MyCRA Specialist Credit Repair Lawyers

Tag: check credit report

Interest rates cut to record lows at 2.5%

The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut its cash rate to a low 2.5% – lower than during the GFC. The Sydney Morning Herald says several banks wasted no time in passing on the rates cut to their home loan customers. National Australia Bank and Bank of Queensland said they would both pass on today’s 0.25 percentage point cut in interest rates to the home loan customers in full. This is good news for home buyers with a good deposit and a good clean credit file – but maybe not such great news in the long term for the Australian economy.

By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repair and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

As Australian Broker reported today, the speech made late last week by RBA governor, Glenn Stevens, also indicated another rate reduction was on the cards, with Stevens admitting the RBA was becoming increasingly concerned about major areas of the Australian economy, particularly the passing of mining and credit growth ‘booms’.

Many brokers will be taking this information straight to clients, as 1st Street Home Loans founding director, Jeremy Fisher, outlined in an interview with Australian Broker earlier today.

“First and foremost, we’ll get in touch with any clients that are due to settle and looking at making any necessary changes to their loans. And then we’ll go back and review any clients that are, I guess, a ‘watchlist’. So it’s pretty much just keeping our clients informed of the change.”

Fisher said 1st Street sends out a bulletin to all their clients immediately following RBA cash rate announcements in order to keep them updated.

“Then we just go back to our watchlist and touch base with everyone that’s kind of doing things as we speak – because that may or may not influence what they’re doing.”

Mr Stevens told the Sydney Morning Herald he expected the Australian economy to continue to grow below trend in the near term as mining investment falls, and for inflation to remain consistent with the medium-term target as labour costs moderated.

He added that the Australian dollar remained “at a high level” despite losing about 15 per cent of its value since early April, and welcomed a further depreciation of the exchange rate to help foster a rebalancing of growth in the economy.

Several analysts said the RBA could ease rates again later this year as the country continues to grapple with a slowing economy amid an uneven transition away from mining-led growth.

Taking advantage of interest rate cuts.

With this interest rate cut, we feel it is worthwhile to ramp up our education efforts around credit history. Many people do not know what a credit file is – many more don’t know the process for being listed with bad credit, and more again assume that if there was something amiss with their credit file, that they would somehow be informed. They don’t realise that the onus is on them to check their credit history on a regular basis (at least once per year) just to make sure that errors have not been made on the credit file. Errors can happen to anyone – from all walks of life.

People may believe their credit history is clean, but creditors can and do make mistakes with credit reports, and often it is not until people apply for finance that they have any idea they have bad credit. At this time the process of investigation and complaint can be stressful and can sometimes mean the prospective borrower misses out on the home loan while the discrepancy is addressed.

The process of clearing an unfair credit listing can sometimes be very time consuming – especially if the creditor has not cooperated with requests to supply documentation in a timely fashion, or the matter has to be referred to a third party for investigation.

So the message is, if people are thinking about buying a home in the near future – they should check their credit report first, and make sure it has the “all clear” before they apply for finance, and before they get their hearts set on any particular home. This is free for all credit active Australians once every year and we encourage any home buyer to request a copy of their credit report. It takes 10 working days or for a fee to the credit reporting agency, it can be sent urgently. But what it does is give peace of mind – not only to the Purchaser, but to the Broker or Bank Manager, and in some cases a clear credit file can help get the deal over the line with the Agent and Seller.

If there are any inconsistencies or out and out errors on the credit file, the advantage to getting those removed is generally thousands and thousands of dollars in interest saved by being able to take advantage of those interest rate cuts with the mainstream lender of the buyer’s choice.

To find out more about the benefits of using a credit rating repairer to dispute credit listings, contact a Credit Repair Advisor at MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs on 1300 667 218 or visit the main site for more information www.mycra.com.au.

Image: renjith krishnan/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

06/08/2013
Your Credit Rating – How to Get a Free Credit Check and What to Do if Your Credit Report Comes Back with Defaults

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We recently read a comprehensive article on getting a free copy of your credit report written by Alex Wilson over at online savings website – www.Savingsguide.com.au.

