Hi, I'm new to this board. I signed up for a trial of Privacy Assist through my BoA online banking website. I haven't checked on my credit in years and I figured i might as well do it now as I'd like to buy a house in the next few years. I got my three reports with the following FAKO's: 3/7/08 Eq-567,Ex-573,Tu-573. My most proliferate issue is about 12 collection accounts from a Medical group. These are amounts that were not covered from my insurance over the course of a few years. Each single bill is reported individually therefore the amount of entries. I worked with a CCCS last year to get my CC bills paid and some other bills and have lowered my debt substantially. I was unaware at the time about all the medical collections so I am just now going to tackle those. This site has been very helpful and over the last week I have become a research maniac on dealing with credit issues.I was kind of surprised at the many small errors in the CRA reports regarding personal info such as incorrect Birth Date on Ex (1960 as opposed to 1962), current address reversed with former address, old employers instead of current, etc. My questions are:
1. Are personal info errors disputed or do I have to contact the CRA's by phone? It appears that's the case for Eq.
2. Is the format of the reports different if obtained from different third party providers? If so, which is the best? I was thinking of buying a 3-in-1 one from MyFico to get actual Fico scores so I can start from solid ground when I begin working to improve my credit scores. Then I'll add a CMS to monitor changes and get increased access to new reports. I cancelled my trial from Privacy Assist as they only update quarterly and after doing the research, I know I can do much better for the money I was paying them.
Thanks for now, this board is a great resource!
JR
