Why a Credit Report is Essential |
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By: John Parks Posted: 2010-03-22 06:30:04 |
| A credit report is an essential document for anyone that is trying to keep track of his or her financial health. These reports allow you to understand how potential creditors view you. If you have a high credit score of 650 and above, you are viewed as a good credit risk. However, if your score is below 600, it is generally harder for you to be approved for credit and loans. Many people do not know that credit reports often have mistakes. These mistakes may be hampering your ability to obtain credit. Credit reports, which are easy to obtain, are also an important asset to for anyone trying to get out of debt.Most analysts believe that people should get a copy of their report at least once a year. However, in today's high-paced technological world, many financial advisors believe that it is important to view your score every six months. This allows you to correct mistakes immediately. Congress passed a law entitled the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act. This law allows you to obtain a free report every year from one of the three credit reporting agencies. If you contact these agencies, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, they will send you a report every twelve months.Credit reports detail your financial history for the last seven years. Any potential lenders or creditors will see what they believe is an accurate picture of your debts and payment practices. If your credit report shows a pattern of late payments, delinquent debts, and/or outstanding loans, it will be extremely hard for you to acquire credit in the future. However, you can examine your credit report thoroughly for items that are over seven years old and any other mistakes that it may contain. You may then dispute these items. If your dispute is successful, these items will be removed from your report and your score will increase. Once you have scrutinized your report for any mistakes, you should begin the process of raising your score.There are a number of things that affect your score. Every time you apply for a new line of credit, it appears on your report. People who have applied and been rejected for new credit lines over a short time will have their scores affected negatively. It is important to limit your inquiries until your score has been raised. One of the most important things that you can do in order to raise your credit score is pay your bills on time.Late payments have a very detrimental impact on your score. By simply paying bills on time, you can increase your score significantly. In addition, if you made a payment on time, but it is listed as late on the report, you can dispute this with the reporting agency. If you are successful, this payment history is updated to reflect accurately what happened, thus improving your credit score.If you have any outstanding debt, you should make arrangements with the lenders or creditors to pay it back as soon as possible. Your report provides you with an accurate picture of whom you owe and how much you owe them. In these troubled economic times, many creditors are willing to make any arrangements that will allow them to receive a percentage of the outstanding debt.Credit is almost essential in today's society. Knowing your credit score is one of the most effective means in increasing your financial health. Your credit report is one of the most important means of achieving fiscal solvency.For more information on credit reports, visit http://freecreditreportus.com |
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