5 Reasons to Annually Check Your Credit Report
If you currently posses good or fair credit, you may not take the time to check your credit report. This is a big mistake that many consumers make. There are many reasons that you should be checking your credit report at least annually, and here are 5 of them for you to take into consideration.
1. Identity Theft: It is unfortunately easy for someone to get your personal information and steal your identity. Someone can open credit cards and other accounts, sometimes in multiple different places and accumulate large amounts of debt. You may not even find out about this until all of the creditors and collectors track you down and come looking for the money. Not only can this put you into debt and lower your credit score, but lenders may not want to lend you money because you are considered high risk by suffering from identity theft at one point in time.
2. Fraud: Similar to identity theft someone may take your existing credit cards or bank accounts, and be making charges that you are unaware of. If you don’t monitor your statements and accounts closely, you may miss some of them until its too late. Especially if you have cards you don’t use very often, you may not catch these charges until you view your credit report.
3. Monitor Payments: Many times your payment history can be altered by mistakes made by humans. Even though have always payed a bill on time, your credit history may show that you have been late a time or two. Contacting the company, your bank, and the credit bureau may help you eliminate the claims. These late payments may only show up on your credit report.
4. Inaccurate Claims: There may be claims on your report that are completely inaccurate. Companies file things incorrectly, and can sometimes mix up consumer files and accounts. You want to make sure that you aren’t be falsely charged with inaccurate claims. For example, you could be charged for dental work you never had, and since you never got the bill and they filed it wrong, it would go on your report without you being aware of it.
5. See Whose Looking at Your Credit: You credit score is affected when people pull it up to view it. If you are applying for a loan or some line of credit, it will be pulled up. You don’t want people who are unauthorized viewing your credit report. By monitoring your credit report you can see who is looking into your credit history, and may even be able to prevent fraud or identity theft.
You are able to obtain a free credit report annually through each of the three credit bureaus. Make sure you pull your credit history and start monitoring it today to prevent yourself from any further problems. You can go online and do it or you can also call. Its easy, free, and can save you possible debt and problems.
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