Major Errors To Check On Your Credit Report

 

Your credit report contains personal information about you including your name, address, social security number, employer, phone number and previous addresses you have had. It also contains information that is chalked on your credit history like how many times you have been 30, 60 or 90 days late with your bill payments, if loans have been given to you and, if you file for bankruptcy. Any bankruptcy filing or a foreclosure, or a judgment against you is listed in your credit report. Lenders see these and decide if they want to risk lending to you.

It is important to make sure that errors in reporting do not occur and if they are discovered get them corrected immediately. The FTC recommends that you check your credit report at least every six months, if not more frequently. To protect yourself from identity theft if you are a victim contact your credit card companies and your bank and report the fraud immediately. If you do not report the theft or error to the company first then your identity may be stolen. If you are lucky the theft will not be as big as it could have been and you will not have to sweat it too much either. Identity thieves buy information about you through the internet. A lot of the stolen information they want is your credit card number, not the number itself. Taking advantage of this way is one of the areas where identity thieves flourish. Your credit cards, if you have them, can easily double as stolen credit accounts.

Another thing you should watch out for if you have a problem with identity theft is anyone trying to get a copy of your credit report. You have a freedom of it, but you should make three attempts at getting your annual credit report and a credit score. There are legitimate reasons for doing this, and you have the distinct advantage if you remember to get a copy of your report every year or as long as you have valid reasons for needing a copy. If you get an original copy of your credit report and you know it is free you should not even bother getting one of the other copies. If you do get a copy you may get a false report of your activities. This way companies cannot give credit to anyone who has never gotten credit before. They could easily give you a false report of an old telephone bill.

If you are worried about your credit report you can get help from a credit repair company. They will do the work for you. As opposed to doing it yourself you should make sure that the company you hire can offer you a step by step easy to follow manual on how to get the information accurate on your report and boost your credit score.