From the long list of comments on this issue, we can see just how many people in Australia still remain in the dark about how to even simply get a copy of their credit rating, let alone dispute any bad credit which they believe should not be there. We take you through some important points from this article and look in more depth at what you should do if you have something like a default or Judgment or other credit listings on your credit report that you feel is incorrect, inaccurate or unfair.

By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Lawyers and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

In the article How To Do A Credit Check – Check Your Credit Rating & Credit Report For FREE – you will learn how to perform a credit check to obtain a copy of your credit report. The importance of checking your credit rating – particularly prior to applying for a home loan, or other significant credit – cannot be overstated.

In this day and age, everything works on credit so you need to have a clear credit rating to be able to function well in society. If you cop a default on your credit file – you will be refused credit with mainstream lenders (at affordable interest rates). If you do get a loan, often the interest rate is much higher. You may also find you can’t get credit cards or mobile phones on a plan. But there are many people who don’t know they have a default on their credit file until they apply for credit and the bank does a credit check on them. To be one step ahead, it is better to check your credit file first – and give yourself a chance to dispute any bad credit history and have incorrect listings removed prior to applying for credit.

“I was worried about my credit report

If you are anything like me, you have probably missed a few phone bills, perhaps missed a mortgage repayment by accident or even worse – gone overseas and been missing in action for a few months with banks frantically trying to get in touch with you.

It made me wonder whether these oversights would affect my credit history and in turn my ability to borrow money come time for a home loan,” Alex writes in the article.

On a side note, oversights like forgetting a credit card bill, a mortgage repayment or any type of payment to a licenced Creditor will see a late payment notation added to your credit file now – and that will be visible from March 2014.

Just what impact this will have on your ability to obtain credit is still up in the air – but having too many late payments, or even just one, could mean you are refused credit, or offered credit at a higher interest rate in the future.

How to Check Your Credit Rating For Free

You can contact us at any stage to do the work for you to obtain a free copy of your credit file or alternatively, here is a run-down of how Alex checked his credit rating for free:

The first credit rating provider I am going to use is called ‘My Credit File’ – they are part of Veda Advantage, one of Australia’s largest credit reporting agencies.

Like many credit rating providers, they offer both a paid and free service. I am of course opting for the free service. All this means is I have to wait a little longer for it to arrive I am told. Not a huge deal.

How to do a free credit check with Veda/MyCreditFile [Now Equifax]

1.) I went to www.mycreditfile.com.au 2.) I then went to the ‘personal’ tab 3.) Scrolled down to find the button stating ‘Free – Find out more’ 4.) Loaded the page called ‘Free Credit File’ which tells you all the details you need to fill out 5.) I then downloaded this form to request a free copy of my credit report 6.) I attached a scanned copy of my drivers license (or passport) and also a copy of my utility bill proving my name and residential address. 7.) Done

I have to say, it was all rather easy. I now just have to wait 10 working days for my credit report to arrive.

Why do they offer a paid version of your credit rating report?

If you are wondering what the difference is with the paid version from MyCreditFile – please note that the only difference is that you pay $99.95 and it in turn comes to you via post, email or fax within 1 working day. E.g. you save 9 days. Still the same report.

Dun and Bradstreet credit rating reportCredit Report

Like Veda[Equifax], Dun and Bradstreet are one of the big players in credit ratings. They are used by many companies as the source of reporting on credit.

They by law have to offer you a free credit report and free copy of your credit history as discussed earlier. Here is how to get it.

How to get a copy of your credit report from DNB 1.) Go to https://www.dnbcreditreport.com.au/ 2.) Look to click on ‘standard credit report’ or similar – e.g. not fast tracked. 3.) On the standard request page you then fill out the online form (takes around 3minutes) 4.) Attach copies of your identification 5.) Submit/mail it 6.) You’re done.

Much easier than the MyCreditFile.com.au website – it’s as if the previous site was trying to hide the free report (well they certainly made it hard to find).

