Why Should You Review Your Credit Reports?

Did you know that a majority of financial advisers suggest that all consumers review their credit report periodically?

Why you may ask?

• The information on your credit report impacts whether or not you can be approved for lending or credit.
• Your credit score impacts what interest rate you will receive.
• Some employers can use your credit score as a determining factor for employment or promotion opportunities.
• Checking your credit reports also helps you guard against identity theft, reporting errors and inaccuracies.

Often times, consumers are not aware of the inaccuracies that could be reporting on their report. Trust is placed with major credit agencies and creditors to ensure the accuracy of the information reporting on their credit. Other times, accounts reported on consumers reports could be a result of a bigger issue such as identity theft. So what kind of information can be misreported? Here is an example of a few of the issues some consumers may face:

• Clerical errors entering in names, addresses and account numbers
• Errors in applying payments properly to accounts
• Accounts reported more than once, increasing total amount of debt
• Accounts reporting past seven year reporting limitation
• Improper statuses of accounts such as open, closed or transferred
• And again issues of unrecognizable accounts reporting due to issues of identity theft (attempted inquiries may also report)

So what should you do if you are not certain your credit is reporting 100% accurate? The first step is to pull a 3 bureau credit report with scores. This will give you a complete picture of the current status of your credit. Enrolling into monthly credit monitoring will give you the upper hand as you will be able to check your credit monthly. Sites such as Score Safety are also soft pulls, so checking your credit report monthly does NOT hurt your scores!

Consult with a professional about how you should address any negative reporting items. Even if you recall having an account, you still want to make sure every detail of the account is reporting 100% accurate. If you are not sure if it is, it is recommended to audit the derogatory account. It's important to understand that auditing the account is not questioning whether the account belongs to you or not. It is just ensuring there are no errors reporting, and if there are any errors found, that those errors are corrected or removed.

At MSI Credit Solutions we leverage our clients rights to audit items in question. Since 2006 we have averaged a 50-80% deletion rate. As items are corrected and removed from the credit report, this results with an increase to our clients credit scores!

Need help to improve your credit score? Call us now!

Don't wait to find out what happens with your credit score. Start working on your credit now to BE READY with great credit scores for all your future financial needs.

Are you ready to improve your credit and increase your credit scores? We can help you!

 

MSI Credit Solutions provides superior credit restoration and comprehensive consulting services that are reliable and affordable.

*The information in this article has been provided strictly for educational purposes.