Our Credit Score

There are lots of scores and statistics that are tracked in the US Economy. Nothing however, is more important than our credit score.

There are number of skills that I have learned from some great advisers over the past few years that I want to share with you to that can help with both your monthly budget and your credit score.

Most of us on the blogosphere have not made it rich yet, keep our day jobs, and have a busy family and social life too, and managing our credit score is typically not in the forefront of our minds, but it is a tool, we should keep in our toolbox of survival skills, which we should maintain and keep sharp for use in a moments notice (if need be).

The first thing I'm going to ask any reader of this blog to do, is to go get a free credit report from http://annualcreditreport.com. There is no catch at this site. You are entitled to one free credit report from each of the three credit score companies each year. My suggestion is to get one from each of the three every four months. Put this task on your calendar, and go get your report.

You are also entitled to a copy of your credit report for free, if you are denied credit or denied a job based on your credit from the credit agency who reported derogatory information to your creditor or potential employer.

Once you have your report in hand, go through it very carefully and slowly. There are alot of important things to check on your credit report, and you want it to be accurate in all details. Current and previous addresses, current and previous employers, marital status, contact information, and yes each and every legitimate credit account you have, both good and bad.

If you have anything that is wrong, you should follow the directions on the credit report for filing a dispute. Once you file a dispute, the credit score company must respond to each claim within 30 days. They will research these claims thoroughly, and let you know if they could do anything about resolving your issues.

This is also a good time to see if you are a victim of identity theft, which I will write about in another post.

[I am not a financial advisor and would recommend you speak to a financial advisor or tax advisor about any information here that might affect your accounts and credit.]