About a week ago I received a letter from my credit card company informing me that they were raising my interest rate. There was no reason given. Since I don’t carry a large balance, and I always make my payments on time, I knew this wasn’t because of anything I had done. More than likely, it was the result of what I mentioned in an earlier newsletter-that credit card companies are raising rates on those who do pay in order to cover their losses from those who don’t.
I had no intention of paying the higher interest rate so I called my credit union to ask about the interest rate they charged on their card because I recalled an email from them that offered what sounded like a better rate. Fortunately, they offered to issue me their credit card at a rate that was over 4% lower than the other card. Since I still occasionally use a credit card, I decided to take their offer.
In order to get approval for the new card, the bank had to check my credit report. The woman checking my report said everything looked good, but asked if I knew that I had an outstanding American Express charge for $1. I was surprised to hear that because I haven’t had an American Express card since 1984!
I had ordered my credit report in December to check, but I hadn’t noticed the American Express information. The first thing I tried to do was call the credit reporting agency, but since my credit report was over 90 days old, I couldn’t get through the automated system. So, I quickly got on line and ordered an updated credit report. Sure enough, there it was- American Express $1. Furthermore, the right hand column stated this would be on my credit report until 2018!
Before going through the work of filing a dispute with the reporting agency, I decided to call American Express directly and see if I couldn’t get this straightened out. If they thought I owed them a dollar I would certainly send them a buck to get this off my report. I was able to get through to a customer service person who was very helpful. The woman on the other end explained that the $1 on my credit report was a mistake. She explained that they had recently updated their security codes, and for some reason, information was being imported to reports that should not be passed on. She assured me that she would remove the charge but explained it could take up to 90 days to be removed from my credit report.
Even though this was a small mistake, it could have been much bigger. What if a couple of zeroes had been added on to the $1 making it a $1000 mistake? I wouldn’t even have known about it if I hadn’t applied for the lower interest card.
One of the first steps in the process of cleaning up your finances is to get a current copy of your credit report, and go through it to make sure everything is accurate. If you haven’t done this, don’t you think its time? You can get your free credit report once a year from www.annualcreditreport.com. Make sure you get a copy of all three of your reports, and go over each one to make sure the information is correct. This is even more critical if you are considering applying for a home loan or any other purchase that requires credit.
Tags: credit card debt, credit counseling, debt elimination, debt free, no debt, pay off debt
