Get your free credit check online
If you depend on your credit card and loans to make ends meet, you should defend your credit score. If your score drops, credit will either get more expensive or dry up. Why should your score drop? There are two possible reasons:
• someone somewhere in the system can make a mistake — it only takes one error showing a default and your score could drop like a stone; or
• you may become the victim of identity theft — if there are sudden changes in your pattern of buying and your cards go up to the limit, your score will zero.
The way to find out whether there are problems with your score is to do a free credit check. Click on the banners, give a few of your personal details and you get your credit report. This is the history of your transactions and a list of any “relevant” events, e.g. late payments or defaults.
Why should you check?
Suppose you have had one or two problems, and now you are thinking of applying for a loan to buy a new car. Before you make that application, check out your credit rating. If there are mistakes, this will affect whether you get the new loan.
The law entitles you to correct mistakes. All you have to do is to write to the credit agency and explain why the information is wrong. If you are worried about doing this yourself, trained personnel can help you. Once the credit record is “repaired” you can confidently apply for that loan. You should not only get it, but you should also find that the interest rate you pay is lower because your credit score is better.