Romance & Money
Financial Help/Educational Websites and Phone Numbers
Annual Check-Up Time:
Order those credit reports!
From September 1, 2005 you'll be able to get your credit report for free
no matter where you live in the United States. (Consumers in Western states
were able to order their credit reports under the federal law beginning December
1, 2004.)
In case you are not aware, a recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA) has required each of the consumer reporting agencies to
provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your
request, once every 12 months, from
www.annualcreditreport.com. The Federal
Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, also has a
brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports that explains your rights and how
you can order a free credit report annually.
If you have already ordered your freebie, and you are still working on some
issues or need an updated report for any reason, contact one of the three
repositories:
For a fee and as often as you like (don’t forget to order your FICO score as
well):
Identity theft is the fastest growing, and most disruptive crime in
America.
Consumer Credit
Counseling Before you join a CCC organization, check them
out.
Check out whichever CCC organization you choose with the BBB (Better Business
Bureau), Verify their non-profit status with the IRS, etc.
Consumer Credit Counseling Services that can be found in most U.S. cities or
on-line at
www.cccs.org or
www.nfcc.org.
Alternatively, just type credit counseling into Google, and pick one near where
you live.
We do not recommend any one service over the other. We only recommend that you
do your homework. Talking about homework ... Financial Education
Teach yourself and your children about the basic principles of money.
Web sites that will help develop a greater understanding of the basic principles
of finance:
www.jumpstartcoalition.org
The National Endowment for Financial Education can be found at
www.nefe.org.
If they want to learn more about saving and investing, check out this web site
for kids
http://www.investoreducation.org.
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