Know Your Credit Score
A recent survey of a random selection of people from across the US consisting of about 5000 people resulted in a very surprising discovery – almost half of those surveyed had no idea of what their credit score is or even what range it fell into. Even more surprising was the discovery that more than a third of those surveyed said that it had been more than five years since they had even seen a copy of their credit report.
Such news is both surprising as well as showing that there is a distinct lack of knowledge amongst most consumers as to why knowing one’s credit score is important information. A significant number of those surveyed admitted that they had NEVER requested nor seen a copy of their credit report and had absolutely no idea what data it contained about them.
The survey was aimed at a good cross section of the public, not the super rich and not the poverty level either, but smack dab in the middle class.
This illustrates and emphasizes the fact that the majority of consumers do not understand the far reaching impact of one’s credit report and credit score. Credit scores are used in many more places today than ever before. They are routinely used when you are applying for a new job, and there is a fair chance that you may even be denied the job on the basis of what your credit score is, if it is deemed to be too low. Recently, credit scores have been used when car insurance companies are determining how much you should pay for your car insurance rates, where they have allegedly confirmed that people with lower credit scores make a statistically significant greater number of claims than those with higher credit scores.
Another place where a low credit score can hit you squarely in the wallet is with a mortgage loan. Say you have a mortgage loan of $172,000 which is not unreasonable in this day and age. If your credit score is under about 580 versus a score of over 760, this can make a difference of more than $150,000 over the life of the loan, just based on the difference in interest that a lower credit score would get on the mortgage. Is that enough to open your eyes?
Another study recently conducted estimates that more than 75% of consumers could benefit by disputing inaccurate and incorrect items being reported on their credit reports. You see, there are three major credit reporting agencies, and each of them maintains its own credit history profile on each consumer. Since they do not share information, they each have their own distinct view of you and your credit history, or in other words, none of them really have a complete picture. In addition, it is a well known fact that the majority of consumer credit reports contain errors, and unless the consumer disputes those errors, the errors will remain, which have the net effect of lowering your credit score.
Take the time to understand what your credit history means, how it is reported, and what areas of your life are affected by your credit score. Then get copies of your credit report from the credit bureaus and make sure that each and every item is correct. You mat find that by correcting the errors, your credit score will rise and you won’t even have to do anything different!
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