The only way to remove those errors is by checking your credit report and filing inquiries to have them dropped.  Maybe you haven’t checked it because you think it might be expensive, but you’d be wrong.  By law, you are allowed one free credit report from each of the credit bureaus every year.  If you use those up, there are multiple other ways to obtain a free copy online.

How Your Credit Is Used

Your credit is used to determine what interest rates you’ll have to pay on a loan, whether or not you’re eligible for a new credit card, and even if you’ll get hired by a new employer.  It’s a way to determine how dependable you are.  If you manage your finances well, creditors will have more confidence that they will get their money back and will be more willing to approve you.  If you are deep in debt, potential employers have reason to believe that you’ll start looking for a different job shortly after they hire you to find better pay to cover your debt.

Errors Hurt Your Score

Errors on your credit report can hurt your score, and just a few points can mean the difference between having good credit or fair credit, and that can mean the difference between a high or low interest rate.  Taking the time to review your report carefully and remove any errors will only benefit you.

When your report is free, there’s no reason not to know what’s on it.  Especially if you’re thinking of making any big purchases this year, you want to be a step ahead of the lender and know exactly where you stand.  If a lender checks your credit before you do and your history is negative, you’ll either have to accept higher rates, or be denied and end up with even worse credit.  You don’t want to risk that knowing you had free opportunities to fix your report before then.

It’s really up to you, as the general recommendation is to check your report at least once every three months.  The advantage to reviewing all three at once is being able to see the differences in what each bureau is reporting and how it affects your overall history.  You’ll be more likely to catch all of the errors that might be hurting you, whereas if you spaced the reports out, you might not get to the only one listing a large error or evidence of fraud in time to stop all the damage it’s causing.

You’ll definitely want to review your credit report at least a few months before making any large purchases (such as a car or house) or applying for hefty loans.  This will give you time to start turning your credit around if you do find errors or a negative history.  You want to act as soon as possible because you don’t want any surprises at the last minute that will cause you to be denied, especially when they may have been easily preventable.  To make it worse, the “hard inquiry” by the creditor coupled with the denial will hurt your credit even more, giving you a rougher start on improving it.

If you are denied and your credit history was a definite factor, you are entitled to a free copy of your report.  Don’t use this as a way to get another free report, though!  Even if you’ve already received your free copies by this point and have to pay for another copy, your request is known as a “soft inquiry” and does not hurt your credit.

If you suspect your identity has been compromised or you are simply planning to get out of debt, reviewing your credit report is your first step here as well.  Take advantage of your free credit reports and don’t be afraid to review your credit as often as you deem necessary.

Imagine a time when small mom-and-pop stores stood on every corner in your town.  As time passed, they were bought out or put out of business by the larger corporations.  In a sense, this is what happened with credit bureaus.  There used to be local bureaus that would track and report your credit information.  Over the last couple of decades, the bigger three expanded and took over.  Smaller bureaus do still exist, but their information is still supplied by the same three large ones.

The benefit for you is that no matter where you go in the country, your credit history will follow you.  That high score and great track record you have will not disappear and there will be no starting over.  The downfall is that no matter where you go in the country, your credit history will follow you!  If you’ve been irresponsible with your credit and have a low score or any black marks, moving to a different state will not erase any of it.  You’ll still need to do some work to improve your score.

It is important to know that Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are competitors, and they do not share information.  This is why your score and your history may look different with each of them.  When you apply for any type of credit, the lender will usually only send an inquiry to one of the bureaus, so that mark (known as a “hard inquiry”) will only show on that bureau’s report.  Even once you’ve been approved for credit and the creditor begins reporting to the bureaus every month, they are not required to report to all three.  And even if they do, depending on when you check your history, the information may still be different because one bureau or another has not received the report or actually bothered to run it yet.

You can request reports from all three bureaus for free once a year from annualcreditreport.com.  You will not see your exact score in this free report, but you will find the list of accounts that each bureau has on their records along with your specific history.  Be sure to examine them carefully to catch any errors or discrepancies and take steps to resolve them immediately.

