This article was written to answer many of the most frequently asked questions. I hope you find all of this information helpful.
A 3 credit report can be useful for a variety of reasons. There are three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and each of them have their own information about your credit, so to get a good credit report, you have to use all three. Fortunately, you can get a three-credit report for about $24, and this will tell you all you need to know about your credit rather than wasting time with a so-called free online credit report.
Many institutions need to know your three credit reports before they will approve of you, so knowing your credit record can give you a heads up on your chances of receiving all kinds of services. For example, a home loan will not be given if you have a bad credit score, and neither will you qualify for low-cost life insurance, a credit card with a low apr, or sometimes even a lease on a house or car. So knowing your three credit reports can be a shortcut to save you time applying to services you won't receive.
Another thing about knowing your three credit report score is that it can show you if someone has been defrauding you or stealing your identity. If, for example, someone has been getting accounts in your name and not telling you or paying them, they will show up on your three credit reports as a bad score. This will let you take appropriate legal action to get them removed from your record and to get the guy who did it by calling the cops.
Getting the bad fraud charges off your three credit report score can be a major hassle. Once my mom had serious charges on her three credit reports because someone was filling for a cellphone using her name from Detroit, and the company would not believe it was not her, even though it was a different residence. To get them to believe it, she had to produce several pieces of identity and mail and her home title to show where she was living. They would not believe that the address was what she said it was until she showed them lots of proof—what a hassle!
There are many ways you can improve your credit score. One of them is to own credit cards and regularly pay off your payments to show that you are reliable and can be trusted with credit. If you regularly pay off your balance and are on time with gas, phone, electric, and utility bills, this also can help. In the long run, it is worth it for you to keep your credit good because it means you qualify for better interest rates, bigger lines of credit, equity line of credit, home equity line of credit, low apr credit card, and all kinds of other financial benefits that you wouldn't have otherwise. It's easy, and you've got nothing to lose.
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