Credit Reports

Credit Report and Credit Score

Your credit report contains all the facts about your credit “worthiness.” It is how potential creditors, lenders, and employers get information about how you handle your finances and financial responsibilities. These people can make decisions regarding you that greatly impact your financial present and future, so you must make sure that your credit report accurately reflects your financial responsibility.

A credit report contains personal info such as names and aliases, current and previous addresses, current and previous employers, SSN, date of birth, and spousal info if any. It also contains your financial credit accounts information such as open and closed credit/charge cards (including specifics such as monthly balances, payments, and late payments), and loans. Your credit report will also contain matters of public financial records such as filings of bankruptcy, court judgments involving money, and/or any tax liens against you. Also noted in your credit history is the number of hard inquiries (which refer to credit checks by lenders and creditors when you apply for a loan or credit account).

Often from all these items in the credit report, they will calculate your free credit score (using one of many systems) so that they can have a quick way to estimate your credit standing. A credit free score also gives a more tangible measure with which they can compare different loan or job applicants. People with good credit histories and thus good credit scores have easier times securing loans or getting jobs that deal with finances. People with better credit freescore also get better terms and rates for their loans and credit/charge accounts.

Identity Theft and Credit Monitoring

It is important to regularly check your credit report for errors, inaccuracies, or evidence of fraudulent activity. It is important to correct and handle these things as soon as possible. A very good idea is to sign up for a Credit Monitoring Service, which will watch over your credit file continuously and alert you within 24 hours of any key changes made, so you can spot fraudulent activities early and avoid identity theft problems. If you do happen to become a victim of identity theft, being a member of a Credit Monitoring Service will allow you to access their expert team of identity recovery specialists as well as take advantage of their identity theft insurances in most cases.

Using Credit Freeze to Protect your Credit

Recently, the tool of a credit freeze has been enacted by law in many states. With a credit freeze, a consumer can “freeze” his or her credit file, meaning that the consumer will get to decide who gets access to the credit report. It is an effective tool in preventing identity theft, since an identity thief cannot get access to the credit report even if he has all the identifying information of the consumer. All three of the major credit report agencies in the US — TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax — have some form of credit freeze available.

To search for a reputable and trusted service to check on your Credit Report or to find an effective and helpful Credit Monitoring Service, access our directory of sponsoring sponsoring credit reporting companies.