Anyone who has ever tried to get a loan, or a credit card, or maybe even a job has had to deal with their credit rating and credit score at one point or another. However, most of the time we, the people being rated and scored, have no idea what the three credit ranking companies think about us.
That doesn’t have to be the case. You can get a free copy of your credit report, once a year (no strings attached) from . Some people suggest you log in once every four months and get a different report. Thus in January grab your Experian report, in May get your Equifax report, and in September get your TransUnion report. I think that is a pretty solid strategy as it lets you keep a semi-regular eye on your credit report.
Keep in mind each report is a little different and each may have some different creditors on them. Also note that none of those come with your credit score. Your score is a magical number somewhere between 300 and 850. At a minimum you want yours to be above 650. But how do you know what it is?
Well, you can pay for it - or you can get your TransUnion credit score for free at . Credit Karma offers this for free by offering you a variety of different credit cards and other things of which, if you sign up, they get a cut.
The score they present you with is a little old. For instance I used it yesterday and the score they gave me was from the end of December 2009. Normally that isn’t a problem but if you’ve made a major move regarding your debt since then the score reported by Credit Karma may be misleading.
For example, I paid off my car since then so my credit score is actually higher (by 36 points) than it is shown on Credit Karma.
Make sure you review your credit reports because the data in them is the backbone of your credit score and your credit score is what is used to evaluate you when looking for a mortgage, a good credit card rate, and sometimes a job.
Pay special attention to anything on your report that suggests you were delinquent or sent to collections - medical bills are particularly bad about this - and if they aren’t right contact the credit agency and dispute that line. Having even a small bill (less than $20) sent to collections can easily knock 100 points off your score.
It’s your score so you owe it to yourself to keep an eye on it and to fix the problems that appear.