Archive for the ‘credit report monitoring’ Category

5 Important Reasons Why You Should Monitor Your Credit Report and Scores Regularly

Monday, September 29th, 2014

When it comes to credit scores, many consumers try to keep their head in the sand. They’re afraid to know the truth, or they think it really doesn’t matter.

But it does matter. In this case, what you don’t know can hurt you, and knowledge can become power.

Your credit score or scores play a central role in your financial life, and can even affect your personal life. That’s why you should monitor your credit report and scores regularly, and why you should develop good credit habits to keep those scores as high as possible. A bonus to receiving your credit report is the good advice you’ll get regarding ways to raise those scores.

1. Your Scores Will Determine Your Access to credit.

Lenders look at those scores to determine their risk in lending to you. Thus, when your scores are high you’ll have an easier time obtaining credit. When they’re low, you may not be able to obtain credit at any price, especially if you need money for a business start-up.

If you know you’re going to want credit in the future, get busy raising those scores!

2. Your Credit Scores Will Determine the Interest Rate You’ll Pay

With high credit scores, you’ll be offered credit at lower interest rates than those with poor scores. When your scores are low, lenders are taking an increased risk that you’ll default. They want to be well compensated for taking that risk.

Think about credit cards, whose interest rates can vary from under 5′% to 25%. In fact, I’ve seen offers made to people with poor credit with rates over 70% – combined with an annual fee reaching upwards of $200. Borrowers with high credit scores generally pay no annual fee.

Then think about home mortgage loans, where a difference of 1% on each $100,000 owed amounts to almost $60 per month.

If you want to pay the least possible interest on your next purchase, start raising those scores!

3. High Credit Scores Make You Attractive to Landlords

Low scores make you a high risk and your rental application is apt to be flatly turned down. No landlord wants the risk of tenants who fail to pay rent – or who move out in the middle of the night.

Thus, even if you treat your housing well and have always paid your rent on time, low scores could prevent you from living in the location you prefer.

If you want to live in a prime location, get your credit scores as high as you can!

4. Poor Credit Scores Lead to Utility Deposits

Utilities such as electricity, water, gas, phone, and cable TV can’t repossess what they’ve sold you if you fail to pay at the end of the month. Thus, when your credit scores indicate that you’re a high risk, they’ll demand a deposit up front before providing you with service.

If you want utility companies to trust you, raise your credit scores!

5. Last but definitely not least – Monitoring your credit report and scores will help you avoid the huge headache of identity theft.

Identity theft is always painful, but it is MORE painful when it’s been allowed to continue for months on end.

Running regular checks on your credit scores will alert you to a sudden drop, which might indicate fraudulent activity. And when you actually read your credit report, you’ll know instantly if someone has obtained new credit, rented a house, signed up for utilities, or even gotten a new job in your name.

Reporting such theft instantly will minimize the damage and the pain.

Request your free credit report and scores from creditscorequick.com today.

Just click here

Think it Can’t Happen to You? It Can.

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

What is “It?”

Identity theft. It happens every single day, and you could easily be its next victim. Now that almost all of our personal information is somewhere on line, talented hackers can learn almost anything they might want to know, about anyone.

Just a few months ago the Veteran’s Administration announced that thousands of names had been compromised due to carelessness on the part of one employee.

It seems crazy to want someone else’s identity, but these thieves have some pretty strong reasons for doing it – almost all of them having to do with money.

With your identity, the thieves can drain your bank account, use your credit cards, and even open new credit card accounts in your name – so the bills will be reported in your name, not theirs. Some of them steal multiple identities, so they can make a big haul and then disappear.

Think about it – Using your identity, they can check “their” credit, identify accounts you aren’t using, send a change of address to them, and request new credit cards. You wouldn’t even know a charge had been made, because the bill would be going to a bogus address. And since you weren’t using the account, you wouldn’t miss the bill.

These people are without conscience – they don’t care what kind of havoc they wreak in your life. They don’t care if they leave you destitute, destroy your credit, and leave you in legal entanglements for the next few years.

So what to do?

One precaution is to freeze your credit report, but that isn’t a practical solution for everyone. The next best thing is to keep a constant watch on your credit report, so you can know right away if someone is trying to obtain credit using your name.

You can do this by checking your credit report regularly, watching for new account activity, address changes, collection accounts, credit increases or inquiries, etc. It’s a tedious job, and one you must perform regularly, because early detection is the key to stopping a financial loss before it becomes devastating.

The more convenient alternative is to sign up for a monitoring service. But even then, be careful. Check to see that the service you choose monitors all 3 of the major credit reporting companies, and that they do it frequently enough to nip trouble in the bud. Some even provide identity theft insurance – to protect you in the event that they make a mistake and overlook the early warning signs of a thief.

As with all services, some are better than others, and some are downright scams. Ask questions, read the fine print, and then choose a company to set your mind at rest. Not only will you be able to get on with your own life, a good credit report monitoring service will get you in the right direction. This is one of those do-it-yourself projects that’s better left to the experts.

CreditScoreQuick.com

6 Tips to protect against ID Theft.

Sunday, April 13th, 2008

9 million people a year are victims of id theft, learn some tips on how to prevent this from happening to you.

About the Author: Mike Clover is the owner of http://www.creditscorequick.com/. CreditScoreQuick.com is the one of the most unique on-line resources for free credit score report, fico score, Internet identity theft software, secured credit cards, student credit cards , mortgage loans, auto loans, insurance and a BlOG with a wealth of personal credit information. The information within this website is written by professionals that know about credit, and what determines ones credit worthiness

Disclaimer: This information has been compiled and provided by CreditScoreQuick.com as an informational service to the public. While our goal is to provide information that will help consumers to manage their credit and debt, this information should not be considered legal advice. Such advice must be specific to the various circumstances of each person's situation, and the general information provided on these pages should not be used as a substitute for the advice of competent legal counsel.