Sunday, August 17, 2008

Don T Check On Your Credit Score Too Often

Category: Finance, Credit.

You hear a lot on the news and in advertisements about your credit score and how to get credit reports for free.



There is always some way that they are looking to make money off of you. Of course, nobody gives something away for free. You don t have to answer one of these ads to get your credit report. These agencies are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. You can write directly to one( or all) of the credit reporting agencies. You can check with them at any time.


You can get your report for free if you have been turned down for a loan or any kind of credit. It may cost you a few dollars but at least you won t have some third party company giving your credit information to others that are also trying to get you to purchase something. or worse. The companies that are advertising their services don t give you your credit score. just the credit report. If you want to get your credit score too, you will have to pay them for it. No, they aren t lying to you. just not telling you the whole truth. They are banking on the fact that you won t know how to get this information for yourself. It also gives you a lot of other very important information about your credit.


The credit report that you receive from the official agencies do give you your credit score with them. It shows which accounts you currently have open, a detailed history of all credit accounts you have opened and tells you who has checked on your credit within the past year. When you see this happening, contact the credit reporting agency( or agencies) and ask them to block that company. Having people check your credit score too often will often flag it and lower your score. Your credit score is represented by a score between 300 and 85Naturally, the higher your credit score is the better you will look when you are trying to get a loan or other credit. There are a lot of things that you might not be aware of.


Review your credit report thoroughly when you get it. One is that you may find some credit accounts that are open that you do not use. If your credit history is poor, you will need to take steps to improve it. It is recommended that you close them. Here are some things that you can do: Never, ever be late paying a bill. Don t check on your credit score too often. Late payments are reported to the credit bureaus almost immediately and gives you a poor payment history.


This could indicate to the bureaus that you are looking for a loan and causes your score to go down. This, lowers your credit, also score. Don t just make minimum payments on your credit accounts. Do close all of the credit card accounts that you don t need. If you do open a new account, be sure that you close the account that you are replacing with it. Don t open any new accounts.


You will hear, mostly by those companies that are advertising their services, that you need to check your credit reports often. A couple times a year or maybe once a quarter is all that is necessary. But, don t let them scare you into checking them so often that it downgrades your credit score. By keeping on top of your credit, you will be able to get that loan when you really need it.

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