And now start your new Credit Program right by getting a free copy of your Credit Report and Check it for Errors and Omissions. You never know  what mistakes or omissions might be on your report that are hurting your credit worthiness.

Don't pay credit-repair companies hundreds of dollars for what you can fix yourself.

The federal "Fair Credit Reporting Act" uniformly applies nationwide to all credit reporting agencies, credit reports and credit report users. New York's law is almost identical to the federal law, but it is in some ways tougher than the federal law. The New York law, however, generally applies fully only to credit reporting agencies operating within New York State. While it is not clear exactly to what extent the New York law applies to credit reporting agencies sending reports to New York from outside the state, if you are a New York resident, you can at least assume that the New York law covers reports about you sent to a report user in New York. How to Spot Costly Credit-Repair Scams

So long as consumers have difficulty making timely payments to creditors, and creditors and credit bureaus make mistakes with credit records, consumers will try to correct errors and to improve the information reported in their credit record.

Unfortunately, many consumers will turn to so-called credit repair companies for assistance. You may have seen or heard their advertisements which claim to: "Erase Bad Credit!" or "Remove Bankruptcy and Liens from Your Credit File!" Some of these companies charge consumers hundreds of dollars to "repair" or "improve" their credit and even try to fool consumers into believing that damaging information in credit files--even if it's accurate --can be removed.

But accurate information--however damaging--cannot be removed by anyone until legal time limits have expired. The legal time limit for reporting information and other requirements covering credit reports are governed by theFederal "Fair Credit Reporting Act" and the New York State "Fair Credit Reporting Act."1 The legal time period for reporting bankruptcies in credit reports is ten years, while the legal time limit for reporting other adverse information is seven years.

In New York State, information about a judgment that was satisfied 5 years after it was entered cannot then be reported after that 5 year period. It is important to note that these time limitations do not apply to reports made in connection with credit or insurance transactions for more than $50,000, or if the expected salary for employment is over $20,000 (the expected salary threshold in New York State is $25,000).

If a consumer still wants to retain the services of a credit repair clinic, it is critical to know these important facts:

• Credit bureaus collect and maintain information on your credit-worthiness, credit standing and capacity, credit history and general character as reported to them by financial institutions, department stores and other creditors. For a fee, your credit file can be purchased by potential creditors, employers, insurers or anyone who needs it for a legally approved purpose.

• Up front fees for credit-repair services are illegal in New York State. Consumers should never pay until the repair service has been performed.

• Credit-repair services are required to offer written contracts to clients, spelling out the items the company expects to remove from a credit report and by when it expects to remove the items from the report.

• The basic tactic of a credit-repair company is to dispute every negative item in your credit report, accurate or not, by asking the credit bureaus for verification. As a rule, credit bureaus then request creditors to verify the information, and they delete a negative item from a file if they don't receive a response within 30 days.

• Even if an item is temporarily deleted, it will be restored if the credit bureau later receives verification from the creditor. Credit reporting agencies can continue to report accurate items that are within the legal reporting period, and such items cannot ever be permanently erased from your credit record by companies that advertise "credit repair" services.

• Generally, only time can cure your negative credit history, regardless of the circumstances under which it was incurred.

• You have the right, under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, to dispute the accuracy or completeness of any information in your credit file. Once you tell the credit reporting agency of your dispute, the agency is legally obligated to reinvestigate the information, note its current status, and promptly inform you of the results of the investigation and what it has decided to do about the disputed information. Consumers should be prepared to back up their claims about disputed information because the reporting agency is not obligated to pursue inquiries that it reasonably believes are frivolous. This usually allows reporting agencies to completely ignore the "blanket disputes" the repair services file as part of their repair tactics.

• If the reinvestigation fails to resolve the dispute, you have the right to submit a 100-word statement about any disputed item in your file and to give your side of the story, at no cost to you. This statement will be included in any future reports. This requirement also does not apply if the reporting agency reasonably believes the dispute is frivolous.

