Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

While there is an endless deluge of forms and reports the average person deals with throughout the course of his or her life, no single document has the absolute power to affect an individual’s financial life more so than the infamous credit report and related FICO score.

Why is the credit report so important? Because the score that is derived from that report ultimately affects the loan rate you will receive on a home loan, car loan or credit card. The information on a credit report can also be used by potential employers in evaluating you as a candidate for a new job.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
So you think that because you’ve been faithfully making your required payments to creditors month after month (well, maybe you’ve had one or two late payments) your credit score is in the stratospheric range—you’re cruising in the high seven hundreds, right? Think again!

What many people don’t know is that it’s easy to mangle your credit—even when you’re following what you think is good advice. Click this link to learn the 5 Big Credit Mistakes that can take your score down!

Your Credit Report—it says a lot about you
A credit report includes information on your place of residency, the frequency with which you pay your bills, whether you have been arrested or even if you have filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting agencies sell this information to creditors who use this information to evaluate you when applying for credit, insurance, rental leases and even employment.

With the frightening rise in Identity Theft, many individuals are finding themselves in situations where fraudsters have stolen their identities and secured loans in their names and in the process, devastated their credit. Sometimes the culprit of a negative credit rating can be erroneous information provided to the credit bureau. Recovering from a damaged credit report is a time consuming and frustrating process often requiring the assistance of professionals.

When in doubt, check it out!
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA,) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) to provide you a free credit report once every 12 months. Taking a proactive approach to ensuring that your credit report remains accurate is as easy as ordering a free credit report online at: annualcreditreport.com.

And believe it or not, right now you have an even better option available to you than simply checking your credit report once a year. You can get up to 9 months of free credit monitoring through TransUnion! We blogged about this a few weeks ago, and you can read the full story by clicking here. There is a deadline for signing up for this free service (September 24), so you’ll want to act fast.

Bottom line, it’s important to stay on top of your credit report, and luckily there numerous web resources available to you today. We’ve listed just a few here. If you have another suggestion, please leave your comments. Happy crediting!

Resources for Finding Your Credit Score Online:

• Quizzle.com (Affiliated with Quicken Loans, this website will provide you a free credit report and an unofficial Quizzle credit score.)

• CreditKarma.com (Provides a free credit score which comes from one of the three major credit bureaus and allows you the ability to track and monitor your score.)

• myFICO.com (Fee-based service that offers reports obtained from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.)

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