It has become the norm these days to check your credit score. As identity theft and security breaches become increasingly frequent, people are only right to ask themselves if obtaining credit information also endangers it. The good news is that you can check your credit score without causing any harm to your credit rating. Read on to find out some reasons why it is not only normal but recommended to check your credit report and score from time to time.
How to Check Your Credit Score
There are three major credit reporting agencies in the United States; Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax and all of them have a file containing your credit details called a credit file. These agencies receive your payment history, loan and accounts balances, credit limits, and other information from lenders and credit card issuers every month. The burets use all this information and feed it into mathematical equations that are created by the Fair Isaac Corporation to arrive at a three-digit figure referred to as your credit score or FICO score. Therefore, to check your score means asking one or more of these bureaus to provide your credit data and in the process get to know your current rating. This can be easily accomplished on the internet and, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are legally allowed one free credit report per year from each of the three agencies at annualcreditreportcom.
It is legal therefore reasonable that you get full access to your files
Some individuals do not monitor their credit information because they are in doubt whether they are allowed to or they may harm their score. However, the Fair Credit Reporting Act provides your right to access everything in your credit files. Also, the act provides that consumers are allowed to obtain a free yearly credit report from the three credit reporting agencies. Even when you go to check your credit information, it does not in any way affect your credit scores. Indeed, reviewing your reports is one of the ways through which you can check on your financial status. There are no adverse consequences as long as you acquire copies of your reports appropriately via the official website.
How Checking Can Help You
Accessing and reviewing your credit reports helps you to Accessing and reviewing your credit reports helps you to:
Catch Errors – It is believed that up to thirty percent of reports are likely to have errors and this figure can be as low as ten percent. It also means that by regularly reviewing your reports, you can identify some of these inaccuracies that are causing unnecessary low scores. If mistakes are made, you can file disputes to correct any misinformation.
Detect Fraud – In the present time, all types of identity theft are possible. Criminals usually create new accounts and take advantage of this information belonging to hardworking individuals. If you do not monitor your credit reports frequently, it will be easier for the crooks to use your good name and credit for several months, not to mention years, before they are caught. But I must go through my reports thoroughly as this assists me in detecting any fraudulent activity that has taken place.
Know What Creditors Know – This is because when it comes to loan or credit approvals, creditors rely on similar information compiled by the credit bureaus. Knowing your current debts, payment history status, score range, and many others enables one to guess if he or she will likely get approval for new credit.
Track Progress – Such changes enable the tracking of progress that you have made in your credit information management. By making efforts to pay balances, raise limits, or rebuild credit, one can easily check scores frequently to know whether the efforts being made are having positive impacts on scores or not.
Safeguarding Your Information
Even if there are no risks tied to checking credit details yourself, you do have to be cautious with your personal information at the same time. If you want to get copies of your reports online, order them at the official website: annualcreditreportcom, so that they don’t scam you. If you are using the online reports or if you have printed copies, ensure that you shred the documents after using them to avoid identity theft. Do not keep your credit reports anywhere near you, in your wallet or purse, where you may be tempted to glance at them. Do not discard them with the normal waste but instead, use a good cross-cut shredder and shred your reports. Play it safe and treat the credit information as the confidential data that they are.
What is the best and most efficient method of viewing scores and reports?
It is worth it to log in to annualcreditreportcom once a year to get free reports from the three credit bureaus. However, for more frequent credit checks credit monitoring service registration is used more often as more effective. The best monitoring services include updated reports from one or more bureaus each month and credit alerts in real time. These useful alerts notify you when new accounts have been established credit checks have been made or if there are major changes to your reports. Monitoring services also offer members their updated credit score every month as well, Additionally. Unlike the other ones, Identity Force, Credit Sesame, and Privacy Guard provide useful credit tools besides monitoring. The combination of their identity protection features, credit tips, and 24/7 customer support is comprehensive. Taking into consideration the fact that a lot of these monitoring services cost next to nothing per month, utilizing a monitoring service is easy and cheap when it comes to keeping track of your credit health for the whole year.
The Takeaway
The belief that one should not look at the credit information in an attempt to rectify it out of the belief that the act of checking it will reduce or harm the rating is misconceived. Consumers have every right to request their credit data, and it is advisable to do so more than once a year. This improves the chances of identifying errors and fraud, enhances the understanding of credit status and position, and guards the individual’s identity. Although it is good practice to ensure that you dispose of your reports after use, and ensure that only people who should access your credit information do so, self-monitoring through services is a safe practice with a lot of advantages and few disadvantages. monitoring your credit prepares you to get the excellent rating you should have.
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