The lending industry has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. Previously when you wanted a loan, the loan officer would look at you as a person and see how much money you make, what debts do you have and what expenses you have to determine if you would be able to pay the loan back. Now of days it’s been figured into a science and your ability to repay a loan has been reduced to a number. Yes, it’s your credit score, and you should get a free credit check on the internet today if you haven’t already done so.
A lot of people focus too much on their credit score. They know that they will get better loans and have a few options that other people do not in the financial world. When you don’t borrow a whole lot of money if any, it becomes much less of an issue. Even if you could care less what your credit score is, you should still look at your credit reports at least once a year otherwise you could find yourself in some hot water.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group did a study did a study of credit reports, and what they found was shocking. 29% of people had serious errors on their credit report that could result in the denial of credit. Another 41% had some sort of incorrect person information, and 20% were missing major items that demonstrate the credit worthiness of a consumer. Overall the survey found that 70% of people had some sort of mistakes. Statistically, your credit report has an error on it. If your credit report is wrong, there’s a chance your credit score could be much lower, making it so you get much less desirable loans and could make it so that the next time you want to rent an apartment, that you could be denied from doing so. The only way to get these mistakes fixed is to get a free credit check on the internet or the phone and clean up those mistakes.
If your identity has been stolen and someone is fraudulently opening accounts in your name, the easiest way to find them out is by pulling your credit report. The sooner you find out about an instance of identity theft, the better. If you catch them early, you’ll have to do a lot less leg work to clean up the mess that the identity thief creates.
There are a lot of good reasons to check your credit report, especially since it doesn’t cost anything. If you want to get a free credit report on the internet, the only one you should go to is annualcreditreport.com. This is the one sponsored by the three major bureaus and doesn’t come with any strings attached. A lot of sites offering free credit reports will enroll you in some service and make you cancel it to not be charged a fee. With Annual Credit Report, there are no fees, and no surprises. You can check your credit report once a year with Annual Credit Report and should do so each year.
Be sure to get your free credit check each year, otherwise you could find yourself applying for a mortgage only to be denied because of some egregious error and be stuck in some sort of sub-prime loan, or worse yet, have your identity stolen without you even knowing about it until some collector calls you asking why you don’t pay your bills.