I'm sure just like everyone else you have been told how important your credit report is.
And like the majority of the people in this country you still do not check on your credit regularly.
You might not even have any clue what you're score is.
Your credit report is essentially your entire credit history wrapped up into a small file.
That file is in checked by many different people and companies and use to make judgments upon your ability to handle financial responsibility and debt.
I will list five essential reasons why you should be checking your credit report on a regular basis.
The first reason is because of human error.
Although there is a computed calculation that handles your credit score, as far as your credit report goes everything on it has been submitted by human.
And as we all know humans are prone to making mistakes.
The majority of credit reports out there had at least one error on them.
One of the quickest ways to improve credit is to order a report and then correct any errors and have them erased from your file.
One more important part of your credit report are the history of your on time or late payments.
Believe it or not paying the history accounts for about one third of your total credit score.
If there any errors on this portion of your credit score it can make a giant impact on your score.
Once he and look over your report and make sure that all the payments have been reported correctly.
If you have ever applied for credit cards or loans your credit report has been requested.
Every request to see your credit report and order score is called an inquiry.
Having too many inquiries on your report is not seen in a very good light.
This is actually one of the reasons you may have been turned down for a line of credit.
Also every inquiry will decrease your score by a varying number of points.
But luckily viewing your own credit report does not penalize you in any way.
So feel free to check your report as frequently as you feel necessary.
One of the most important reasons for checking one's credit report is fraud.
If on your credit report you see lines of credit open that you do not recognize you should contact not only the credit bureaus and the lender in question but the police as well.
Credit card fraud has steadily been on the rise in this country for decades.
Coupled with credit card fraud is identity theft.
This happens when an individual has an important personal information and uses that information to benefit financially at your expense.
They can very easily ruin your credit score in a very short amount of time and you would be responsible for having to rebuild your credit, which could possibly take years.
In order to combat credit card fraud and identity theft I would suggest enrolling in a credit monitoring program.
Features such as e-mail notifications when inquiries are posted to your account as well as any suspicious activity really make these services worthwhile.
Your credit is one of the most important aspects of your financial well-being.
You should take time to learn about and protect your self from poor credit.