Sunday, October 5, 2008

Do You Need A Free Credit Report? Several Reasons You Do

By David T. Johnson

Today's world requires that you have good credit for several reasons including, but not limited to getting insurance, getting loans and believe it or not you need good credit most of the time if you want to land a good job! The reason so many decisions are based on your credit score is they want to see how trust worthy you have been in handling financial decisions in your past because this gauges what you are most likely going to do in the future. It boils down to this. If you have a good credit report you are likely to be considered a low risk for giving a loan to you and also for giving a job to you.

The customary practice is for whoever is looking to provide you with credit will be the ones who will get the personal information they need from you and simply input this information to their credit service and your credit score pops up right away. This process is often called 'running your credit' or 'pulling your credit'. Once they have the results they will compare your credit score with what standards they require and you will either be accepted or rejected.

Logically, you would want to have an idea of what is on your credit report before somebody or an organization is going to see it to make a financial decision that could make or break you. Right? If you have something negative then if you know it ahead of time you can prepare and explain the situation that caused the blight on your credit. This is always better than then being surprised by something negative on your report.

You could think your credit is great, but in the era of ID theft you can never be sure. ID theft is the number one reported crime to the FTC. And today's technology makes it shockingly easy for somebody to get your identity and do fraudulent things so fast that you do not even know it occurred until it is too late. It is cyper pick pocketing and the best defense really is a good offense by regularly looking at your credit score to track whether you have become a victim of a cyber pick pocket.

Another one of the biggest reasons to keep an eye on your credit is because the big three credit agencies often make mistakes. Unfortunately most of the mistakes are the kind that hurt you and not help you. By verifying the information on the different reports you can police what they do. And you have to admit, that nobody will watch over you like you will, and remember-big companies are run by people who often mean well, but you will suffer, not them.

Good news is there are really only the big three credit reporting agencies that you will need to request your free credit report from. The bad news is there are only the big three. Since there is only the big 3 credit agencies they basically have a monopoly on your credit score so you better play by their rules. The 3 are Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. As mentioned before you can get your report Free on an annual basis.

It is clear that you really do not have much of a choice about getting a free credit report at bare minimum on an annual basis. And there is a strong arguement that you really should be utilizing a monitoring service to help protect against the con artist known a ID thieves. ID theft continues to grow at an alarming rate and these con artist have actually turned their craft into a science which means you are at an even greater risk if you do not watch for irregularities in your credit report.

This only touches on a few of the numerous benefits of getting your free online instant credit report. Being able to sleep at night knowing that you and your credit score is protected is worth more than words can say. Because with a good credit score you can leverage life in so many ways, but with a bad credit score, you will have doors closed that you would want to go through. Protecting your credit is just that important.

Take the information that you just read and apply it consistantly and you will be excited with the results. Preparation prior to getting the loan, job, or insurance will help you keep money in your pocket as well as help you get more money by landing the job or the loan you want and need.

How much is enough you ask? The answer is there is no such thing as enough precautions when it comes to protecting your credit score. Paranoia is good when it comes to watching your credit history because your credit score is basically your financial axis that your financial world spins around. Besides, you can get the credit report absolutely free. That makes this a no brainer.

True learning is defined by acting on what has been discovered. Knowledge without action is the equivalent of ignorance. I hope you take accurate actions to protect your financial future and get your free credit report as well as get a system to watch over your credit score today. - 15224

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