5 Essential Reasons to Check Your Credit Report

So why should you check your credit report? Errors in credit reports are becoming more commonplace all the time. The fact that the reporting system is fraught with mistakes does not stop lenders, mortgage companies, employers, insurance companies, and even cell phone companies from making decisions which impact YOUR life based on your credit report! Right or wrong, what's in that credit report can determine your future.

Here are 5 reasons why you may want to keep a close tab on what's in YOUR credit report:

1. Want to save thousands of dollars on your next mortgage?

Mortgage lenders use your credit score, among other things, to determine what interest rate they will charge you on your mortgage loan. For most people, their mortgage loan is their single biggest loan. It is also the one which stretches out over fifteen to thirty years. An extra point or few points on your mortgage interest rate can easily cost you thousands of dollars in extra interest over the life of the loan!

If someone's bad credit is on your credit report, you can be sure that it will cost you big time! It doesn't matter if that bad debt on your report is not yours. If you haven't checked your credit report and disputed that item BEFORE you applied for the mortgage loan, it still goes against you.

And what's worse, if you haven't checked your credit report, you may not even know why your mortgage interest rate is higher than you were hoping. The lender will not show you the credit report. If the lender denies your loan altogether, then they will send you a letter telling you which reporting agency had the info they based that denial on. Then it is up to you to go back to the credit agency to request your report.

By that time, the damage is done, and it could take you months to undo it. And it would have cost you money in extra interest on your mortgage loan, or gotten your loan denied.

2. Want to get the next job you apply for?