Free FACT Consumer Reports: Banking, Insurance, and Employment History

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Annual reminder for 2013. The most well known part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) is that you can get a free copy of your credit reports from all three major credit bureaus once every 12 months. However, there are also several other consumer databases that you should check as well which are also available absolutely free once every 12 months, and they can also have a significant financial impact. If you got one last year, you can now get another one and reset the 12 month clock.

ChexSystems Banking History
ChexSystems is a consumer information database used by an estimated 80-90% of all banks to help determine the risk of opening new accounts. Think of it as the bank’s version of a credit bureau. If a person commits check fraud or overdraws their account, it will be listed here. In addition, the simple act of opening or closing a bank account may be recorded in their database. Getting a negative ChexSystems record can leave you blacklisted from opening bank accounts at most major banks.

Get your free ChexSystems consumer report here.

Medical History Used For Insurance Underwriting
MIB (previously known as Medical Information Bureau) is run by 470 insurance companies and has a “primary mission of detecting and deterring fraud that may occur in the course of obtaining life, health, disability income, critical illness, and long-term care insurance.” They record information of “underwriting significance” for those who have applied for life and health insurance with MIB member companies. If you have not applied for individually underwritten life, health, or disability income insurance during the preceding seven year period, then you probably don’t have a record.

Get your free MIB consumer file here.

Insurance Claims History
CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, and they collect information that is used to calculate your potential risk of loss and thus your insurance premiums. You can also find out about previous claims on the house you are currently renting or recently bought, even if they weren’t made by you.

The C.L.U.E. ®Personal Property report provides a seven year history of losses associated with an individual and his/her personal property. The following data will be identified for each loss: date of loss, loss type, and amount paid along with general information such as policy number, claim number and insurance company name.

The C.L.U.E. ®Auto report provides a seven year history of automobile insurance losses associated with an individual. The following data will be identified for each loss: date of loss, loss type, and amount paid along with general information such as policy number, claim number and insurance company name.

Get your free CLUE Auto and Personal Property Reports here.

In addition, you should also request your free A-PLUS report (Automated Property Loss Underwriting System), which is a smaller database that also contains information about property loss claims.

Employment History
When a potential employer runs a background check through LexisNexis (formerly known as ChoicePoint), this is the information they see. It doesn’t seem to claim be comprehensive, and they may have only limited or even no data about you, but I would still check for potentially negative data.

LexisNexis Screening Solutions Inc. provides Employment History Reports to employers only with a job applicant’s or employee’s consent. Employers utilize a variety of companies to obtain employment history information. Our files would only contain information on you if LexisNexis provided your Employment History Report to an employer.

Get your free LexisNexis employment history report here.

Tenant History
This report can be important if you are a renter and someone runs a background check on you at LexisNexis (ChoicePoint).

LexisNexis Screening Solutions provides Resident History Reports to housing providers that have the subject’s consent. Housing Providers utilize a variety of companies to obtain tenant history information. Our files would only contain information on you if LexisNexis provided your Resident History Report to a housing provider.

Get your free LexisNexis tenant history report here.

LexisNexis Full Disclosure File
You may notice that LexisNexis is involved in many different areas above. As one of the largest personal information databases in the US and a for-profit company (part of Reed Elsevier), they should just rename themselves Big Brother, Inc. You can request a “Full File Disclosure” that supposedly includes all of the information that they have on you – including public records, real estate transaction and ownership data, lien, judgment, and bankruptcy records, professional license information, and historical addresses on file.

Request your LexisNexis Full File Disclosure here. You’ll need to fill out a PDF form and snail mail it in.

This is part of my annual checklist at the beginning of each new year.

Find more in Banking, Insurance, Real Estate | 1/2/13, 12:01pm | Trackback

Big List of Free Credit Reports, Free Credit Scores, and Free Credit Monitoring

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

I’ve been getting some questions related to credit reports – perhaps it’s the New Year and people are trying to get back on track? Sounds like a good idea no matter what, so here’s a braindump, er… ongoing compilation of all the ways I can think of to get free credit reports, free credit scores, and free credit monitoring services.

Remember that there are three major consumer credit bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – all with possibly different data. A few of these offers require a free trial and noted as such, which is not preferred but I am not completely opposed to as you’re getting something of value for free. My personal rule is that I always cancel them the SAME DAY, preferably within an hour after saving what I need, that way there is nothing to forget. I’m only human as well!

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Visit AnnualCreditReport.com or call 877-322-8228 to request your federally-mandated free credit report from one or all of the 3 major bureaus. You can get one from each every rolling 12 months, so either get them all once a year or space them out. No trials, no credit card required, although the bureaus may try to sell you a credit score.

