credit report
June 10th, 2008
I do not know if you have seen all those commercials about free credit report or even had solicitations from your credit cards companies. I have yet to see how the credit report is “free” since they usually charge you a monthly or one time fee. I still do not understand why we should have to pay for a credit report on ourselves! Our creditors can pull it for free. I always ask to see mine whenever one is being pulled. That saves me the time and effort of getting one on my own. It is a good idea to have a look at your report from time to time. I would hate to wait until I was in need of credit repair to know what is on my report. At that time, it may be too late. Fixing your credit is usually fairly easy. I had the same name as someone who had a run in with creditors, due to fraudulent check writing habits. Luckily, it was easily avoided, but sometimes your creditor may not be so easy to work with on this matter. They may not believe you are who you say you are, as I would imagine someone running from the law would have no problem lying about their identity. There are so many things that effect your credit rating. Such as how you pay your bills, late or early, whether you only make minimums or pay more than minimum. Even if you have large balances and then pay them off as opposed to carrying large balances for longer periods of time. Also if you have a lot of credit cards out there, even without balances on them, it can effect you. If you have a lot of credit available to you, even if you are not using it, it is still credit you can use. So I would just stay safe by pulling report every so often, paying your bills on time and regularly, and paying more than minimums is possible. Any credit cards you have out there that you do not use, cancel them. Make sure to keep one large on open in case of emergencies. This will probably help you in other areas, too. Like spending, for instance. A lot of times if you know you have credit out there, you are more apt to use it, than if you were paying cash. I know all of this from experience!