Good Reasons To Order Your Free Credit Report
Posted by Graham Briggs in General BusinessMay 8th, 2011 | no responsesI’ve been online today checking out all those great TV spots telling me to send away for my free credit report. Don’t you just love those strummers taking any old playing job to put bread on the table? We laugh at the adverts, but we know what they’re really saying: life is not completely under our control. You may love the commercial, but do you really say to yourself, “it’s time to stop what I’m doing, get up and go online for my free credit report immediately”?
If you’re not, well…maybe you should be. Sad but true: when your significant other takes an unauthorized shopping spree just before leaving you for good, or when you become a victim of identity theft, your misfortune may stay on your credit record for a long, long time.
What are good reasons to check your credit score range? We can put them into two categories: Possibilities and Responsibilities. A fine credit score can open Possibilities to enhance your lifestyle. On the other hand, a not-so-fine score could impede your efforts to meet your most basic Responsibilities.
Under Privileges, I’ll list some of life’s finer things: gold cards, home equity loans and car notes. Under Duties, I’ll call out paying automobile insurance and holding down a job. Fortunately, there is a way for me to actively manage my credit score: the law ensures that I can get my free credit report from each of the three major reporting agencies once per year.
Just about all of us knows that a bank will check your credit score when you apply for a loan, but not everyone knows that a sub-par FICO score can raise your car insurance payment, or may even hurt your career! True story: a friend of mine graduated top of his class from a reputable business school, interviewed for a prestigious corporate job, and received a good news/bad news phone call the very next day. The HR manager informed him that the company wanted to offer him a job, but could not make the offer because of his credit record!
Fortunately, my friend immediately got his free credit report, was able to fix his credit by paying an unpaid long distance bill, and got that job. If only those awesome free credit report TV spots had been airing, he may have thought to check his credit score before the HR run-in.
You know, after being so generous with my advice, I have to admit that I myself am way past due to send off for my free credit report. Just as the commercials point out, bad things befall good people. I wonder if anything has befallen me lately?
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