Don't Be Afraid: Check Your Credit Report

Apparently many Americans are afraid to check their credit report because it "lowers their score"
That's actually untrue.

When someone views your credit report (including yourself) this is called an enquiry.

When you apply for an apartment, credit card, loan of sorts, and other things of this type these are called hard enquiries which do affect your credit score if you apply for a lot of things at once.

When credit card companies look at your credit report to mail you credit card offers or you look at your credit report yourself this is called a soft enquiry which does not affect your credit score at all.

It is a common misconception that looking at your credit report is bad for your credit score. Completely false, untrue, lies. While looking at your credit report doesn't do anything to your score, it can be a good thing because there can be errors and these errors can lower your score.

For example, I have a credit card open with a balance on it. For some reason my credit report was showing that I had two of this card open and duplicated the balance so it looked like I owed a lot more than I do.

Also it is illegal for a company to do a hard enquiry without your permission. If you find a hard enquiry on your account that was made without your permission, the company that does that owes you $1000 by law.

You should be checking your credit report now more than ever because companies like Capital One and Washington Mutual are hunting for new customers and checking your credit report without your permission. With the current credit crunch, consumers should make sure everything is correct on their credit report before they absolutely NEED credit and let incorrect parts of their credit reports hurt them in the borrowing process.

Just don't use any of those scam sites like FreeCreditReport.com.

Shame on eBay Trojan Horse Shipping

Many people list their items on eBay for a low price (so they don't have to pay higher eBay fees) and then raise the price of shipping. Buyers on eBay have to be careful and watch for this even though eBay says that they're cracking down.

I've never been fooled by exorbitant shipping costs but I know people who have and I think it's shady. I mean, buyers would think "shipping will be decent" and not look or ask (if the shipping costs aren't disclosed) and then get surprised by having to pay $35 or so for shipping.

I mean it's not because buyers are dumb, it just because eBay and really the US in general was built on trust and some people still have trust that another person isn't going to screw them. And this act of screwing these people for an extra buck on listing fees is dirty because not only is their trust broken with that seller, but the buyer may not give an honest seller the benefit of the doubt in their future transactions.

Were you using the internet back when someone did something for someone because it was a nice thing to do? Remember when you would send a random person a message to say "hi" and try to get to know them because you wanted to really be their friend.