A bit about the Credit Score

If the bank does a credit check on you, they will obtain your credit score. But you are not privy to this number if you order a copy of your credit report – paid or otherwise.

People often ask ‘what is a good credit score?’ – however these credit scoring metrics are often kept confidential with the lenders and credit reporting agencies.

They are a metric that lets them give you an assigned score based on how much debt you currently have, how many credit applications you have filled out recently and more. It is more for the lenders to use to easily categorise people, so it isn’t often you get to find out your exact credit score – which in turn can make it hard to improve your credit score.

In my opinion, everyone should have access to their credit score, and the method used to calculate it.

How do I fix my bad credit?

If you have bad credit – you have two options….

1. You can attempt to remove the default or other credit listing yourself, and there are processes to do this – OR

2. You can use a professional credit repair service.

The benefit in fixing your own bad credit is that it’s cheap. You may have very little costs associated with disputing your own credit listing. But similarly to defending yourself in Court – the cheap option may not be the best one for you.

Credit rating errors are quite common, and the onus of ensuring the accuracy of your credit file rests with you. But how do you know if a listing has been placed accurately on your credit file, or if it should be there in the first place?

There are strict codes of conduct and legislation which must be adhered to when your Credit Provider is placing a default or other credit listing on your credit file. These laws are in place to protect consumers from unfair and damaging credit reporting. Creditors are largely aware of this legislation (yet may not have adhered to it), but there are very few consumers who are well-versed in credit reporting and industry legislation.

In order to dispute a credit listing which you believe shouldn’t be there, you must identify where the Creditor has not adhered to current legislation when placing the notation on your credit file. There is a whole barrage of points which need to be met in order to constitute a valid listing, and if you have not been made aware of all the avenues for dispute, then you could be doing yourself and your case a disservice.

A reputable credit repair Lawyer should dig deeper to conduct an audit-like investigation of your credit complaint to uncover errors or non-compliance.

For more information on credit repair, visit our website www.mycralawyers.com.au or contact a Credit Repair Advisor on 1300 667 218.

Image: Ambro/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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04/07/2013
Use a budget to take advantage of low interest rates

If you didn’t already know, interest rates are now at their all-time lowest at a reserve rate of 2.75 per cent. And banks have begun to lower their interest rates – which is good news for borrowers. In this week’s Make Credit Work For You post, we look at how can you best benefit from those cuts by saving.

You might be saving for a home, or you might be saving in your home – but we show you how to budget. If you’re saving for a home loan, now seems like a great time to purchase – with interest rates at their all-time lowest. If you haven’t quite made it there with your deposit, we look at how a strict budget now might get you there quicker. If you own your own home, take advantage of these low interest rates by paying down your mortgage as fast as possible. This can give you space to re-borrow, to invest or to renovate in the future.

By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repair and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

When interest rates are low, you can borrow or if you have current debt, you can pay your debt down in less time. We show you how you can do that, with tips from Savingsguide.com.au. Their article ‘A Guide On How To Budget To Save Money’ caught my eye this week. With new credit laws coming, and new information about you becoming available to lenders very soon, I believe it’s time to help Australians develop some really good credit habits, and to have their credit reports reflecting that.

Nothing helps with credit habits better than a budget does. As soon as you start with a budget, it forces you to take stock of what you have, and become aware of your spending and credit habits. Australians in that frame of mind are more prepared for next year’s changes to Privacy Laws. And prepared they do need to be. Borrowers will be under the microscope. And they need to be on top of their game when it comes to their finances to not be disadvantaged by credit reporting changes. Let’s look at an excerpt from Savingsguide’s article on how to create a budget:

How to create a budget

To make a budget, you must consider the following:

Income

Decide whether your budget is going to be weekly, fortnightly. I would usually choose whichever budget aligns with the regularity of when you get paid. Once you’ve decided, write down all the income you receive in that month.

