Why should you check your annual Credit Report
Checking your credit report annually is very important because it gives you access to information about current and past credit accounts, information on your payment history, and the total amount of money you owe to lenders. Knowing all of this information is vital to you because you may have late payments or open credit cards that you didn’t know about previously. Pulling a credit report, gives you access to all of the information that you will need regarding your personal credit. At Powercat Financial we say that your credit report is your financial transcript. When you pull your credit report and get your credit score, we call this your financial GPA. Knowing what your GPA is at school is very important and so should knowing what your credit score is. Like your school transcript, if you see something on your credit report that you do not think should be there, you would reach out to the university to try and get that fixed. In this case you would need to reach out to the credit bureau that you pulled your credit report from and the business that is listed wrongly and report that there is inaccurate information on your credit report. It is very important to stay up to date on what your credit report looks like which is why we recommend pulling your credit report once each year from each of the credit bureaus.
How to view your credit report
You can view your credit report for free through www.annualcreditreport.com. This is a website that was established by the government to ensure that people are able to see their credit report for free once a year from each of the three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax, Experian) – unfortunately, it does not include your credit score for free. However, seeing your credit report will include information of credit accounts you have had, your payment history, and the total amount you owe to lenders. This information will give you a good idea about where you stand in terms of your credit score and can provide a rough estimate of how you are doing credit wise.
How will this affect your future?
Your credit score plays a very big part in your future. Potential lenders and creditors may look at and use your credit score to determine loan decisions. You may be in the hands of these lenders and creditors when it comes to opening a credit card, getting a mortgage, or a car loan. Pulling your credit report yearly will help you stay on track without even knowing your credit score. Your credit report has all of the information regarding your credit history, which in turn can give you a good idea of how your credit score is doing. For example, if you have late payments or if you owe money to different lenders, your credit score is not going to be very good. Pulling your credit report once a year, if not three times a year from each credit bureau, will help prevent you from having late payments and debt which will keep your credit score in good standing.
How can Powercat Financial Help?
Powercat Financial can help you pull your credit report if you are stuck in the process of doing so. We can also walk you through your credit report and explain what different parts of the credit report mean. Powercat Financial can also give you suggestions on how you can build credit to help prepare you for the future when you want to pull out loans for a car, home, etc. We also have a plethora of information on our website, listed below, that can help you get started if you do not know where to start!
Nathan Haney
Peer Counselor I
Powercat Financial
www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial
