Saturday, January 10, 2009

Credit History - yearly check up.

No better time to check you credit history than at the beginning of the year. All three credit bureaus will send you a free copy of your history once a year. If you do it at the beginning of every year, you will never have to remember when you last did. Yearly reports ensure that if there is a problem it hasn't existed for a long time so it will be easier to correct. It also helps to avoid any surprises when you are applying for a loan. As mentioned, there are three companies that keep tabs on your credit, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. All three companies may have different information and all three companies report to different creditors. That means you need to request all three reports and study all of them for blips. Easier than going to all three individually, check out AnnualCreditReport.com. Create a password and they will take you to all three credit companies. Be prepared, for security purposes, they are going to ask you a couple questions that they hope you will be able to answer. Multiple choice questions ranging from a street you lived on 10 years ago to the range of your monthly car payment. If you don't know the answers, you won't have immediate access to your report. They allow you to review your report online, download it for future reference and print it for your files.

If you don't want to do this online, call each bureau and and answer a few questions and they will mail it to you.
Experian
P. O. Box 9595, Allen, TX 75013-9595 Tel: 888-397-3742
Equifax
P. O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 Tel: 800-685-1111
Trans Union
P. O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022 Tel: 800-888-4213

Whatever you do, DON'T pay for your reports. You are entitled to a free report from every company 1. once a year, 2. if you were turned down for credit or 3. if you have had your identy stolen.

1 comment:

indianafrosty said...

You so right about checking on your credit history every year. January's also time to take pictures to store for insurance purposes.

One thing that always frustrated me was about things like this was not just what to do but how often things needed to be done! How often do you have a septic tank pumped? When do you prune trees? How often should you change your furnace filter or rotate your tires, or drain off sediment from your hot water heater, or defrag your computer?

I decided to do the research on the stuff I owned. I kept track of everything I could find and ended up with a huge database of items. I decided to see if others might be interested, too. Take a look at http://www.YourMonthlyToDoList.com . I've got it set up so that people just check off on a list of hundreds of items they might own and we work up a personalized monthly calendar of what needs to be done. People who've tried it report that it’s a great help. We even offer an online example of how much time and hassle this saves!