Expenses

Write down everything you spend in a week. Chances are you won;t get it right on the first stab, as we spend unconsciously. Here are some ways to track what you’re spending for your budget:

Keep a spending diary. Keep all your receipts, and tally them at the end of the week.

Go through your daily bank account, to check for debits from your account (insurance, membership fees et) that you might not even have be aware of.

Use a tracking app, such as Expense Manager or Expenditure.

Are you in the red? Or in the black?

Tally up your figures, and you’ll have an initial idea of whether you are running your finances in the red or the black. If you’re in the black, fantastic! You now can just add some extra space in your finances. If you’re in the red, a budget will help you to get back on track. Why not colour code using red and black to help you?

Analyse where your money is going & where your budget is leaking

Where is the money heading? What area of your life is draining your finances the most? Chances are, if your budgets look anything like mine, entertainment costs are always shocking. The amount I spend unconsciously on food, shows and late night tipples are, without a doubt, the major unnecessary drain on my income.

What are your essential costs, and how much do you have left over once they’re paid for?

Trim the fat from your budget

Now look for where you can cut back. Discretionary spending is a major source of savings in a budget. Aim to reduce your spending, not cut it out entirely. Great budgets are consistently refined and improved, so start relatively gently. How much do you need to save to get into within your income? Where can that come from easily, and sustainably?

Consider these points:

Housing costs should only comprise 30% or less of your net income. If it’s costing more than that, perhaps it’s time to make some big decisions about where or how you live.

The average Australian household spends the same amount on alcohol as they do in utilities per week. If that’s the case, there is a major saving opportunity there.

We should always consider what we have (in the pantry, in the house to sell) when writing out budgets. We should aim to declutter our life to add extra money to our budget. Sell the stuff you don’t need people! Draft budget

You now have a draft budget. I would call it a draft, as it is a work in progress, one that needs continual revision and maintenance. You should have allocated a general sum to each section of your life, including a sustainable and sensible amount you will be saving per week.

Tips to help you succeed with your budget

For the best results when budgeting, you should consider these three core principles:

Automate your money. As soon as your pay comes in, automatically move your money into the sections you have decreed for your budget. This means money gets automatically deposited for rent, debt repayments, savings etc. We can be our own worst enemy, so take yourself out of the equation.

Discretionary cash. For your entertainment budget throughout the week, I like to have it in cash. The reason? Because once it’s gone, I know I’ll just have to stay in and watch TV until next week.

Keep it simple. It’s essential to not start out too strictly with a budget, it’s often where people fall down (more on this below). Remember, you can always save any money that’s left over and you can always change the amount you’re budgeting throughout the week.

Maintaining your budget

Once you have a budget, you will find yourself needing to occasionally maintain it and update it as you go. Track your budget progress

The absolute best way of maintaining enthusiasm and drive is to watch how your finances have improved. Look at your dwindling debt, or increasing emergency fund. You’ll feel empowered and capable of continuing all the good work. Use a budget program

Apps such as iReconcile or Moneybook can be a great way to easily manage you budget if you’re technically minded. Alternatively there is the Savings Guide made budget planner for purchase here.

Constantly revise your budget

I can’t stress this enough. Budgets are ongoing processes- sometimes they’re too harsh, sometimes they’re too soft. Could you save more? Are you living at an absolute pinch, and eating only two minute noodles? Extremes are never good, and great personal finance is about sustainable saving.

Keep your budget goal orientated

It’s easy to lose motivation, and everybody does. The key is to continue to look at your goals, adapt your goals and celebrate how much closer you are to achieving them.

Fixing your budget

Got a problem with your budget? Here are some solutions to common budgeting woes.

Losing motivation: Your budget fit isn’t right. Either your budget is too tight, and you’re unhappy or it’s too loose and you’re not seeing the changes you need. Use some trial and error to work out what fit works for you. You can change your budget figures from week to week, until you get it right. The important thing is it’s both comfortable and effective.

Broke the budget: It happens to everyone. Don’t give up on the whole thing because of one bad week. It’s a slip up, not game over, so just move on.

