You may think
that you only have one credit score, but you have a unique credit score that is
generated by each individual credit rating agency.
Take each score
from each credit agency and see how you look on the chart located here.
It is quite
common for people to not understand that they have to maintain good ratings on
all of their scores. Another thing that is common is for people to put too much
weight on their credit scores and not pay enough attention to the information
in their credit reports.
Ignoring the
information contained within your credit reports at each of the three credit
agencies is a huge mistake. Furthermore, you should check the accuracy of the
information in all of your reports at least a few times each year.
Your credit
scores are a representation of the information that is in your credit reports.
However, your scores do not represent all the information shown in your credit
reports and this is why you need to carefully review each report from each
agency.
Is quite common
for there to be mistakes with your personal information and although this does
not affect your scores, it can cause delays or perhaps a denial on a loan
application. Correcting this information is not difficult if you follow the
instructions as provided in your credit reports.
For those that
do not have their current reports and current scores, just follow one of the
many links you will find online to access sources for free complete credit
profiles. There are so many sources for getting this information free of charge
that it is never a good idea to pay for this information.
If you're going
to pay for anything, you should pay for the monthly monitoring services that
will keep you are alerted to any changes that appear on any of your three
credit reports. This is a wise use of money for people that need to maintain
high scores with our perhaps worried about identity theft.
Take some time
to read through your complete credit profile and start to understand your
personal credit information and how your credit scores are determined. Your
goal should be to have good information in all of your reports as well as
credit scores that reflect at least good if not very good ratings on the credit
score chart.