Debts & Loans

You’ve probably seen the television and radio ads urging you to check your credit report. It’s always prefaced with the ability to obtain credit at favourable rates. It’s become a bit of a cottage industry over the last decade of bad credit debt loan poor.

They say to know what’s in your credit report so you can take on more Bad Credit Debt Loan Poor. While it’s true that having a clean credit report can increase your chance of obtaining credit at lower rates, if you don’t have any debt and don’t take on any more debt, why should you care about your credit report? Unfortunately, many employers check credit reports on potential hires and use that as a partial basis for hiring.

Personally, I think the practice is unwarranted. You’re hiring a person to do a job, not grant credit. Proponents of the practice would argue that looking at credit reports tell a lot about the person’s psychological makeup and his/her ability to handle the job. Did they have a bankruptcy? Late payments? Missed payments? Do they have too much debt or too little? How high are the balances? All of these relay negative things to a potential employer.

Regardless, I think it’s an unnecessary intrusion. Even if a company provides a credit card for travel and expenses, having a negative credit report shouldn’t be a factor in the hiring process. If you’re credit is less than stellar, you won’t receive a company-issued credit card. You’ll have to pay for everything yourself and then expense it. This is what I do whenever I travel on business, which fortunately, is rarely more than once a year.

That being said, it is a good idea to check your credit reports from the three credit bureaus just to verify that all the data is correct and remove any incorrect or fraudulent data. You can obtain a free copy of your credit report once a year from the three major credit agencies, Experian4, TransUnion5, and Equifax6. You can do all of this on line at one web site setup by the above credit agencies.

Just visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com. Select the state where you reside and enter all the required information. The site also provides helpful information for placing fraud alerts on your credit report in case you’ve been the victim of, or suspect identity theft. Once you receive your credit report, check through it thoroughly. Verify that all the accounts listed, both past 4 http://www.experian.com 5 http://www.transunion.com 6 http://www.equifax.com and present, are indeed yours.

Make sure the account numbers, balances, payments, and the name the account was opened with is correct. If you have a common name, it’s possible that accounts from other people with similar names could appear in your report. If there is any information that is incorrect, you need to file a dispute with each credit agency.

Visit the sites listed above for more information on filing disputes. One last thing, there are numerous companies, and even the credit agencies, that advertise credit monitoring services for a monthly fee. Don’t bother. Remember, you’re going to live debt free. The chances of becoming a victim of identity theft are smaller when you pay cash than it is when you pay with a wad of credit cards. Check your credit report once a year and you should be just fine.