Get You Finances In Order
How to Read a Credit Report?
Obtaining and understanding your credit report is one of the most important steps you can take to secure your financial future. Many people have never read their report or do not understand what is on it. This can be a mistake for your report impacts the interest rates you pay on credit cards, car loans, home loans and other loans. Employers often run credit checks on you when you apply and during your employment. With all this attention to your credit report, you need to know what is on it to protect yourself and be aware of any negative information on your report.
You do not have to pay to see your credit report. It is easy to get a free credit report. Be careful where you go to obtain your report. Some sites promise a free report, but require you to sign up for their monthly credit monitoring service to get your “free” report.
The best way to obtain your report at no cost is to go to the official government website, annualcreditreport.com. This site was born in 2005 under federal law to ensure that everyone can get a free copy of his or her report. You can obtain one free report per year from each of the three main reporting agencies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Thus, you could actually get three free reports per year if you request one from a different agency every four months. If you want to view your report more frequently, you can pay one of the sites to get your report more often, usually for 9.95.
Once you have your report, you need to read and understand it. First thing to make sure is that it is yours! Similar names or similar social security numbers can sometimes cause someone else’s information to appear on your report. Next, you should look at that site’s explanation of symbols and abbreviations. It will also often have a tutorial on how to read a credit report. The time to obtain and read your credit report is today. Do not delay.
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