•Credit Score - Information on your credit scores and your credit report. What you need to do now and down the road. It's a lengthy but rewarding process, so don't give up!

• Understanding Credit Scoring and Credit Repair. Credit remediation is a subject consumers often face with fear and trepidation, and for good reason. With the exception of recognizing that the best score wins, the average home shopper knows very little about the whole credit scoring process. Sub-prime borrowers who are eager to move into A-Paper territory often find themselves at a loss when trying to find ways to upgrade their credit history. The good news is there are ways to improve less-than-perfect credit scores and obtain a loan for the home you really want.

• Warning: Free Credit Report Imposter Websites Springing Up on the Web. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies to provide consumers with a free copy of their credit report, upon request, once every 12 months.

• Your Access to Free Credit Reports. A credit report contains information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you’ve been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home. There are three nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union.

• New Law Promotes Access to Free Credit Reports. Soon you'll be able to get your credit report for free. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies 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, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights and how to order a free annual credit report.

• 4 Steps to Establishing Good Credit. As a consumer you've learned the importance of establishing a good credit rating with your lenders. Whether you are shopping for a new home or auto, or searching for the best deals on insurance, your credit worthiness will be judged by your credit rating or credit score.

• Getting Your Credit Report and Understanding What's On It. If you intend to apply for a loan, you need to obtain your credit score. Understanding what this score means will allow you to make the loan process easier and quicker. Let's face it; most people want the loan process to be as painless as possible. Obtaining and understanding your credit score will help you see potential problems and perhaps eliminate them before you begin the loan process.

• Credit Scoring: What It Is, And How It Affects You. If you have applied for a mortgage in the past five years, you’ve probably heard of credit scoring by now. Perhaps you were told that your credit scoring was wonderful, or needed work. Or maybe your mortgage would have been lowered by several points, if you had better credit scoring.

• Solving Your Credit Problems. Your credit report influences your purchasing power, as well as your chances to get a job, rent or buy an apartment or a house, and buy insurance. A history of timely credit payments helps you get additional credit. Accurate negative information can stay on your report for seven years.

• Is Someone "Phishing" for Your Information? Internet scammers casting about for people's financial information have a new way to lure unsuspecting victims: they go "phishing." Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam to deceive consumers into disclosing their credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords, and other sensitive personal information.

• How Not to Get Hooked by a "Phishing" Scam. Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information.

• Tips for Protecting Your Personal Information. Every day you share personal information about yourself with others. It's so routine that you may not even realize you're doing it. You may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, buy a gift online, call home on your cell phone, schedule a doctor's appointment or apply for a credit card. Each transaction requires you to share personal information: your bank and credit card account numbers; your income; your Social Security number (SSN); or your name, address and phone numbers.

• Pretexting: Your Personal Information Revealed. When you think of your own personal assets, chances are your home, car, and savings and investments come to mind. But what about your Social Security number and your bank and credit card account numbers? To people known as "pretexters," that information is a personal asset, too.

• Take Charge: Fighting Back Against Identity Theft. Identity theft is a serious crime. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess the thieves have made of a good name and credit record. In the meantime, victims of identity theft may lose job opportunities, be refused loans for education, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are among the feelings victims experience as they navigate the process of rescuing their identity.

• Credit Repair Services vs. 'Do-It-Yourself' Credit Repair. Millions of Americans suffer because of bad credit these days, and almost all of these people turn to the Internet for help. In the past 5 years hundreds of ‘internet-based’ credit repair services have sprung up, preying on consumers in need of real help. Most of these companies have built less than desirable reputations by over-promising and under-delivering; all the while taking millions of dollars from those in need.

• Five Easy Steps to Repairing Your Credit. Have you damaged your credit rating, and now need to repair it? It can be a long, tedious process, if you aren’t sure of exactly what to do. And if you decide to work with an agency that specializes in this type of work, you’re paying someone to do work that you can do yourself, for free. This article will discuss what options you can take to repair your credit, yourself, without having to pay a penny to do it.

• FTC Bans Bogus Operator from Credit Repair Business. An operator who charged consumers for services he did not deliver and misrepresented customers’ credit worthiness to the credit reporting agencies has been banned for life from operating a credit repair business. Settlement of the charges also bars further violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Credit Repair Organizations Act (CROA), and requires the defendant to pay $100,000 in civil penalties.