Solve your debt in 5 days or less!

toll-free "800 number," beware! Any company that has an "800 
number" and is in the business of collecting debts may 
frequently utilize a little-known fact about these numbers.  
Every time you call in to a toll-free number the phone 
company providing the service can provide their subscriber 
with an "ANI" listing.  "ANI" stands for "Automatic Number 
Identifier," a technical way of saying that every time you 
call in on an "800 number" the party on the receiving end 
instantly (in many cases) knows the telephone number from 
which you're calling.  American Express used to use this 
service extensively, in the name of high-tech customer 
service.  An American Express cardholder would call in from 
their home and the operator who answered would say: "Good 
evening, Mr. Dover!  What can we do for you this evening?"  
Don't think your friendly debt collector would ever hesitate 
in using the same technology to find your new "unlisted" 
phone number.  Be smart if you want to save money and 
communicate with your creditors. Use a pay phone.  Hotel 
lobbies always have quiet areas where you can make your 
calls safely. 



Women and Credit

To avoid credit problems, it is imperative that all women 
educate themselves about credit and money management and 
establish and maintain their own credit, separate from their 
husbands.  This means that single women with an established 
credit history should maintain their separate credit 
identity if they decide to marry.  Similarly, already 
married women who share their husbands' credit should build 
a credit file in their own names with as few ties as 
possible to their husbands' credit. 
Women often have difficulty developing their own credit 
histories, and have some of the special credit-related 
issues commonly faced by women and talk about how best to 
deal with those issues.  
Opportunity Act
When building your own credit, it is important to know about 
the federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA).  Enacted in 
1974, the ECOA was written to help ensure that among other 
things women are not denied access to credit simply because 
of their Women Have Problems with Credit. 
Women Have Problems with Credit
Without a credit identity of their own, women who experience 
marital status changes are likely to have problems with 
credit.  Credit-related problems tend to be the result of a 
number of factors including: 
·	The role women traditionally played in the American 
economy, their tendency to take their husbands' names and 
their reliance on their husbands to handle money matters, 
such as credit applications, loans, etc. 
·	The general lack of knowledge regarding credit reporting 
and how credit information is reported to credit bureaus. 
·	A lack of understanding on the part of both men and women 
regarding the importance of a woman having a credit history 
completely separate from that of her husband. 
In the past, most women did not work outside the home, and 
consumer credit was acquired and maintained in the name of a 
woman’s husband rather than in her name or in both of their 
names.  Although many women helped manage their household's 
finances-and in some cases even helped pay for their 
family's use of credit-most never developed their own credit 
identities.  These women were financial nonentities in the 
eyes of creditors and the credit reporting industry. 
Today, increasing numbers of women have moved into the 
workplace, and two income households are the norm rather 
than the exception.  Also, the federal Equal Credit 
Opportunity Act, explained in detail later, now makes it 
easier for women to obtain credit. 
Despite these important changes, many women, like consumers 
in general, remain relatively uninformed about credit, 
credit bureaus and the credit reporting process.  Women also 
tend not to understand the critical importance of having 
credit in their own names, and consequently, they do not. 
However, in a society where many women delay marriage to 
establish their careers and wives tend to outlive their 
husbands, women cannot afford to remain financially naive 
and vulnerable.  Women need to know how to manage their own 
money and credit whether they are single, married, widowed 
or divorced.  If married, women specifically need to 
actively participate in the management of their family's 
finances and maintain or develop their own credit 
identities. 
Women's Account User Status Designations
An important but often overlooked part of credit education 
is understanding the meaning of common account user status 
designations and why some user status designations are 
better for building credit than others.  This knowledge is 
invaluable to the woman who wants to build a credit history 
in her own name. 
Account user status designations indicate to creditors and 
potential creditors who can use an account and the degree to 
which each user is legally responsible for managing the 
account and making payments.  Generally, the person who can 
use an account and the person who has payment responsibility 
are established at the time credit is applied for. 
Many women do not understand that being listed as an 
authorized user on their husbands accounts does little to 
build their own credit identity.  Nor do they understand 
that if all of their accounts are joint accounts-shared with 
their husbands-these women risk losing that credit if they 
become separated, divorced or widowed. 
Different account designations convey different messages 
about a user's responsibility for an account.  Therefore, 
various designations will be of greater or lesser help to 
the woman who is trying to establish her own credit 
identity. 
The most common account user designations and their effects 
on a woman's credit building efforts are summarized below. 
·	Authorized User Status.  A woman who is listed as an 
authorized user on her husband's account has permission to 
use the account but has no legal responsibility for it.  In 
other words, authorized user status indicates that a woman 
is relying on her spouse's earnings power to pay the 
account.  Accounts with this status are of minimal value to 
women who want to establish their own credit identities. 
·	Joint User Status.  If a woman has joint user status on an 
account, she and her husband can both use the account-and