Special Situations – Denied Credit, Unemployed, Welfare, Identity Theft. As outlined by the Federal Trade Commission, here are a few other scenarios where you also get a free credit report:

You were denied credit, insurance, or a job due to information on your credit report. A notice stating which credit bureau supplied the report should be included in your letter of denial. You then have 60 days to request a free copy of your report from them.You are unemployed. You’re also entitled to one free report a year if unemployed and plan to look for a job within 60 days.You are on welfare.You are a victim of fraud, including identity theft. Place a fraud alert on your file, and then ask for a free copy of your credit report.

Here are the numbers you’ll need (remember to mention FTC if needed):

* Equifax: 800-685-1111; Fraud Dept. 800-525-6285
* Experian: 888-397-3742 (same for Fraud Dept.)
* Trans Union: 800-916-8800; Fraud Dept. 800-680-7289

MyFICO Score Watch Trial. If you sign up for a free 10-day trial at MyFICO.com, you’ll get a free Equifax credit report and Equifax FICO credit score. You’ll need a credit card. You must call 1.888.577.5978 to cancel. My recommendation is to get your credit report and credit score, print or save to PDF, and then cancel immediately afterward on the same day so that you won’t forget later. Hours (PDT) M-F 6am-6pm, Sat 7am-4pm, Sun Closed.

Your credit score. Did you know that you have probably 50 flavors of your credit score. Even the “real” FICO score comes in several different versions, and there’s one per bureau. Personally, I would never pay $10-$20 a pop for a score. Many of the free providers below will also provide selected information directly from your credit reports, like overall credit limit utilization or total balances.

Credit Sesame / Experian. You can get a free credit score based on your Experian credit report from Credit Sesame, updated every month. They make money by sending you offers like lowering your mortgage rate. Screenshot:

CreditKarma / TransUnion. Similarly, get a free credit score based on your TransUnion credit report from CreditKarma.com, updated daily as long as you login each time. Also ad-supported. Screenshot:

MyFICO Trial / Equifax. Same as above… If you sign up for a free 10-day trial at MyFICO.com, you’ll get a free Equifax credit report and Equifax FICO credit score. You’ll need a credit card. You can try to cancel online, but it told me that you must call 1.888.577.5978 to cancel. My recommendation is to get your credit report and credit score, print or save to PDF, and then cancel immediately afterward on the same day so that you won’t forget later. Hours (PDT) M-F 6am-6pm, Sat 7am-4pm, Sun Closed.

Citi Idenitity Monitor Trial. Finally, if you’re willing to spend $1 and endure a trial, you can sign up with Citi Identity Monitor get a free credit score and free credit reports from each of the three major bureaus. After you submit your personal info, enter your credit card info, and choose your username/password, be sure to opt for the “free upgrade” which will give you the 3-in-1 report. You’ll have to call 866-279-9637 to cancel within 30 days. Again, cancel the same day if possible. Hours (ET) M-F 8am-11pm, Sat 9am-6pm, Sun Closed.

Credit monitoring checks your credit report data daily and sends you an email or text alert if any activities have occurred – for example, if there was a credit pull by a lender or a new address added. This can provide early warning of attempted identity theft, reporting errors, or simply am overzealous lender checking your credit without permission. Many providers charge $10-$20 a month for similar monitoring, and while it’s potentially useful I’ve never warmed to the idea of paying a hundred bucks a year for it.

Credit Sesame. You can get free daily credit monitoring based on your Experian credit report from Credit Sesame. If you’ve already signed up for the free Experian-based credit score, it’s a very simple opt-in. This service worked like a champ when tracking inquiries for credit card bonuses like my multiple American Express applications in one day. Screenshot:

Selected AAA Members. If you’re an AAA auto club member, you may be eligible for free Experian credit monitoring as well. To see if your local club offers this, visit aaa.com/identitymonitoring.

CreditKarma. Get free daily credit monitoring of your TransUnion credit report from CreditKarma.com, also easy to add if you already subscribe to their free TransUnion-based credit score.

Find more in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 1/30/13, 6:18pm | Trackback

How to build on-site and off-site SEO Reports like an SEO Expert?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Learn how to build seo reports!

For any search engine optimization service provider, to begin with – it is necessary to have a clear idea about various seo reports. To be introduced, to show the worth of seo services, to convince the importance of seo in business etc. etc. sending seo reports is something like a mandatory procedure. If you are a seo service provider, sometimes you have to generate several types of seo reports for your client websites (even if you’re not, this is helpful to analyze your own websites). Though this isn’t a difficult task, for clients it is important. Developing a report for any website regarding its on-site seo, off-site seo, keyword analysis or competitor analysis isn’t a big task. We don’t even need to use applications or tools to make this. It is very easy to develop a report manually if you have basic knowledge on seo, and that is the best option. In case if you wish to get it done quickly, there are lots of applications, tools and plugins like seoquake which will help generating information regarding a site’s seo data. Most of the times we may have to send any of the below ‘category’ reports to our clients.

? On-Site SEO Analysis Report
? Competitor Analysis Report
? SEO Analysis Report
? Keyword Research Report

A few free tools that can be found online to generate seo reports are: Using these tools you can simply copy paste the results to a word file, get it edited a little and convert into pdf and send to your clients. It’s just a five minutes job.

