Everyone Should Be Looking At Your Free Credit Report When You Are Requesting New Credit
With the current worldwide financial climate being in such turmoil, applying for difficult to come by. But many potential borrowers don’t realise the importance of where to check a free credit report from one of the major credit reference agencies.
Without realising it, your credit report might be showing data that may hinder your ability to take out further credit. Some of this may not even be down to you. Worse still, it may even show that you have been the victim of identity theft!
Those people that have been rejected after applying for credit should certainly review their credit report data from at least one of the major credit reference agencies, such as Experian. If you have been declined credit, ask the lender who refused you which of the agencies they were using when they credit vetted you and their contact details. Then write to them asking for a copy of your credit file.
It is a good idea to ask for a copy of your credit file before applying for a loan so that any errors, or omissions, can be amended before you apply. This could prevent a denial, which would also be recorded on your credit file and might count against you in the future.
If you don’t already know how to check credit reports for yourself, then it is very easy to do. The major credit reference agencies will offer a free service if you write to them and ask them for the details and there are many online services doing the same. As an early identity theft detection method, you can also join schemes whereby you are notified when certain changes occur on your credit reference file. This would alert you to sudden huge loan applications if someone was trying to steal your identity.
The free credit reports don’t show you exactly how the lenders will score you, but they give you a good basis for understanding what they are likely to be looking at. In addition, lenders will base their calculations on other questions that they ask, such as your history with that lender, your annual household available income and other details they ask you to include.
Your credit report shouldn’t reveal information for anyone else residing within your house, but it will have details of who the credit reference agency believes are financially related to you, for example a spouse. If this information is incorrect, then it can be worth getting it corrected.
As an example, if your spouse doesn’t share the same surname as you, but has a better credit rating than you, then you might improve your credit rating by marking yourselves as being financially related.
Conversely, if two siblings, or others sharing a surname, share an address and aren’t financially related, it is worth ensuring that you are not being marked as having a financial relationship, in case they have a poorer credit rating.
P.S. Watch this real case how do I get out of debt video.
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