Start with a sheet of paper, or photo copy the report and using pencils correct each error and then send it back. Is it the same on all the credit agencies? You need to get copies from each agency, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian and compare each. I would clarify the mistakes, but I don't know if you can remove addresses. One of the companies you can call, and this might help. If you never worked for a company, you can put in a disbute. On the credit report you received, it should tell you what to do to change/disbute the information. As to the married question, talk to your tax person or a lawyer about that. I too am in the process of clarifing some information on my reports. Good luck and you can get help by just typing in credit score information.

Each credit agency using different scoring mechanisms and all call them something different. Some are out of 850, some out of 900, etc. Differences of 13 points are negligble (though I still love it when my score is a few points higher than DH's... :) Also, if you are at the end of a credit card cycle and owe, say $2000 for the month, but usually pay that off every month, depending on when the report is run it will show either that you own $0 or that you owe a high balance. Depending on how much open credit you have, that can change your ratios slightly and drop your score some.

Hi breenthumb, Rumour has it that there are other insurance companies. Granted, there are fewer than there used to be, as they, like most corporations, hate competition on their own level and will go to great lengths to get rid of competitors. Some time ago I had a personal tax-deferred retirement account with a stockbrokerage, which had incurred no administration cost for years, as it had been grandfathered that way when that company took over another company. When I came to the age where I had to reverse it from an account into which I paid in, into one into which I could no longer pay in, but must withdraw a certain percentage annually, which increases from about 7% at age 71 to 20% at age 90 and beyond, a problem arose. They said that there would be an annual administration fee, and my claim that it was a continuation/reversal of a fee-free account that I'd had with them for years fell on quite deaf ears. So ... I did some checking with some other agencies, and came back to report that, since such and such a company and so and so company would agree to carry my account without an administration fee, I was considereing transferring my account ... they seemed to have a change of heart, for it appeared that they, too, could carry that account without an admin. fee. Which they've done for about 10 years, now: nice to have a little skill and effort save one well over $1,000., on occasion, right? I didn't feel it necessary to include in my report the fact that I would be somewhat less inclined to use the other companies than the one that I had been with for years ... as Grandma used to say, "One should tell the truth ... but there's no reason that one should blab and tell all that one knows". So ... ... if you don't, or haven't owed money for several recent years in several locations/circumstances ... ... they figure that your trustworthiness is suspect, do they? As I've lived in over 20 locations in my 79 years (as I discovered when they asked over on KT in how many places one had lived), I've never owned a home ... ... so never had a mortgage. As I live fairly frugally, I've had few loans. Which situation is aided by the fact that I tend to buy old cars and drive them into the ground, which usually takes 5 - 7 years ... which enables me to buy them for cash (having added a bit to emergency funds from time to time, and drawing on it to make those smallish purchases). When I have substantial debt and must pay quite a lot of interest every month, it seems to me that, since much of our debt is usually non-deductible, if I have to pay $100. monthly in interest, and make $10.00 per hour, after-tax income ... that means that I work 10 hours/month for someone else, the holder of my loan(s). I'd rather wait until I can afford to pay cash ... and pay myself, instead. Learning how money works is an interesting hobby ... that pays well ... and I hope that you're developing increasing shrewdness at managiong your income and assets effectively: to benefit you rather than the other guys (with the exception of worthy charities). Hope you're part way into a happy weekend. One nice thing about retirement is ... that every day is weekend. A nice benefit of learning skillful management of money may well be/quite likely will be ... early retirement (at your choice, not because your company downsizes when you're about 50 ... leaving you out in the cold). ole joyful P.S. I could qualify, as I've had a Line of Credit, usually unused, for about 10 years, and have had a credit (actually "debt") card for several years, which I use infrequently. I recently took on another, which offered 1.9% on transferred balances for most of this year, figuring that I'd buy some stock using the original card, then transfer the balance, as the bank, which had usually charged me bank prime on my loans (fully secured), they recently said that prime was 3.5% ... but they needed a 1.5% surcharge, to total 5%. Now, however, they say that the interest on my Line of Credit will be 2.25% ... so I'll take that, instead of jockeying on credit cards - not a good idea to shift from one horse to another while crossing a stream, I figure. Most cards charge full rate (often 18% on mainline cards: 28% or so on store-issued cards) from the date of the advance until it is paid in full, and I'd not be sure how long it would take to transfer to the second card. o j

I've never heard of tri merge. When you say company Im assuming you mean lenders right? I know 21st mortgage does loans for those with sub prime credit but I'm hesitant to use them because of the not so good things I've read about them. I only know of a couple other lenders but not sure if they do loans for "high risk" borrowers..aka those with not so great credit. I am hoping they look at 20k down as a great down payment on an 80k house. I have a pamphlet I got from a dealer for 21st and they have an equity loan that requires 35% down for those with bad credit but I'm not sure exactly what an equity loan is to them. I think your right, I just need to talk to a lender and hopefully they can give me advice without me having to take the hit on my credit (i.e. They can advise without running my credit) just based on "soft" info that I give them about my credit history. Thank you for your reply :) PS if anyone has lender names and experiences they can share I would love to hear your story!