How to protect your credit reputation in 2022
Here’s why you need to check your credit report frequently.
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- Your credit report defines your financial credibility.
- Check your credit report to understand the negative factors impacting your credit score.
- Checking your credit report frequently could help in investigating identity theft for loan frauds.
- Create a credit score improvement plan.
Most people apply for credit cards, loans, insurance policies, and mortgages. When you do, lenders will typically check your credit score and report to understand if you are a financially responsible person when it comes to timely loan repayment.
A low credit score could lead to loan rejections and high insurance premiums. It could even affect your job applications. Low credit scores usually come about because of missed monthly loan repayments, high credit utilization, or too many loan applications.
By checking your credit report from any of the major credit bureaus, you can better understand the factors that could negatively impact your credit score. If high credit utilization is preventing your credit score from increasing, for instance, you could attempt to lower it by readjusting your budget.
Identify and Dispute Factors Out of Your Control
Another reason you should frequently monitor your credit profile (i.e. at least once a month) is the exponential rise of identity theft. Through frequent monitoring, you’ll be aware of any incorrect entry in your credit report and can dispute it and take appropriate action right away. If it happens to be identity fraud, you can contain the potential damage ASAP.
Benefit From Real-time Updates on Credit Report Changes
If you need help, you can use the Credit Karma app, which is trusted by over 100 million people. They will retrieve your credit report from Equifax and TransUnion for free and their credit monitoring feature will help you stay on top of your credit reports. Get real-time alerts for new loan inquiries and loan accounts, as well as any changes to your personal information. If you ever feel like there’s an erroneous entry, you can dispute it with the concerned credit bureau directly through the intuitive app.