Consumer Affairs holds credit seminar

PATTY GUTHRIE One woman was being weighed down by an old credit card bill that kept growing higher and higher as interest mounted up.

Another said debt collectors were so persistent they've even pestered her on Sundays.

While their problems were not easily solvable, they served as ample evidence to a South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) representative that people of all ages could use additional help with financial information.

Holding her first seminar in Gaffney on how to understand and improve your credit history, DCA Outreach Coordinator Patty Guthrie walked an eager audience through the steps of how to obtain their credit history reports and what to look for in order to improve their credit ratings.

Credit reports, maintained by three major firms - Trans Union, Experian and Equifax - are a detailed record of your borrowing, from credit cards to car loans and mortgages.

Negative information in those reports, such as late payments or complete failure to make payments on a credit card bill, can make it difficult to obtain new credit or at least make it far more costly through higher interest rates.

While consumers can help themselves by paying bills on time and making more than minimum payments, Guthrie told the audience they also should also be proactive in looking for errors that can hurt them.

"There's a lot of erroneous information sitting out there," she said.

She herself has been having trouble tracking down how her family's credit report came to include information about a 2002 loan application it knew nothing about.

While her audience was small, just under a dozen, Guthrie was pleased with the turnout and the outcome.

"It really shows there's a need for that kind of education," she said. "These were just a few people who had time to come and there was a whole range in ages, from the very young to a grandmother."

Guthrie plans to hold additional seminars on the same topic. But, as she discovered, people in the audience had questions about a whole range of topics, like how to handle debt collectors that won't take no for an answer.

Guthrie is planning a seminar on how to protect yourself from identity theft this June.