A Summary of the Fair Credit Reporting Act Written by Gary Gresham
This summary of Fair Credit Reporting Act will explain what you can legally do if you want to repair your own credit report. No matter what you hear, you can dispute credit information on your credit report if you understand legal rights you have under this law. The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act was enacted by United States Congress in 1971. In summary, it says that credit bureaus must investigate a consumer dispute if they want to challenge credit information on his or her credit report. It also states that credit bureaus are required to complete investigation within a 30 day period. If credit bureau finds that disputed information is inaccurate or cannot be verified, they must promptly delete that information. But there are some cases when a consumer dispute can be ignored by credit bureaus. If you challenge a negative credit listing on basis of things like health problems, divorce or job loss, credit bureaus are entitled to ignore those kinds of disputes. The information you dispute must be either old or incorrect. You must file a valid dispute where credit bureaus can contact creditor and confirm that new information you gave them is accurate and can be verified. If credit bureau does not receive verification from creditor within 30 days, Fair Credit Reporting Act says credit bureau must promptly delete that credit listing. Even though process sounds simple, credit bureaus make it more difficult than you can imagine. The credit bureaus don't like credit repair companies or anyone offering instruction on how to repair your own credit report. Why? Because it means more work for them.
| | Exchange Traded Funds PrimerWritten by Mark Mahorney
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a group of passive index funds that trade on an exchange like an individual stock. At time of writing there are 162 ETFs with $220 billion in assets under management trading on U.S. exchanges.ETFs hold a basket of securities that mimic results of various indices including broad stock and bond market, industry sectors, and international securities. New niche funds are being created regularly. Recent introductions include gold and China funds, and there are rumors that a silver ETF will soon be available. The most popular ETF is NASDAQ 100 Tracking Stock (QQQQ) trading 50 million shares a day on NASDAQ Stock Market. The volume leaders on American Stock Exchange are SPDRS (SPY) tracking S&P 500 trading 25 million shares per day, Energy SPDR (XLE), Japan iShares (EWJ), Russell 2000 iShares (IWM), and Financial SPDR (XLF). ETFs are widely used by institutional and individual investors as a tool for diversification, risk reduction, hedging, and an efficient way to acquire a basket of securities providing partial ownership in all holdings with only a single commission and small administration fees. ETFs are also transparent, meaning that investors know at all times what securities they are invested in.
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