I am trying to buy another car but since my divorce my credit is bad. I am keeping up current payments on everything but I have a history of bad credit. Recently I was referred to a credit repair co. Do they work?

Kudos to Gina for a thoughtful and informative answer! Yes, there are many, many myths about credit repair companies - perhaps the most destructive of which is that "they’re all scams!"

Nevertheless, a few of them ARE scams. All the worse because they give the whole industry a bad name, and discourage people from seeking help who desperately need it.

So if you’re considering a credit repair company, don’t let all the myths and half-truths discourage you from seeking help: but DO your homework before you hire anyone. Check out the blog post below for some valuable tips on evaluating companies, and separating the good ones from the crooks.

Hope this helps.

Does anybody know of any good free programs that can get rid of malicious viruses from your computer such as worms?

malwarebytes & superantispyware

I heard on CNN Headline News that you can obtain one free credit report per year from each of the 4 major credit bureaus.

Does anyone know the names of each credit bureau, the number to call (or address) and what you need to do to get a copy of your credit report?

if you are looking for the free credit report and score usa national website, check out this site

http://free-credit-report-national.com/

Here you can see your 3-in-1 Report from all three credit reporting agencies and your credit score.

This is in relation to the award notice I received from International Lotto Commission based in Spain, which turned out to be a scam. In USA, they have this FBI authorities joined with other police authorities that accept and resolve complaints regarding internet identity theft. To which authority in Spain can I report this scam?
The notice mailed to me definitely came from Spain as shown in the stamps. My sister told me it could be from an international syndicate. And when i told the guy who rang me last week that i don’t have money to open an account because i am indigent, he told me to ring my agent/sponsor and they will help me. he gave me a number with Spain’s country code in it. of course, i did not ring, i cant spend much money paying bills for overseas calls for some bullshits like this. But i really want to know which authority in Spain or any International police authority have jurisdiction over this so i can report. I have leads like: phone numbers, office addresses, fax number, names of contact persons, etc. though i know some or all of these may not be even existing or misleading. Can’t just ignore this, i want to report it to proper authorities.

You may want to start with IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center) which is supported by the FBI. Also check out FTC ID Theft and Fraud/Scam pages for more reporting methods. It is the right approach to go to US agencies first and have them work with other governments to fight international crimes.

This page lists many US government agencies that deal with ID Theft (including IC3):
http://triceiver.com/ID_Theft_Resources.aspx

I already know I can put a check mark in the select all & Delete option & I asked this once before with little help so I ask again, "is there anything else, maybe a add on program that does a better job of filtering yahoo email for spam?".

There has been a huge increase in spam lately. I have started to use a free programme Mail Washer rated 5 out of 5 by consumeractive magazine. It’s worth a try to see if it helps you. It’s not perfect but it certainly helps me. Download from http://www.mailwasher.net/

I used a thumb drive and installed Malwarebytes onto my laptop and it removed the Antivirus 2009. Now I can surf the web, get windows updates and things I couldnt do before. But, when I go to get Mcafee from comcast something blocks the page from being viewed. How can I get around this to access Virus Protection?

you’ve missed the fact that antivirus 2009 is a computer parasite and it is definitely not an antivirus.
try to run avg to remove this infection.
however, you need anti-spyware to remove a threat like antivirus2009
and avg might not work because avg is antivirus.
you can also delete antivirus 2009 infection manually, reinstalling system.
remove fast:
http://trojan-horses-killer.com/Your-Computer-Is-Infected.htm

experian - 716
equifax- 689
transunion - 680

which one will they use, i want to sign up for a certain program but they said i need a score over 700

This should help explain it to you.

FICO scores from 300 to 850 and Vantage scores from 501 to 990.

Here is the breakdown for both systems.

Vantage Plus system scores from 501-990.
A-901-990
B-801-900
C-701-800
D-601-700
F-501-600

FICO system scores from 300-850.
Elite-740-& up
Prime-700-739
Preferred-660-699
Standard-625-659
Sub-prime-624-& under

FICO is the only one that matters since it’s the one that all major lenders look at.

So as you can see it depends on if your looking at a true FICO score or a Vantage plus score.

As far as what makes up credit scores it’s the following;
1. Payment history (longer the better) 35%
2. Time in bureau (longer the better) 15%
3. Types of credit (mix of credit cards & installment loans) 10%
4. New credit (new accounts and inquiries) 10%
5. Debt to credit ratio (lower the better) 30%

And just so you will know Experian only uses Vantage, Equifax only uses FICO and Transunion uses both depending of which type of credit report is requested of which there are 3. The standard that people get from The Internet, the auto enhanced which only car dealers and lenders see and the factual which only mortgage people see. The last two are not available to the general public.

To have the very best score and profile people need 3-4 credit card accounts (revolving) with balances below 30% of their credit limits and 2 cars, homes, boats, motorcycles, computers, furniture or personal accounts (installment) all with good long payment history’s.

So having said all of the above, it’s really going to come down to which credit bureau your creditor subscribes to. If they use Experian your fine but since they do not generate a FICO score I would not count on that happening. Most likely they will look at Equifax, thay are the most common and give true FICO scores.

Where can I get a free can that will remove spyware/Adware/Malware and the stuff like that?

1. Windows livecare

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

and

2. F-secure online scanner

http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/security/security-lab/tools-and-services/online-scanner/

I got my free credit reports (from experion, transunion and equifax’s website) and was wondering if it is a full report or partial report. Do you have to actually buy your credit report to see everything that’s on it? I don’t want to have to buy it if all its going to show is what I have already seen on the free report.

They are supposed to show everything that a purchased version has on it. It is not the same as what a lender receives. There are items on the lender reports that do not relate to your credit but that do relate to the marketing side of credit reporting.

How many of you are in need of credit repair or know how to go about repairing your credit?

More like credit total reconstruction.