This book is a consumer instruction manual for the credit reporting and credit scoring systems. Although these credit systems directly effect the financial standing of millions of Americans, few people understand them.

The first comprehensive review of credit reporting systems worldwide, including their institutional forms and evidence of their impact on financial markets. Credit reporting is a critical part of the financial system in most developed economies but is often weak or absent in developing countries. It addresses a fundamental problem of credit markets: asymmetric information between borrowers and lenders that can lead to adverse selection and moral hazard. The heart of a credit report is the record it provides of an individual's or a firm's payment history, which enables lenders to evaluate credit risk more accurately and lower loan processing time and costs. Credit reports also strengthen borrower discipline, since nonpayment with one institution results in sanctions with others. This book provides the first comprehensive review of credit reporting systems worldwide and documents the rapid growth in the industry. It offers empirical and theoretical evidence of the impact of credit reporting on financial markets, using examples from both developed and developing economies. Credit reporting, it shows, significantly contributes to predicting default risk of potential borrowers, which promotes increased lending activity. The book also covers the role of public policy in the development of credit reporting initiatives, including the role of public credit registries managed by central banks; and the role of legal, regulatory, and institutional factors in supporting credit reporting.

The first consumer credit bureaus appeared in the 1870s and quickly amassed huge archives of deeply personal information. Today, the three leading credit bureaus are among the most powerful institutions in modern life—yet we know almost nothing about them. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are multi-billion-dollar corporations that track our movements, spending behavior, and financial status. This data is used to predict our riskiness as borrowers and to judge our trustworthiness and value in a broad array of contexts, from insurance and marketing to employment and housing. In Creditworthy, the first comprehensive history of this crucial American institution, Josh Lauer explores the evolution of credit reporting from its nineteenth-century origins to the rise of the modern consumer data industry. By revealing the sophistication of early credit reporting networks, Creditworthy highlights the leading role that commercial surveillance has played—ahead of state surveillance systems—in monitoring the economic lives of Americans. Lauer charts how credit reporting grew from an industry that relied on personal knowledge of consumers to one that employs sophisticated algorithms to determine a person's trustworthiness. Ultimately, Lauer argues that by converting individual reputations into brief written reports—and, later, credit ratings and credit scores—credit bureaus did something more profound: they invented the modern concept of financial identity. Creditworthy reminds us that creditworthiness is never just about economic "facts." It is fundamentally concerned with—and determines—our social standing as an honest, reliable, profit-generating person.

Credit Data and Scoring: The First Triumph of Big Data and Big Algorithms illuminates the often-hidden practice of predicting an individual's economic responsibility. Written by a leading practitioner, it examines the international implications of US leadership in credit scoring and what other countries have learned from it in building their own systems. Through its comprehensive contemporary perspective, the book also explores how algorithms and big data are driving the future of credit scoring. By revealing a new big picture and data comparisons, it delivers useful insights into legal, regulatory and data manipulation.

Now, you can finally end the cycle of bad credit and get back on your feet by following the step-by-step advice and tools in Credit Repair Kit For Dummies, 2nd Edition. You’ll find out everything you need to know about creating a solid plan to get your credit back on track. You’ll discover how to find your credit report, review all of the information in it, and learn how you can repair and spruce it up. You’ll learn how to communicate with creditors and how to budget so that you can pay your bills in full and on time. You’ll learn how to apply these credit strategies to all life situations, from building credit with your life partner to financially surviving a divorce, unemployment, and student loans. You will find out how to safe-guard your identity so that other people don’t damage your credit. Find out how to: Take charge of your credit Get help from credit counselors Request copies of your credit report Know how to interpret your credit report and credit score Avoid foreclosure Communicate with collectors, lawyers, and the courts Manage medical debt Safe-guard your identity Complete with lists of ten tips to avoid identity theft and reduce damages, ten ways you can prevent foreclosure, ten methods for establishing and improving credit, and ten strategies for handling financial emergencies, Credit Repair Kit For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your one-stop guide to improving and maintaining your credit score and protecting your identity. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

A road map for how to navigate the confusing, secretive world of consumer credit, and how to upgrade and correct your score.