In these financial times which are clearly tumultuous and tight, it is absolutely vital that you take the time and make the effort to check on your credit report and credit score on a regular basis. This statement is more true today than ever before, because we live in a society that is largely based on credit. In this world, especially in this day and age, you simply cannot live without credit, lending and other forms of borrowing which largely rely on your credit score and report. What most people are completely unaware of is the fact that no one is going to keep up on their credit score but their own selves, so the only way to make sure everything is up to snuff is to regularly check out your credit score and make sure everything in your credit report is factual and up to date.

What is your credit score?

Your credit score is essentially a picture of your creditworthiness, or more specifically, how much of a risk you are for credit at a specific point in time. The higher your credit score is, the lower a risk you are perceived to be by lenders and credit agencies. When you have a high credit score, lenders look at you as a more viable and valuable candidate. Your score is actually determined by a complicated mathematical formula that involves a number of different factors including your debt to income ratio, how much credit you currently have, how much income you are bringing in, and what your past credit history is like. All of these details go into figuring out what your credit score is, determining how risky you will potentially be as a borrower in future transactions.

One of the biggest determinant factors in your credit score has to do with whether or not you are paying your bills on time. Especially with the financial economics of today, it is important that you remember what your risk is to a new potential lender because this risk is determined by your credit score, and higher risk is directly associated with a lower credit score.

Why monitor your credit score regularly?

Checking your credit report and score on a consistent basis is important for a number of different reasons. You need to make sure that the information showing up on your report is yours and not someone else’s credit. Identity theft is common, and keeping track of your credit is the best way to keep it from crippling you financially. You also want to check your credit score and report just to see what lenders and other credit agencies are going to see, because exactly what you see when you request your credit report and score is exactly what they are going to see. The credit system is far from perfect, so keep up on your credit to make sure that everything is legitimate whenever you plan to apply for credit or a loan.

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Originally posted 2009-01-06 05:15:59. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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Money, Personal Finance, credit, credit score, money management techniques

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credit history, credit report, credit repot, credit score, creditworthiness, debt to income ratio, determinant, financial economics, financial times, lenders, mathematical formula, point in time, risk