourough…and also that the debts you DO pay off reflect that settlement accurately.

Once you ARE debt free, part of STAYING that way is to make sure nobody’s using your name, and nobody’s snooping around where they don’t belong.

In BOTH cases, it’s in your best interest to use the only AUTHORIZED source for that information, and to know your rights, and the services available.

Think again.

We “right wing nuts” have been called lunatics, conspiracy theorists, and racist because we yelled from the rooftops that the current administration is what it is…socialist haters of man, individuality, and success.

Well…what, then, does that make Democrat Max Baucus?

The last couple-three years, the maldistribution of income…has gone up way too much. The wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy.…This legislation will have the effect of addressing that maldistribution of income in America.

Don’t believe me?

How much more clear do they have to make it, folks?

No longer are you ALLOWED to succeed or fail on your own merits.

Unable or unwilling to make your own way? no fear…the government will give you MY money. Why? because I have MADE TOO MUCH OF IT.

Never mind that my mind, my work, my effort created it. Never mind that i earned it. Never mind that I deserve it, and by the laws of man AND nature it BELONGS TO ME. You may have it…because you didn’t make any of your own, and I did.

Ladies and gentlemen, in any other costume, that is called THEFT. It is WRONG.

Men in every culture in history have made stealing illegal.

Every religion in the world condemns the act.

But GOVERNMENT may sanction it, call it a ‘redistribution of wealth’, and suddenly it becomes a moral imperative, and we are lunatics and worse for decrying it.

Welcome to your brave new world.

One of the myths perpetrated by those who would have you live in slavery is that your credit score can keep you from finding a job. Not true!

Like nearly everything else when job hunting, credit checks are a matter of company policy…policies that you, the job hunter, must CHOOSE to accept as part of your employment conditions.

Would you accept a job from a company whose policy was that you must wear a mini-skirt and 6″ heels every Friday…even if you’re a man?

What about a policy that stated you had to purchase 365 expensive hankerchiefs, one for eachd ay of the year, since blowing your nose in tissues was unseemly?

I know…these are ridiculous…but that’s sort of the point. They have roughly as much to do with your ability to perform your job as your credit score does…and yet, companies all over love to check your credit as part of the hiring process….and love to tell you it’s common practice and that there’s some mysterious valid business reason for it.

Now, maybe you find having your credit checked as part of a background check to be acceptable…if so, knock yourself out. If you agree that your willingness and tendancy spend money for the privalege of spending money you don’t have is indicitive of your ability to do your job, then by all means, agree to the credit check.

If not, however, consider the following:

1) The FCRA demands that you be informed if a company’s going to check your credit. So, be informed! Read everything before you sign it…and if it’s not clear, ASK!

2) Ask around. Talk to friends, neighbors, other employees. “Hey…did ______ check your credit when they hired you?”

3) If you’re adamant about it, then save everyone some time. Make a note on your resume or job application that you will not consent to a credit check as a condition of employment.

4) Give it a shot anyway. If you really want the job, then go ahead and apply. Even amongst those companies that have a credit-check policy, there’s rarely a “minimum FICO score” needed for employment…and if there is, then it’s (by definition, since the two are unrelated) an arbitrary number than can be overlooked.

Finally, take heart… at least 15 states are considering joining the 2 who already make it ILLEGAL to check your credit as a condition of employment: