Getting Your Credit Report & Why It’s Important

Article by Trevor Poulson

Getting Your Credit Report & Why It’s Important – Finance – Credit

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Few people realize how easy it is to get a copy of your credit report or how important it is for you to know what’s on your credit report. As part of the federal Fair Crediting Reporting Act (FCRA), each of the nationwide consumer reporting agencies is required to provide you with a free copy of your credit report once per year.

Be careful of many companies online advertising to give you a free credit report as many of them will have you enrolling in other things at the same time! If you go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com, you can get a copy of your credit report from Trans Union, Equifax or Experian, which are the three main credit reporting agencies. If you’ve been denied for any credit, you’re also entitled to a free copy of your credit report if you contact them within 60 days of the denial.

What’s On Your Credit Report?

Anything of importance that anyone may want to know about you can be found on your credit report. Personal information about you including name, aliases, Social Security number, current and past addresses, date of birth, current employer as well as previous employer. Most of this information is coming from applications you may have filled out in the past so it’s important to always be sure to fill out forms accurately.

Any credit you may have or have had in the past will be listed on your credit report including the date each account was opened or closed, high credit limit, monthly payment, balance and payment history for the past few years. It will also state the type of account it is (mortgage, installment loan) and if it is also under someone else’s name. If you’ve had any public records such as monetary judgments, bankruptcy, tax liens or even back child support, these things will all be listed right below your accounts.

Any inquiries that have been made into your credit report, whether by you or others will also be listed on the bottom of the credit report along with the date of the inquiry. When you apply for any credit, the company will request a copy of your credit report and their name is then added to the list of inquiries. Potential creditors frown on numerous inquiries in a short amount of time. Too many inquiries in a short amount of time can also affect your credit scores negatively.

Why It’s Important to See Your Credit Report

It’s very important to see your credit report at least once a year so you know what’s being reported about you and your financial history. There may be information on your credit report that’s inaccurate. It’s up to the bank or credit card company that reported the information to the credit reporting agency to correct any errors they’ve made, but they need to be made aware of them first.

Your credit report may not show all your accounts. Although most creditors report to the agencies, there are some that do not. Make sure that any accounts that are paid off are reported as paid. When you look over your credit report, start from the top and verify everything. One mistyped number in your Social Security number can result in someone else’s account being on your report. Errors are often found on credit reports within the family when there are “Jr.” and “Sr.” in the family.

Your credit report is used for more than just loans and credit card applications. Today potential landlords are requesting credit reports as well as cable and satellite providers and cell phone companies. So, know protect your credit and know what’s on your credit report!

About the Author

I own T.K. Financial Group, LLC. An online marketing firm with a wide arrangement of services including, but not limited to, financial help http://www.creditcardissuer.us to new online businesses http://www.doorways2wealth.com and even pharmaceuticals http://consumersdiscountrx.com/phrmacy.

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Trevor Poulson

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Use and distribution of this article is subject to our Publisher Guidelines
whereby the original author’s information and copyright must be included.