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What You Need to Know About Credit Reports
You hear people talk about credit reports all the time but do
you know what they are really all about? Well, if you have ever
been turned down when applying for a credit card or a loan it is
high time you learned all about your credit report and how you
can get it working for you instead of against you.
Let's start off by explaining what your credit report actually
is. Your credit report is a public record of all of the
transactions concerning any money you may gave borrowed in the
past. Any payments that you make on time or late, will show up on
this report as well. Any tax liens or bankruptcies are on there
as well. Your credit report even notes each time your report has
been requested by someone or some company.
The reason that this report is so important is that this is
how most lenders make their decision about whether you are a good
credit risk or not. If you have a history of not paying your
debts, they are obviously not going to want to give you any money
because they know they will have a hard time getting it back from
you. If you have poor credit you will find it difficult to get
any credit cards or loans, even employers and landlords are
accessing credit reports these days.
Everyone should request a copy of his or her report at least
once a year. This is a simple task, all you need to do is contact
one of the three major credit reporting agencies and ask them for
a copy. This will not cost you anything but the copying expense
and the stamp. You can contact these agencies online at:
Experian (located at www.experian.com)
Trans Union (located at www.transunion.com)
Equifax (located at www.equifax.com)
It is a good idea to get a report from all three of these
agencies because they are not always the same. Once you get your
report you will want to check it over for any errors or
discrepancies. If you find any be sure to contact your creditors
right away so that they can fix the problem.
According to the law you are entitles to receive one free copy
of your credit report each and every year sot here is a chance
that you will have to pay for the other two. But there is a
chance that you will be eligible to get free reports if you meet
certain criteria.
This criteria is as follows:
You have been the victim of identity theft
You are on welfare
You are unemployed
You have been denied credit recently
If your credit report is not a good-looking one at all there
are some things that you can do to fix it up. First off, as I
mentioned before if you see any errors report them right away,
but if the black marks you see are all legitimate claims you will
have to do some serious repair work. You cannot fix your credit
overnight, no matter what anyone tells you, it is going to take
some time and some effort.
If you just cannot seem to get things together enough to start
making all of your payments on time each month you can contact a
credit counseling service. They can help you to manage your debt
successfully.
Having good credit is very important and the truth of the
matter is that it is only going to get more important. Now is as
good a time as any to get things under control don't you
think?
Martin Lukac, represents, #1 Loans USA, a finance web-company
specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in
daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more:
http://www.1LoansUSA.com
MORE RESOURCES:
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