Even if you’re not thinking about applying for a loan or credit card in the near future, it’s always a good idea to look at your credit report and scores. You should check your personal credit report and score at least twice a year to make sure that all of your personal information is accurate.
Why It’s Important:
Identity theft is a problem that is not going away any time soon. An identity thief can steal your identity and do serious damage to your credit in less time than it takes to boil water. Checking your credit report and scores regularly ensures you notice any suspicious activity right away.
How To Do It:
The Federal Trade Commission allows consumers to obtain one free credit report annually via AnnualCreditReport.com.
Under federal law, you’re entitled to an additional free credit report if you are denied credit, insurance or employment and ask for your report within 60 days of receiving notice of your denial. The written notice you should receive should also list the name, address and phone number of the company to contact to obtain your report.
If you want to keep extra close tabs on your credit report and scores, a site you might want to consider is Quizzle. Quizzle has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and CNN for being one of the best places to get a complete understanding of your credit. They offer a free Experian credit report, credit score and more.
How They Work:
While your credit report and scores never really “expire,” your credit profile could change based on the financial decisions you make on a daily basis. One late payment or new credit account could make your credit report and scores go up or down, which is why most lenders request to pull your credit when you’re applying for a loan. Your credit score has a direct impact on your ability to be approved for a loan, and each lender has its own cutoff points and underwriting guidelines.
Keeping up on your credit report and scores is more important than ever. If you want any kind of loan or if you’re thinking about taking advantage of the record low mortgage rates we’ve been enjoying over the past year, make sure you’re watching your credit closely. You’ll be taking the proper measures to protect yourself from identity theft, and you’ll be preparing yourself for any loans you may want to take out in the future.
You pay your apartment rent on time every month. You never miss a utility bill. Your credit score, then, must be strong, right? Maybe not. The only way to know for sure is to check your annual free credit report.
Your three-digit credit score is one important number. Lenders of all types, whether they’re passing out a mortgage, auto, or personal loans, rely on it to determine if you qualify for their money and at what interest rates. A growing number of employers study your credit score when you apply for a job. Your auto insurer might use your three-digit score to help set your policy rate.
In other words, being stuck with a bad credit score – one under 700 on the popular FICO credit-scoring scale – can make life difficult.
Most troubling of all is that you might pay your bills religiously each month and still have a weak credit score. The problem? You might not be paying the right bills.
Credit reports don’t take into account how well you make such payments as apartment rents and utility bills. That’s because these creditors don’t report their findings to the bureau. This means even if you’ve never missed a rent or electric bill in 10 years, you might still have a low credit score if you don’t have enough other credit. The credit bureaus penalize consumers not only for missing payments and filing for bankruptcy protection but for not having enough credit, too.
That’s why it’s so important for you to view your free annual credit report each year. Your credit report will show you exactly what lenders see when they look at your credit history. It won’t show you your actual three-digit credit score – you’ll have to pay one of the three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax or TransUnion, for that – but it will give you an idea of what your past financial history looks like.
The good news is you can get your credit report for free. By visiting the Web site AnnualCreditReport.com, you can order one copy each of your three credit reports – one maintained by each national credit bureau – every 12 months.
Just make sure you request these reports only from AnnualCreditReport.com. The other commercial sites promising you free credit reports are not to be trusted. Many of them require you to first sign up for a free trial of their credit-monitoring services. Then, if you don’t cancel this service after the free-trial period ends, you’ll find a monthly fee on your credit card. AnnualCreditReport.com, though, provides you with your credit reports free of charge.
Explore your free annual credit report to get the real truth about your credit history. You might be surprised at what you find.
When you ask for a loan from the bank, they look at more than just your credit score.
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If your New Year’s resolution involves your finances, a great first step is to check your credit report.
Vowing to manage one’s finances better in the New Year could be an appropriate resolution for almost anybody. You can get a bird’s eye view of what your finances look like simply by checking your credit report since it contains such a wide variety of important elements you may need to address in 2011. Checking your credit report is a must-do if your resolution is specifically raising your credit score.
One’s credit score is calculated by the 3 major credit bureaus (Experian™, Equifax™, and TransUnion™) by collecting information such as bill payment trends, outstanding debt and the number of open accounts from your lenders and creditors. Consumers should also be aware that the 3 major credit bureaus do not all report the same information so it is wise to see a report from each of them. Because this score affects whether or not funding is granted to consumers, having a good credit score is very important.
By checking your credit report, you will see a treasure trove of financial information. It’s also good to obtain your credit report prior to beginning any type of loan application, especially prior to starting the home mortgage process.
Get a head start on raising your credit score in 2011 by getting a free copy of your credit report. Everyone is entitled to one free report annually from each of the three credit bureaus. You can request your free credit report by going here.