• A credit-repair company which claims it can "upgrade your rating" is misleading you about its function. Businesses, not consumers, receive credit "ratings." Credit bureaus merely collect and report various types of information about consumers. The businesses receiving the reports then "rate" whether consumers qualify for credit, insurance or employment based on the information that was furnished.

In short, there is no secret to remedying erroneous or incomplete information in your credit reports. Consumers can correct the problem themselves.

There is, however, no guarantee that consumers will get immediate satisfaction--credit bureaus are vast bureaucracies where consumer problems are too often resolved slowly. But it is also important to note that costly credit-repair companies have no better chance at success than a consumer does.

How to Deal With the Credit Bureaus

The first step to do-it-yourself credit repairs, is for a consumer to contact the three major national credit bureaus that retain information about the consumer's personal credit history.

The three major national credit bureaus--TRW, Equifax and Trans Union Corporation-- share their information with local credit bureaus.

Consumers have the right to find out the nature and substance of the information the credit reporting agencies maintain on them. You can do this by requesting a copy of your report. TRW reports are free. Equifax and Trans Union charge $8 each. If you have been denied credit, insurance, or employment within the last 60 days based on a report from a credit bureau, that bureau must make the required disclosures free of charge. You can also visit a credit bureau in person to review your report. Trans Union Corp. maintains an office in Rego Park, Queens.

To obtain access to your credit file, you must provide proper identification to a credit bureau, which usually includes:

• Your full name, including middle initial, and any additional title such as Jr., Sr., II, etc.
• Current address, including zip code.
• Day and nighttime telephone number.
• Previous addresses, with zip codes, for the last five years.
• Current place of employment.
• Social security number.
• Date of birth.
• Spouse's name, where applicable.
• Photocopy of a utility bill or driver's license with the address the report should be mailed to--they will be sent only to home addresses.
• A copy of the letter declining credit based on the credit bureau report, if you were denied credit.

Here are the addresses and phone numbers for the three national credit bureaus:

How to Correct Errors on Personal Credit Reports

There is no special formula to correcting inaccurate or incomplete information, or to improving the accuracy of the data provided to prospective creditors in personal credit reports.

It is prudent for consumers to check their own credit report periodically--every one to two years --to insure that the personal credit information being disseminated to creditors is correct. A credit report may contain errors which can affect a consumer's chances of obtaining credit, and even employment. A consumer who is denied credit, insurance or employment based on information in a credit report must be told the name and address of the credit reporting agency which supplied the report.

If a consumer finds inaccurate or incomplete information in a credit report, the consumer has a right to dispute it. The consumer should notify a reporting agency in writing, and state as specifically as possible why any information in the file is inaccurate or incomplete. A consumer should include as much background and written verification as possible. The notification then triggers the credit bureau's obligation to promptly reinvestigate. A consumer may also want to contact the creditor directly to determine if the creditor's records are inaccurate as well.

By law, a credit bureau must correct any mistake or delete any information it cannot verify. If the credit bureau later receives verification of the disputed information, however, it will place the information back in a consumer's report and will notify the consumer by mail. Under the New York law, a credit reporting agency cannot maintain in its file or report any information which it has "reason to know" is inaccurate. That makes it particularly vital for you to notify a reporting agency about inaccurate information. Notifying a credit reporting agency about inaccurate information that is contained in their report can give the firm "reason to know," and a firm's subsequent failure to act on such notification could make it liable for failing to comply with the law.

If an item is incomplete, the credit bureau must complete it. If an item is erroneous, the credit bureau must correct it. The credit bureau must also send copies of a consumer's corrected report to any creditor who has checked that consumer's credit file in the past six months.

If the credit reporting agency does not resolve the dispute, you are entitled to file a statement with the credit bureau of up to 100 words that describes your position on each item of disputed information. These statements must be included in each future copy of the consumer's credit report. Again, this requirement does not apply if the reporting agency reasonably believes a dispute is frivolous.