Why You Need a Copy of Your Credit Report!

Why You Need a Copy of Your Credit Report!

Many people are not aware of how important their credit history is, and that they are entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the credit reporting agencies.

Your credit report is an important document which may affect you more than you think. It is perfectly possible to see a copy of your credit report, and it's free. But why would you want to read your credit report, and how do you find it?

In the US there are 3 national credit bureaus which keep information on you and your credit. This information includes a whole range of details on many of the financial transactions that you make through your life.

You may not be aware of it but much of your financial data is kept by credit agencies, and can seriously affect your life. Opening a bank account, considering letting a bill slide a little until it's overdue, going for a loan, buying a house? Any one of these transactions and many many more are all recorded on your credit report. Information is kept on where you live, how you manage most of your finances, much of your criminal history if you have one, your history of loan repayments and much more.

And this information is not just kept there for the sake of it. This information is used to assess your credit worthiness so that when you go for a new loan, for example, the organization through which you are applying can access this information to help it decide whether or not it ought to grant you the loan.

You are in fact, rated for your credit worthiness using this information collected on you, and a credit worthiness score is applied to you. This score is part of the information that an organization may wish to find out if they are judging your credit worthiness.

Something as simple as missing a few bill payments because you were on vacation can quite seriously affect such things as your ability to obtain credit in the future.

So as you can see the information kept in your credit report is important information and can affect your life in ways you may not be aware of.

For this reason it is important to know what information is kept on your credit report. It is not unheard of, for example, for there to be inaccurate entries on your report and if you are unaware of this and therefore cannot correct it this inaccurate information may well cause you all sorts of unexpected problems.

So, how do you get a copy of your credit report? Luckily you are entitled by law to get a free copy of your report each year. You will need to provide your name and address as well as your social security number and date of birth to identify yourself, as well as possible former addresses if you have moved recently.

To get your free credit report from each of the three national credit bureaus go to AnnualCreditReport.com and proceed as directed.

So remember, you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report free each year. Make use of your entitlement, check your report and see if there is anything there which could be causing you a problem. If there is then you can start finding out what to do about it.

Another important reason to check your credit report is to look for errors, omissions, and signs of identity theft. Don't leave your credit to chance. Manage your credit not only by paying your bills on time, but by monitoring your credit history diligently.

Tags: credit report