1. http://websitegrader.com/site/www.pressreleasecentre.com
2. http://www.reactionengine.com/analyse?uri=www.pressreleasecentre.com&keyphrase=press+release+distribution
3. http://www.free-seo.biz/SEO-Report/
4. http://www.semrush.com/br/info/pressreleasecentre.com
5. http://spydermate.com/
6. http://www.eyeflow.com/seozio/

By giving the URL of the website (in some applications we can also give the keyword) you wish to get the report to any of such report building tools and in a minute, the seo analysis will be delivered. You can copy the entire stuff to a word file and make relevant changes like removal of certain topics and data according to the requirements to build a seo report. SEO Reports hence generated will be having several parts – you should change it appropriately. For example, you may remove the off-site seo part for an on-site seo report and vice versa. Also the competitor analysis parts are not necessary to be included with in the on-site seo report.

The best way to develop a keyword research report is to utilize Google Adwords keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) with this we can find out the monthly searches, estimated PPC, competition etc. of any keywords. While developing a keyword research report, make sure that you are not taking all the data covered by the tool. Just take important columns like global monthly searches and ten or fifteen most important keywords related to the niche and build the report in a doc file. It will look more professional than sending a confusing excel sheet. While doing your search on adwords keyword tool, make sure to check the box ‘Only show ideas closely related to my search terms’. While sending the keyword research report try to include a few details about your company or services you have done already and specify the importance of optimizing the keywords and some related information.

Market Samurai and Traffic Traverse (in case if you are looking for a free tool just like Market samurai – this is it) are great options to generate such reports, especially competitor analysis reports. If you use seoquake plug-in (it’s highly recommended by experts if you’re a bit new to the industry. Add this plug-in to your Firefox) it is very easy to do a google search for a particular keyword and copy the data for competitor analysis reports.

A sample report generated by the website grader tool is attached (done for PRC). The invoice template attached can be used for your services by updating it as yourself. Once done, every time before you sent convert it into a pdf file (you may use google docs or doc2pdf.net to convert doc files into pdf) and send to the clients. That’d look more professional.

The best approach to generate any kind of seo reports is to do half the job manually and half automatically. So that we can deliver reports with the exact information a client is looking for. You may use different tools and combine reports that fulfill the requirements. Not just in SEO, in any business – first impression is the best impression. The best part of an seo report is adding suggestions. Let them know what are the things that can be done in order to improve their current search engine positions. Invite them for a free consultation in case if they would like to know more on it. You can have a short chat on skype or any other IMs regarding it.

I know, several factors are missing. But explaining stuff which is already familiar to all isn’t necessary. In case if you wish to know more about something explained above drop your queries here. I will try to explain it as per my knowledge and experience. So that we can make this a useful and informative post. To get you familiar with more seo factors (of course, its not that necessary if you are good at seo) I have included an seo checklist image with the downloads, which will help you to check if you have pointed everything with the seo report you have prepared.

A sample seo report, an invoice template and a sample keyword research report is attached here.

I work with a team of professionals for NewGenre Business Solutions (Google top’er ‘Quality SEO Services’). Apart from that we own and operate a few services like an online news distribution

   

View the original article here

Windows Phone has a 2% or less of U.S. market share, say reports

 

Windows Phone has a 2% or less of U.S. market share, say reports

Windows Phone continues to struggle to make forays into the smartphone market, with two well-known research firms, finding that he had 2% U.S. market share in the first quarter of the year.
The first part of the double-whammy for Windows Phone came last week, when the NPD Group found that only had 2% of sales of new smartphones in the United States in the first quarter. Android continues to dominate, with the market share of 61% among new smartphone buyers:
Android: 61%
iOS: 29%

BOARD: 5%
Windows Phone 7: 2%
Then today, Nielsen found that Windows Phone was only 1.7% market share among all U.S. smartphone owners during the first quarter of the year. This number is the total market share among all owners, not only for buyers of new phones, which measured NPD. Surprisingly, Windows Mobile with a market share of 4.1% has a market share larger than Windows Phone. Android dominates again, with market share of 48.5%):

Android: 48.5 percent)
iOS: 32.0%
BOARD: 11.6%
Windows Mobile: 4.1%

Windows Phone 1.7%
There is no new goods in all this to Microsoft. With many millions spent on marketing, launch costs and development costs, Windows Phone still fail to gain any traction.
Yet, Microsoft is doing a good job trying to get support for the operating system that are struggling. The carriers are looking for a way to get leverage against Apple's onerous demands for subsidies for every iPhone that sells and they're trying to Microsoft to become a serious competitor. And la Lumia 900 is a very well designed, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak say that is superior in some ways to the iPhone.

But despite this, the bad news keeps coming. Every once in a while, a product, even a well-designed, appears to be jinxed. Could this be the fate of Windows Phone? At the moment, seems to be so.