Forgotten expenses: A major expense can easily be forgotten, and can easily undermine a lot of hard work when it it is. Don’t panic, this is why we budget, to ensure that unexpected expense is covered. Note the expense in your revised budget, and you can be sure you won’t have to worry about it again.

You get a pay raise: Add it into your budget, but aim to invest the raise in your savings or debt repayment. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your finances improve, and how budgets can enable you to live within your means.

If you have tidied your budget up, and managing to make headway with savings, it is a good time to take stock of what your credit file says about you. Before you apply for a home loan, check that your credit report is accurate and up to date. Each year you are entitled to a free annual credit report – and if you haven’t ordered one this year, you should.

You can request a free credit report through Australia’s credit reporting agencies such as Veda Advantage, Dun & Bradstreet or Tasmanian Collection Services. You may need to contact all of these agencies. A report will be mailed to you within 10 working days. If it’s urgent you can request one quicker for a fee.

Check that everything reads correctly. If there’s anything you’re not sure about – particularly credit listings which might hold you back from obtaining credit, address them with your Credit Provider before you apply for credit.

To get help to make a case to dispute your credit listing, you can contact a credit repairer. Click here for more advice on this.

Image: patpitchaya/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

09/05/2013
Facebook finally asks users to report phishing scams

Most people have (or know someone who has) come across some type of scam via Facebook. They’re those dodgy posts that you shouldn’t click on that get sent from your friend’s accounts without them knowing; or those strange emails in your inbox; odd friend requests; or on rare occasions complete hacking of your account. Most savvy Facebook users take it as a given that this is going to occur and that no one can do a thing to stop it. They just count themselves lucky that they are not one of the users that falls for them. Well now Facebook has finally taken the bull by the horns and decided to get active in stamping out phishing scams. FB has set up an email address to report these attempts. We look at what this means for Facebook users, the potential identity theft risks from falling for a phishing scam which could endanger your credit file and how to spot one before you get caught out.

By Graham Doessel, Founder and CEO of MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs and www.fixmybadcredit.com.au.

Facebook’s security page requests that if its users spot phishing scams they should report them to Facebook and its eCrime team. The intention is to help hold scammers accountable and prevent identity theft and account hacking. Here’s an excerpt from their Security page:

New Protections for Phishing.

by Facebook Security on Thursday, August 9, 2012 at 7:31am •

Today, Facebook is proud to announce the launch of phish@fb.com, an email address available to the public to report phishing attempts against Facebook. Phishing is any attempt to acquire personal information, such as username, password, or financial information via impersonation or spoofing.

By providing Facebook with reports, we can investigate and request for browser blacklisting and site takedowns where appropriate. We will then work with our eCrime team to ensure we hold bad actors accountable. Additionally, in some cases, we’ll be able to identify victims, and secure their accounts.

You might ask yourself how to spot suspected phishing emails. Our partners at the Anti-Phishing Working Group have put together some helpful tips to avoid being deceived by these messages:

1.Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for login or financial information, and remember, unless the email is digitally signed, you can’t be sure it wasn’t forged or ‘spoofed’

2.Don’t use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don’t trust the sender, instead navigate to the website directly

This new reporting channel will compliment internal systems we have in place to detect phishing sites attempting to steal Facebook user login information. The internal systems notify our team, so we can gather information on the attack, take the phishing sites offline, and notify users. Affected users will be prompted to change their password and provided education to better protect themselves in the future.

While rare, we hope that you forward us any phishing attempts you encounter. Together we can help keep these sites off the web and hold the bad guys responsible. As a reminder, you can visit www.facebook.com/hacked if you think your account may be compromised.

You can find out more about phishing in our Help Center. You can also forward phishing emails to any of the following: APWG (reportphishing@antiphishing.org), the FTC (spam@uce.gov), and the Internet Crime Compliant Center (www.ic3.gov).

This is great news for FB Users, and as it may be just the impetus needed to both deter and attack these predators.

