|
Do You Need a Free Credit Report? |
 |
 |
|
Homeworking -
Finance
|
|
Written by John Rasor
|
|
Friday, 26 June 2009 00:00 |
You're not thinking of making any major purchases in the
near future, so do you really need to get your free credit
report? Can't you just wait until you're ready to buy a
house or a car?
Yes you do need that free credit report, and no, you really
can't wait. There's too much at stake.
In 2008 over 10 million people were victims of identity
theft. And far too many of them had no idea that they'd
been victimized until they tried to obtain credit - or
until they got a "cranky" letter from the IRS asking why
they had failed to report all of their income.
By then, the identity thief had done enough damage that
some of them still don't have it all sorted out and
corrected.
Can you imagine how you'd feel if you'd been paying all
your bills on time and a loan officer told you that you
couldn't qualify for a home loan because of a half dozen
unpaid credit cards on your credit report?
Or what a panic you'd be in if the IRS implied that you had
been trying to evade your taxes by not reporting all of
your income?
These things are happening to people all over the U.S.
right now. In fact, as the economy worsens, identity theft
is going up.
Your only real defense is to get your free credit report
and then put a "watch" service on it - so that any time
someone makes a change to your report, you'll be notified.
You'll know immediately when someone attempts to use your
name - either to gain new credit or to get a job or rent a
house - or even to set up cell phone service. And when you
know immediately, you can take the appropriate steps to nip
it in the bud.
The second reason why you need your free credit report is
to look for errors. Depending upon which expert you listen
to, between 25% and 70% of all credit reports contain
errors. This isn't surprising considering that data entry
people need to get a certain amount done each day.
Volume becomes more important than accuracy, and all it
takes to put information on the wrong credit report is
hitting a 7 when you aimed for an 8 in a Social Security
number. The same kind of mistake can change your $10,000
credit limit to $1,000.
So get your free credit report today - your future
happiness may depend on it.
About the Author:
http://www.creditscorecowboy.com is the #1 source on the
planet for a free credit report, identity theft software
and a blog with a wealth of information writtten by lending
professionals that know about credit and what determines
ones creditworthiness.
----------
This article is distributed on behalf of the author by http://SubmitYOURArticle.com
SubmitYOURArticle.com is a trading name of Takanomi Limited.
Takanomi Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Registered number: 5629683. Registered office: 31 St Saviourgate, York YO1 8NQ.
Full contact details are at http://takanomi.com
----------
|
