One worrying reason why checking your credit report frequently is vital for your financial health

Even if you are working towards rebuilding your monthly budget and retirement egg nest, it could all be for nothing if you end up becoming a victim of financial fraud. People with ill intentions may impersonate you and open loan and credit card accounts in your name, for which you could be held liable unless you deal with it as soon as possible.

If this happens, your credit score could tank significantly and the financial damage caused might delay your financial aspirations. A poor credit score could also prevent you from securing credit cards, loans, and mortgages in the future. 

Hence, checking your credit report frequently is of the utmost importance. This way, you’ll know if there have been any suspicious activities that you need to report to concerned authorities.

Make sure to keep a lookout for:

• incorrect entries pertaining to active/closed loan accounts
• changes to your personal information
• credit limits
• hard loan inquiries

With millions of Americans already having lost hundreds of billions of dollars collectively in identity theft fraud cases in 2021, you might want to check out Credit Karma. Through this app, you can view your credit report from Equifax and TransUnion for free.

Their free credit monitoring features will help you stay on top of any changes to your credit report in real-time, including new loan inquiries, credit accounts, and changes to personal information. If you detect any suspicious activity, you can report it to the concerned credit bureau directly from the app. The credit bureau will then contact the lender to verify the details and help you figure out if you need to escalate the issue to the concerned authorities.