Personal Finance and Investing

The answer to the above question is yes. You definitely should obtain a copy of your credit report. If you’re asking why, let’s talk about some important points about your credit report.

What is in your credit report?

Your credit report contains significant information about your accounts and finances. In your credit report, you can find your employment history, your salary history, your past and present credit with all your creditors and other legal information.

Also included in your credit report is your complete name, Social Security Number, date of birth, driver’s license number, your past and current home address, telephone number and other personal details. All transactions that you have with lending companies, credit card companies, insurance companies and other financial institutions are all reflected on your credit report.

How much you owe a certain creditor is listed in detail. Also, whether you’re paying your bills on time or not can be traced by looking at your credit report. All these information are included on your credit report.

Who Checks On Your Credit Report?

You may now have an idea why it is important for you to obtain a copy of your own personal credit report. Landlord, potential employers, insurance companies, government agencies, lending companies, credit card companies – all these organizations check on your credit report to know your background and reputation.

A single false information or an incorrect transaction on your credit report can damage your credit worthiness. You can get denied by potential employers just because your credit report seems bad. Creditors can refuse your applications on account that you have bad account on your credit report. Thus, it is your responsibility to check and ensure that there isn’t any false information or derogatory records that can affect your reputation.

Check Your Credit Report

You have the right to know if all the information contained on your credit report is true and accurate. As a consumer, you have the right to dispute information which you think are false, erroneous or fraudulent.

The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act protects consumers from such inaccuracy or possible fraudulent accounts contained in their credit report. In fact, if a credit reporting agency or a credit bureau refuses to give you the appropriate service you need, you may also report it to The Federal Trade Commission.

Every year, all consumers are allowed to obtain a copy of their report from the three major credit bureaus for free. Thus, after making a careful examination on your credit report, you can inform the credit bureaus if you find any disputable records on your credit report. Below are the contact numbers of the three major credit bureaus.

Equifax Options P.O. Box 740123 Atlanta, GA 30374-0123 www.equifax.com

Experian Consumer Opt Out P.O. Box 919 Allen, TX 75013 www.experian.com

Trans Union Name Removal Option P.O. Box 97328 Jackson, MS 39288-7328 www.transunion.com

For a more in-depth discussion on credit report and your rights as a consumer, you may visit the FTC’s website at www.ftc.gov.

Allison May is a credit consultant and a writer for Credit Creators. The resource provides consumers with valuable advice and information on credit cards for bad credit,credit cards for good credit and other credit-related issues. Its main objective is to help people build good credit. Copyright © 2008

In the current economic climate many financial institutions have struggled to maintain performance with a number of banks and building societies going bust. The increasing uncertainty surrounding a number of banks and building societies has left a number of savers wondering if under their mattress is the best place for their money!

However with the right knowledge savers can continue to make wise and profitable investment decisions without worrying that their investments are at risk. A smart way to invest funds and ensure the safety of these funds is to spread investments over a number of carefully selected banks and building societies. The reason it is essential to spread savings across various banks or building societies is to reduce the risk to your funds and ensure all funds are covered by the depositor’s compensation scheme. This government run scheme ensures that any savings that a consumer has with a financial institution are covered by up to £50,000 should the institution collapse. Again by spreading any investments over this amount amongst various institutions will ensure all funds are covered by the scheme. When deciding which banks and building societies to invest funds into it is essential to measure their strengths and weaknesses. A good measure of a bank or building society’s security is its Fitch rating. This rating offers a score that indicates the stability of the bank based upon the available funds it has and its ability to repay funds. When looking for a Fitch rating of a bank or building society a number of financial help websites can offer such a rating along with other useful analysis.

Whichever bank or building society is chosen to investsavings in to it is essential to analyse the security of the institution along with the range of savings accounts on offer. Using a savings calculator is also a useful tool when deciding which invest product is best as it allows you to calculate the potential interest that can be earned from a particular product.

Work life and personal life are inter-connected and interdependent. Spending more time in office, dealing with clients and the pressures of job can interfere and affect the personal life, sometimes making it impossible to even complete the household chores. On the other hand, personal life can also be demanding if you have a kid or aging parents, financial problems or even problems in the life of a dear relative. It can lead to absenteeism from work, creating stress and lack of concentration at work.

Work-personal life conflict occurs when the burden, obligations and responsibilities of work and family roles become incompatible. Obligation of one can force an individual to neglect the other.

