Monitor Your Credit Report, Without Paying Monthly Fees

Your credit report is one of the most important pieces of personal information you can have. It is needed for large purchases, banking, to deal with daily living expenses and in some cases even for employment. The statistics on credit reports errors are shocking. A 2004 U.S. PIRG survey showed that 79% of credit reports contained either serious errors or other mistakes of some kind. Monitoring your credit score is the best way to ensure that mistakes are found and fixed promptly so you avoid getting bad credit. Monitoring your credit will also ease fears of identity theft. Correcting even a small mistake can make a huge difference to your credit report.

Getting a Free Credit Report

What most people don't understand is that you can get your free credit report without signing up for any monthly credit services. Under the law, you have the right to obtain a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once every twelve months. By requesting these reports at different intervals throughout the year you can regularly monitor your credit without paying a single dime. Carefully review your credit report for any erroneous data or mistakes. The earlier you know about any issue that is causing you to have bad credit the sooner you can correct it. Credit repair is the essential to maintaining an accurate credit report that will benefit your financial future.

There's only one website regulated by the federal government that gives you access to your free credit report. If you obtain your credit report from any other website, you'll end up paying for something such as the monitoring services. Information on this website can be found in the Complete System to Repair Your Credit and Boost Your Credit Score.

Another easy way to monitor your credit is to examine your credit card and bank statements for irregular activity. Many merchants offer email or phone alerts to keep you abreast of account balances and any unexpected activity that could leave you with bad credit. Checking your accounts on a regular basis will alert you of any potential problems that could damage your credit report.

Check Your Credit Report For Signs of Identity Theft

Unfortunately, identity theft is becoming more frequent. Identity theft can go unnoticed for months, even years. If you don't regularly check your credit report, you might not find out your identity has been stolen until you have a loan or credit application denied. If you don't have a personal shredder, buy one. Shredding bills, credit card statements, old credit card or ATM receipts, medical statements or even junk-mail solicitations for credit cards and mortgages can help prevent fraud and identity theft that will leave you with bad credit.

Getting Your Credit Score

Your free credit report does not include a free copy of your credit score. Your credit score can be purchased separately from each of the major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. There are many advertisements for free credit scores but what you will find out is that there is always a catch. The credit score is not really free. It's free if you sign up for offers or other credit services. If you want a copy of your credit score, your best bet is to go to the Fair Isaac Site FICO and pay for it.

You don't need to pay monthly fees for credit services to monitor your credit.

You don't need to pay monthly fees for credit services to monitor your credit. You can easily monitor your credit report on your own. If you do find an error on your credit report you should dispute the error as soon as possible to avoid bad credit. Your disputes should always be made in writing so you have a detailed record for your files.

After you analyze your credit report if you see that you credit score is above 760 then you are in great shape. If you see you have a weak credit score or even bad credit don't get yourself too upset. You can always boost your credit score.