Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Do you know how good (or bad) your credit is?

Most people at some time in there life have had to use credit for something, be it a new home, car, boat, or even maybe a college loan. Right, wrong, or indifferent, credit has become a way of life for pretty much everything we do in this day in age. Having credit is very important and having “good” credit is paramount to your success and being able to acquire loans at an affordable rate. The better your credit is, the better interest rates you can get on your loans when you do need them

Your credit score is based on a number of different factors. It can’t be expressed enough how important paying your bills on time or even early, and never missing a payment is. Your credit score can be affected by a number of factors, which rely heavily on your history of loan repayments, current debt ratios, whether you have any defaulted loans or have filed bankruptcy, and several more factors.

Another thing that can mess up your credit score is through fraud, either from lost or stolen personal information which can lead to fraudulent charges or purchases. You don’t want to be going after the big purchase only to find out that you were refused due a low or poor credit score.

One way to help prevent that from happening is to always know how your credit is and what is being reported on your report. To do this, you can request a yearly “free” credit report. I can be found at
http://www.annualcreditreport.com . Don’t be fooled by imposters trying to “sell” you a credit report. If you wish to have your actual credit “score” you will likely pay a fee for that, but your report is free form the site above and can be requested once per year. Take advantage of the knowledge, it could save you from a lot of grief later.

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