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.
Americans are beginning to gain ground against the worst recession in recent history as more and more economic indicators point to recovery. A new study from the Federal Reserve says household net worth in the U.S. soared $2.1 trillion during the last three months of 2010.
Gregory Daco, U.S. senior economist for the research firm IHS Global Insight says household liabilities rose just 0.2 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010 as consumers took on more installment debt but continued to pay down existing mortgages. Outstanding mortgage debt fell by 0.3 percent.
The latest figures are a good sign for the mortgage market as it struggles to get a handle on delinquency numbers in the millions. The increased net worth should translate into stronger household finances and fewer homeowners who are unable to meet their mortgage obligations.
Market analysis from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) does indeed point to a decline in new delinquencies in recent months.
MBA reported last month that the overall delinquency rate for single-family mortgage loans dropped to 8.22 percent at the end of 2010, as the numbers fell in all past-due buckets.
Mortgages only one payment late – 3.25 percent of all outstanding home loans – have now fallen to the pre-recession levels of late 2007, according to MBA.
Should we be doing more to help our troops fighting for freedom? Sure seems illegal to have this occur for those serving. Some people take a “strategic default” while others lose their homes defending the rights of the “defaulters.”…
Have questions or concerns about this growing problem of military mortgages underwater and being foreclosed upon while serving? Let us hear your comments or feedback about this growing issue.