Improve your credit score and doors can open for you.  Not only will you be extended credit, you could receive a higher limit and a lower interest rate.  You’ll also be approved much more quickly.  There is less time needed to assess the risk of not being repaid.

A high credit score also takes much of the emotion out of the creditor’s decision.  It becomes harder and less likely for them to discriminate against you and deny you for reasons like race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, etc.  Obviously, personal factors like these should never be a reason to approve or deny you, but you could have the unfortunate luck to be partnered with a prejudiced creditor.  Keep your score high and the people that might otherwise discriminate against you will be less able to.

Think your credit score only affects you for large purchases like houses and cars?  If your credit isn’t in good shape, you could be denied when attempting to purchase things like cell phone plans, satellite TV, and even that extra comfy mattress you’ve been wanting.  A potential employer may even check your score.

It is worth the effort to improve your score.  Be smart about your spending, pay your bills on time, and keep your balances low.  Once your score is up, you’ve shown you can be responsible and reliable, and your old credit score can be overlooked.  Your creditors will then feel comfortable approving you for expensive necessities as well as everyday luxuries.

Your credit score may be the most important piece of financial information, and a bad score can prevent you from being able to rent an apartment, get a job, and it can even raise your auto insurance rates. Unfortunately, there are millions of people suffering from a low credit score not because of their bad credit behavior, but because they don’t regularly review this information.

Fraud, identity theft and simple errors are highly prevalent, and it is almost guaranteed that you will be a victim one or many times in your life. Hackers crack into department store records to steal your credit card information, dumpster divers fill out your credit card applications, and Social Security Numbers are sold on the black market. These things happen, and by getting your free credit rating online you can review your credit score and report to make sure you are not a victim of these cases.

Beyond that, the credit reporting agencies do not always get your information accurately on your credit file either, and that can effect your score. These agencies have billions of transactions and information to manage for millions of people, which is not an easy task. Because of the complexity, these reporting agencies often get the wrong information on the wrong credit reports. That means there could be accounts on your file that don’t belong there, and there could even be bankruptcies or judgements.

This is not uncommon at all. In fact, one out of every four credit reports contain information serious enough to effect your score. The good news is it is pretty easy to get this wrong information removed from your report. Once removed, your score should increase as well, which you can then use to renegotiate your loans, refinance your mortgage, and reduce your auto insurance.

=> Get Your Free Credit Rating Online

Your credit report includes information, such as:

• Your Social Security Number, employers, and your address
• You past and present credit accounts and loans
• Public records items, such as judgments and bankruptcies

This is, in essence, your credit history that is listed on your credit report. The information on this file goes back 7 years, but can list some forms of bankruptcies for as long as 10 years.

=> View Your Credit History

Your credit score, on the other hand, is a number that is assigned to you based on the information listed on your report. You are given points for good credit behavior, and points are taken for bad behavior.

What is considered good and bad behavior? The biggest part of your score is determined by your payment history — how often you pay or don’t pay your bills on time. Your score also looks at the length of time you’ve had credit accounts open, how much of your credit you use, and how often you try to get more credit.

Your score is used not only to determine if you can get approved for a home or auto loan, but it is often used by companies to gauge your level of responsibility. For example, employers often check your credit during the screening process, landlords will most often want to know your rating, and your auto insurance company may even use it to determine your rates.

The good news is that your credit score is not set in stone and it can always be improved. Even a poor rating can be turned around into excellent credit by disputing items and making a couple changes in your financial behavior.

See Your Credit Score

The credit reporting agencies have to job of collecting information from your lenders and creditors, and listing that information in a clear and concise manner. These documents list that accounts you paid online and the times you were late. It will list any accounts that are in collections, and any repossessions, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The credit scoring agencies then take this information and assign a score, which represents how well you manage your debts.

