If you're thinking about buying a home or refinancing - even if you've got excellent credit - you may want to avail yourself of a forthcoming free service that could help you get a better mortgage rate.
Under the terms of a national class action settlement, you may qualify for six or nine months of daily monitoring of your credit file plus unrestricted access to your credit report and score. To be eligible, you need to have had any form of open credit account - a charge card, student loan, auto loan or a mortgage - at any time between Jan. 1, 1987, and this past May 28.
An estimated 160 million American consumers can meet that criterion, though eligibility expires Sept. 24.
The free monitoring services could prove especially useful for homebuyers who need to keep a sharp eye on their credit reports in the months immediately preceding their loan applications. Any significant glitch, inaccurate negative information or missing positive information in their files could depress their credit scores drastically.
That, in turn, could make it tougher for them to obtain the best rates in today's market - where lenders are demanding higher credit scores for their standard rates and often won't touch applicants who have low scores. For homebuyers with minimal down payments, there's a double whammy: Mortgage insurers have imposed strict new minimum credit scores for applicants with less than 20 percent down payment cash.
Here's a quick overview of the class action and how it might be valuable to you. Under the terms of a settlement agreed to by TransUnion - one of the three dominant credit repositories - you can visit a Web site (listclassaction.com) or call a toll-free number (866-416-3470) to register a claim.
The litigation against TransUnion dates to 1998, when plaintiffs charged that the company sold consumers' personal data to marketers in violation of federal law. Sixteen class action suits from around the country were later consolidated into a single case against TransUnion filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
TransUnion denied all wrongdoing, but as part of the settlement agreed to create a $75 million fund to compensate affected class members. Because the class was defined as virtually anyone who had an open credit account anytime during the past 21 years, there's a good chance you're a member.
The settlement sets up a tiered menu of remedies for you to choose from, including:
