Read Over Your Credit Report

Category: Finance, Credit.

A good credit score is a huge advantage when it comes to borrowing money. It can have similar or even great impacts on other kinds of loans.

It can mean the difference between paying 5- 6% interest on a mortgage and paying around 9% on a mortgage. It's worth having good credit. Go beneath a score of 560 or so and you are looking at paying a lot more when you owe money. A the best credit scores are in the 720- 850 range, although scores over 700 are still pretty good. How Do You Get a Good Credit Score? That's the simple answer but there's a bit more to it than just that. Be good with your credit, of course.

If you have no credit at all, start out by establishing your credit with a card you use monthly and pay off. If you want to buy a home, having some sort of credit history is vital. It will show that you know how to use credit. Just one card is necessary, and avoid paying a fee if at all possible. There's no point in paying a fee any longer than necessary. If you can' t avoid paying a fee, deal with it for six months to a year, then ask for it to be removed or choose a new card that won' t charge you a fee. The one vital ingredient to having a good credit score is treating your credit right.

Most important is to always, always pay your bills on time. The first thing you need to do is use it wisely. You also should do everything you can to keep your debt load down. Do not max out any of your credit cards. This means try not to use more than 30% or so of your total credit limit available on your cards. Go Beyond How You Use Your Credit Cards.

In the past it was no doubt in part because it cost money to do so. There's one very important step to maintaining a good credit score that all too many people skip. But now it's free. Everyone has a right to get their credit report for free once a year from each credit bureau. This would be checking your credit report annually. If you want to be sure that your credit is where you think it is, you need to do this. You do not need to ask for all three at the same time, although you can.

Annual Credit Report was created by the three credit bureaus to offer a centralized place for you to ask for your reports. This is the only authorized site for ordering the free credit reports that you have a right to every year. Note any discrepancies. Read over your credit report. It is not uncommon to have several. Doing this will also help to protect you from identity theft, or at least stop the problems early on.

Dispute these as necessary. If you become aware of an issue with fraudulent use of your identity early on, there should be fewer issues to fix. It's well worth the effort.