Changing & increasing work pressures

A decade back, employees used to have fixed working hours or rather a 9 to 5 job from Monday to Friday. The boundary between the work and home has disappeared with time. But with globalization and people working across countries, the concept of fixed working hours is fading away. Instead of just 7 or 8 a day, people are spending as much as 12-16 hours every day in office.

The technological blessings like e-mail, text messaging and cell phones which were thought of as tools to connect them to their work being away from their workplace, have actually integrated their personal and professional lives. Now professionals find themselves working even when they are on vacations.

The ever-increasing working hours leave the individuals with less time for themselves and to pursue his hobbies or leisure activities. This hinders the growth of the person as an individual in terms of his personal and spiritual growth. Professionals working in the BPO industry, doctors and nurses and especially IT professionals are the few examples who are facing the brunt of the hazard constantly.



Reasons of imbalance:

There are various reasons for this imbalance and conflicts in the life of an employee. From individual career ambitions to pressure to cope up with family or work, the reasons can be situation and individual specific. The speed of advancement of information technology, the increasing competition in the talent supply market has led to a “performance-driven” culture creating pressures and expectations to performance more and better every time. Also, many a times, many people find it difficult to say “NO” to others especially their superiors. They usually end up over burdening themselves with work. The increasing responsibilities on the personal front with age can also create stress on personal and professional fronts.

Effects

Constant struggle and effort to maintain a balance between the work and personal life can have serious implications on the life of an individual. According to a survey, 81 per cent of the respondents have admitted that their jobs are affecting and creating stress in their personal lives. The pressures of the work or personal life can lead to stress. According to studies, it has been found to that such situation can take a toll on the person’s health both physiologically and psychologically. Heart ailments, cardiovascular problems, sleep disorders, depression, irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, poor concentration and even nervous breakdowns are becoming common among the victims of such imbalance. Pressure, stress or tension in work life can lead to bad social life and vice versa.

Solutions:

Many experts have given different solutions to this problem.

TIME MANAGEMENT is one of the best solutions which can help to reduce the imbalance between the personal and the work life of the employees. Prioritizing the tasks and planning the activities can help to take out some free time which can be utilized for other purposes. Taking some time out for hobbies and leisure activities, spending time with loved ones can help to beat the stress. Learn to say “no” if required. Sharing the responsibilities will help and don’t commit for something which is practically impossible. Utilizing the flexible working hours option of the organisations to get some free time.

Conclusion:

Juggling between the obligations towards the families and expectations of the organisation and constant struggle to maintain a balance can work can have serious implications on the life of an individual. Therefore, it is important for employees to maintain a healthy balance between work and their private lives. This will help them achieve their personal and professional goals as well the organisation they are working for.

 

Rdahika Malhotra
Faridabad

Your credit report holds importance when it comes to applying for loans. For getting a loan and prior to loan approval your credit worthiness is verified by your lender. So the credit report has a very crucial role to play in loan approval. Therefore the free annual credit report is offered so that both borrowers and lenders can get the desired credit information that too free of cost.

There are three agencies that provide credit report- Equifax, Transunion and Experian. To get free annual credit report you are not required to pay anything. These reports are made to you available totally free of cost. The credit report issued by the different bureaus is almost similar, but different bureaus use different parameters for evaluation. Different agencies have different viewpoints however; it would be beneficial for you to acquire all the three report.

Free annual credit report gives you an opportunity to maintain a good credit record. With the help of this report, you analyze your credit scores and things that require your attention so that you can improve your scores. With these report you can easily get to know your credit worthiness and can find whether you can qualify for regular loans or not. It is beneficial if you apply for such report prior to applying for any loan.

For lenders this free annual credit report acts as a basis for approving or rejecting your loan application. It provides them with detailed information about your previous credit records. It is a detailed account showing defaults, late payments, arrears, CCJs, IVA and bankruptcy. This credit report enables lenders to assess your credit worthiness and in case of denial he should present valid reason of application rejection.

Online medium is the easiest way to apply for free annual credit report. Before choosing any service provider it would be highly beneficial to do a proper research and then select any one. You can apply from anywhere and anytime as per your convenience.

Sophie Wilson is a senior financial analyst at Free Yearly Credit Report with an acumen for finance and credit cards.In recent years she has taken up to provide independent financial advice through her informative articles. To find personal credit report, instant credit report, free credit score, free annual credit report visit http://www.freeyearlycreditreport.net