Technology magazine ZD Net’s Eileen Brown is likewise pleased with this new response, but at the same time, questions the appropriateness of where Facebook has decided to report this information:

The challenge is that Facebook has hidden this information in its Security notes. This is not an area where the average user is likely to visit. Facebook should place an alert at the top of the home page drawing user’s attention to the importance being vigilant and careful.

Hiding this page away does not show the duty of care that Facebook should show to its users — especially if it wants to avoid the potential consequences of a password or account breach.

It is only a matter of time before someone tries it… She says in the article Facebook creates new email address to fight phishing.

Phishing scams should be a topic that every online user is familiar with, but as we reported recently in our post Identity theft risks high for pre-retirees, some sections of the community can be more vulnerable to phishing scams, and they aren’t necessarily screaming out “identity theft” – they can be well thought out scams that look like legitimate requests for information etc.

On Facebook, both young and old can be at risk of phishing scams. One prevalent scam reported by the ACCC’s Scamwatch recently is the Facebook password scam email.

“…the scam email enters inboxes looking as though it is an auto-generated email from the Facebook Team. It announces to subscribers that as a security measure their password has been changed and that this needs to be confirmed. Attached to the scam email are two documents with file names beginning with ‘facebook_password’ that are supposed to include the new password.

SCAMwatch warns you not to open these attachments. If you do, you will activate a very nasty Trojan or malicious software called the Bredolab Trojan and your computer will be taken over for use by the scammers at their will.”

If via these scams, criminals are able to gain access to information like names, dates of birth and addresses then identity theft may occur. Fraudsters can build a profile with enough information to request duplicate identity documents – enabling them to have access to their victim’s good name through their credit rating meaning they could take out loans, credit cards, even mortgage properties in their victim’s name.

Fraudsters are never so kind as to pay the credit back -meaning the identity theft victim is hit twice – financially ruined and then locked out of credit and with no ability to borrow for 5 to 7 years.

How to spot a phishing scam

Scamwatch has a great article on their website titled Phishing scams on social networking sites—don’t be tricked into giving your information away! Here’s what they suggest to look out for:

Protect yourself

Never send your online account details through an email and think carefully before you give away any personal or financial information.

Never enter your personal information on a website if you are not certain it is genuine. Don’t click on the link provided in an email or call the phone number provided; instead, find the business’s contact details through a general internet search.

Keep your computer updated with the latest anti-virus and anti-spy ware software, and use a good firewall.

When using social networking websites:

• Check the privacy settings and think about who you really want to have access to your personal information.
• Be careful about what personal information you put on the internet, because scammers can use these details to guess your passwords or to commit fraud.
• Check how much information about you is available on the internet—type your name into a search engine and see how many hits you get.
• Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security—online ‘friends’ may not be who they say they are.
• If you receive an email that appears to be from a family member or friend, look at the way the email is written and ask yourself whether the email sounds like it was written by that person.
• If you receive an unexpected request for money from what appears to be a friend, try to contact that friend or their family or friends to verify the request. Do not use any of the contact details in the message.

Great advice to take on board for any FB user – but it you or someone you know has fallen victim to one of these phishing scams – there are three things you may need to do immediately (among others):

1. Change your passwords on your computer, bank, Facebook or any other relevant sites via a different computer. If you can’t because you have been ‘locked out’ of your accounts, you may need to contact your Creditors and Police immediately.

2. Report the scam to the ACCC, and if you think you may be vulnerable to identity theft, it may be better to give them a call on ACCC Infocentre 1300 795 995 and they can direct you for further advice and possibly advise you to contact Police.

3. Check your credit report. This is often the first way you might spot identity theft which has led to credit being taken out in your name. It is free to check every year from Australia’s credit reporting agencies and it will be peace of mind if it turns up clear. If there is anything on there you are not sure of, investigate and contact Police. If you confirm you have been a victim of identity theft, you can contact MyCRA Credit Rating Repairs to help with removing any bad credit which is darkening your name.

Image 1: Pixomar/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image 2: Ambro/ www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

16/08/2012