Because there are millions of people with billions of transactions a day that these credit reporting agencies must manage, they don’t always report the most accurate information. That is why it is not only important to regularly review one of your credit reports, but all 3 of your files. Just because one report is clean doesn’t mean that the other 3 have the same exact information.

How to Read Credit Report

These important documents are basically broken down into three sections:

• Your Personal Information: This section lists your name, address, and most importantly check to make sure your Social Security Number is properly identified. This section may also list your employer, previous employers, previous addresses, your driver’s license number, and your spouse’s name. While these secondary items may not directly affect your credit score, it is a good idea to check for accuracy.
• Your Credit History: This section will list all of your accounts that you currently have open or opened in the past. Here you will see the account number and lender’s name, they type of loan, the average amount owed, the status of the account, and your payment history.
• Public Records: This lists any financially related information about you that is available to the public, such as:  judgments, foreclosures, bankruptcies, and tax liens. Anything listed in this section is considered bad.
• Inquiries on Your Account: This section lists all the creditors and lenders that have pulled your credit. You will see soft inquiries, which are instances where creditors were able to see partial information about your credit history. Permission is not needed for this, and it does not affect your credit score in any way. Hard inquiries list the instances where you gave authority for companies to pull your credit to review it for a loan, lease or credit. Multiple hard inquiries on your account can affect your credit score.

View Your Credit Report and Score Here

When you request an instant online credit report there are a few things to consider as well. With the options available, you should have no trouble finding a provider that will not only give you your credit sore for free, but you should also be able to receive all 3 of your credit reports at no charge as well. This is important as you want to regularly review these reports to ensure that you are not a victim of identity theft.

It’s not uncommon for information that does not belong on your credit report to be listed on this file as well. Review this information closely and double check for accuracy. Any information that does not belong there by law must be removed by the credit reporting agency.

When you request your instant online credit report, you also want to be sure that you are also receiving a copy of your credit score that most lenders go by. There are many variations of your credit score, so it is important that you utilize a provider that will give you the most common types of credit scores. This is usually not an issue, but something to consider.

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Your creditors, lenders and people you have done business with in the past may or may not have reported that information to the three credit reporting agencies. In some cases they may have only sent that information to one or two of the bureaus, but not all three.

There is nothing in the consumer credit report law that states that a company must provide the same information to all three agencies. They only have to report accurate information.

If you have not reviewed your credit report and score in over 6 months, it is recommended by financial experts to request all 3 when you order your yearly credit report. There really is no reason not to either.

Once you have your reports, review them closely for errors. It it not uncommon that the wrong information is placed on the wrong report. Imagine being surprised by the fact that you have horrible credit because of a bankruptcy listing on your file. These things happen, but the good news is that it is not very difficult to have those items removed. But until you do, your credit score will remain the same and lenders will probably not accept and explanation.

When you download your yearly credit report, also check for any accounts you have that are in good standing that may not be listed on your file. These things help your score, and you want to be sure all of your good standing accounts are listed. If they are not, call those creditors right away and ask them to submit your information and credit history to all 3 bureau. In most cases they will be happy to do so.

Download Your Credit Report and Score

There are, in fact, three credit reports that are associated with every American citizen. All three will have slightly different information on them. By law, your creditors and lenders only need to provide accurate information, but they do not necessarily have to provide any information at all. They can also select who they provide that information to.

For example, the 3 credit report agencies are Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian. Let’s say you have a Visa credit card and a car loan. One month you accidentally forget to pay your Visa bill and for the past 3 months  you have not been able to make a car payment. Your credit card company may report the late payment to all three agencies. Your car lender, however, may only report the information to Experian and Equifax, but not Trans Union.

The same holds true for good credit behavior. It is possible that you have a credit card that you have been paying on time for several years, yet none of that information shows up on your credit reports. That is why it is critical to not review all three credit reports thoroughly and make sure all good information is provided on those reports. If it is not, call your lenders and ask them to submit that information.

When you get your online credit report, be sure that it includes your Experian, Equifax and Trans Union reports. This is especially true if you have not reviewed these files within the past 6 months or more.

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