Dear Creditnet: I have unsuccessfully tried to cancel my contract with an alarm company. Although my 3-year contract ended, I've been told I automatically signed up for another year because I didn't give them one month's notice. I did call 2 1/2 weeks in advance to cancel.

I believe these guys are unethical since they continue to charge my credit card every month, so what happens if I initiate a chargeback through my credit card company? Is that the only way to get them to stop charging my card?

Dear Creditnet: I lost my job a year ago and have been unable to find full-time work ever since. I've also fallen behind on my bills during the past 6 months, which has really trashed my credit scores. I think my FICO scores are now below 600. I've heard that employers can pull credit scores when reviewing a job application. Is this true? If it is, this may be one reason I keep getting turned down for new jobs. Is there any way to avoid this?

Dear Creditnet: I know that my credit utilization ratio makes up a large part of my FICO credit score.  I've also read that it's important to keep my ratio under 30%, or preferably at 10% or less. My question is would it be better to keep my credit utilization ratio at 0% or 10%?  If I pay my balance off every week and my credit utilization is reported at 0%, is that hurting my FICO scores?

Dear Creditnet: I just read Creditnet's article about the credit bureau, PRBC, and it sounds like a great thing...long overdue. My question is, when applying for a loan or credit cards, do most (or any) lenders check with PRBC along with the 3 major credit bureaus?

Also, does the PRBC report information to any of the big 3, and if not, can we request that they do so?

Answer: Since the PRBC, which now stands for "Payment Reporting Builds Credit", is another credit reporting agency, they don't actually report any information to the other big 3 credit bureaus- Equifax, Experian, and TU. What the PRBC is doing is independently verifying "nontraditional" payment data, such as rent and cell phone bills, and then providing this information in their own separate credit report that lenders can use to supplement the underwriting process when applicants have otherwise "thin" credit reports.