Before you rush out for a new low-rate mortgage, you might want to take a peek at your credit history: Even if you pay bills promptly, you may find inaccurate and damaging credit blemishes.
This month, in honor of National Credit Awareness Month, a credit report is free at iPlace Inc. (www.iplace.com).
Within minutes after registering as a user on the site, you can view information that lenders use to determine your creditworthiness. The report displays a payment history on virtually every loan and credit card you ever had, along with credit limits and whether the account is open or closed. Even if they aren’t being used, for example, open accounts can affect lenders’ decisions.
If you find an error, contact the reporting agency or the company that filed it and ask that it be fixed. The credit bureaus rely on lenders for credit information and will not change it unless the creditors agree, but if the creditor refuses to change an incorrect item, you can add to your report a statement disputing the item.
The free report this month comes from Equifax in Atlanta, one of three major U.S. credit reporting agencies. The others are Trans Union in Chicago and Experian in Orange, Calif.
All three typically charge $8.50 for a report, although reports are free to people who have been denied credit recently, are unemployed or receive public assistance, or are victims of fraud. Also, a limited number of reports each year are free to residents of Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont.
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In the mid-1990s, Experian–then part of TRW Inc.–allowed consumers one free report each year, but the program proved too costly, said Rod Griffin, manager of consumer communication for Experian.
Golden moments: The director of the U.S. Mint was in Chicago last week to promote the golden dollar, that flashy new coin bearing the image of Sacagawea, the Native American interpreter who traveled with Lewis and Clark.
The federal government wants people to use dollar coins rather than dollar bills, because it saves money. The average life of a coin is much longer (30 years) than a bill (18 months).
And the golden dollar costs less to mint than it might seem: It is mostly copper with a manganese brass coating. That’s in contrast to the penny, which is mostly zinc with a copper coating.
The mint introduced the golden dollar last year with a $45 million advertising campaign. Jay Johnson, head of the mint, is following up with visits to cities around the country. He praised Chicago because its transit system, and now some parking meters, accept golden dollars.
Johnson implores people to use the coins: “We want you to use them. Use them to jump-start your car,” he joked, and pointed out how handy they are for a bus ride. “You’re not fumbling with a bunch of quarters on a cold, windy day in Chicago.”
Already the golden dollars are more popular than Susan B. Anthony dollars, which were minted from 1979 to 1999, Johnson said. The mint has made more than a billion golden dollars in the past year, more than it ever made of the Susan B. Anthony coins, which were considered too similar to quarters.
Still, it is difficult for people to get hold of the new dollars, Johnson said, largely because retailers are reluctant to hold them in cash registers. The mint is talking to some major retailers about carrying the coins.
Despite the mint’s efforts to popularize the golden dollar, quarters still rule among U.S. coins, and the quarters with state motifs have gone over very well, Johnson said. Of the state quarters made to date, Virginia has been in the most demand, with 1.5 billion coins minted. He expects the New York quarter, which was introduced this month, to receive a similarly enthusiastic reception.