One More Thing Hurting Your Credit Score
If you pay attention to the news, you've likely heard a lot about credit reports and credit scores in the past few years. The subprime lending craze targeted loans at people with shaky credit histories, identity thieves are ruining people's credit scores, and more and more companies (like utility providers) are reporting debts to credit bureaus in hopes of collecting.
The latest unexpected thing that hurts your credit score? Red light cameras.
MyFox Dallas reports on "Bob," CEO of a successful company and a man without a single unpaid charge on his credit cards. But when Bob tried to take out a loan to buy the house of his dreams, he found his credit score had dropped thanks to an unpaid charge from a company he'd never heard of.
Turns out the company, Affiliated Computer Services, was in charge of running and monitoring Dallas' red light camera operation. The charge was from running a red light a while back.
The kicker? Bob wasn't even the one driving the car!
Apparently, one of his employees ran a red light in a company car whose title was in Bob's name. Because he wasn't in the car when the traffic infraction occurred, he had no idea that a fine was due.
And his mortgage broker told him his credit score was too low to get the loan for his dream house.
Moral of the story? Assume nothing. Companies are jumping on the credit-reporting bandwagon, and the list of items that affect your credit score is long and ever-growing. Be vigilant about checking your credit report once a year (visit annualcreditreport.com) and contest any mistakes.
Remember, everyone has a credit score to worry about. YOU have to take action to keep yours up-to-date and accurate.