When it comes to checking your credit report, it tends to be a very personal decision. It will depend on where you are financially, and whether or not you are looking at taking out loans in the near future.
If you are unsure about the advantages of check your credit report more regularly then read on. In this blog, we will help answer: how often should you check your credit report and why?
What Is Your Credit Report?
Your credit report is a summary of how you have handled your credit accounts. Your borrowing history is documented in this report as listings in your account. Based on these listings, you are given a credit score from 0 to 1200.
Your credit report is used by potential lenders to help them decide whether or not they are willing to take a chance on you and offer a loan. You want your credit report to be as accurate as possible, to ensure the information is complete. This is one of the advantages that comes from checking your credit report regularly.
There are three credit bureaus that provide credit reports: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. For this reason, your credit report could vary from someone else’s, however, each one will contain similar information, including:
- Identifying information
- Credit account information: this includes the lines of credit you have to take off and your payment history.
- Inquiry information: if a credit company or loan provider looks at your credit score (for example, when you have applied for a loan with them), this counts as a hard inquiry and affects your credit report. They can remain there for up to two years.
- Bankruptcies
- Collections accounts
How Often Should You Check Your Credit Report?
Are your wondering how often should you check your credit report? The great news is, you can check it as much as you like, without it having any impact on your credit score. How often you choose to do this is up to you. For some, once a year is enough of an insight to know how you are tracking and where you are sitting financially.
Others may prefer to check it monthly to stay on top of their financial situations. It is worth noting, that by law you can check your credit report once per year free of charge. Any additional checks can cost you money.
Taking into account your personal situations, how often should you check your credit report? This is entirely up to you. But there are many benefits that come with checking it regularly.
Benefits Of Regularly Checking Your Credit Report
How often should you check your credit report? This is a very open-ended question, but there are plenty of benefits that come with checking your credit report frequently. These include:
- Picking up incorrect listings: incorrect listings can appear on your file without you knowing and can affect your credit score. Checking your credit report regularly allows you to stay on top of this.
- Low credit score: if you have a low credit score, it can help to check your report more regularly to see what changes you can make and whether these are having any effect on your score.
- Applying for credit: it is always a good idea to check your credit score before applying for any type of credit. It shows where your credit score is sitting and can help you determine which lender is right for you.
- On-demand: credit scores are updated on demand and changes can affect this, such as applying for new credit, opening or closing an account, and so on. Checking your credit report helps you stay on top of this.
How To Check Your Credit Score
There are a number of ways you can go about checking your credit score. You are entitled to one free check of your credit report per year. Any more checks will cost you money.
You can request your credit score for free on a number of different sites, or by going through a service. You will be asked to confirm important information, such as:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Contact address
- Driver’s Licence number
Once you have put in the request it can take up to 10 days for you to receive the information.
Getting The Right Help
Now that you have an understanding of how often should you check your credit report, you may be looking for a little extra help. Whether you have found yourself in a position of bad credit, or simply noticed a negative listing that is incorrect, the team at Clean Credit can help you out.
We can help you remove incorrectly listed or unlawful defaults, court judgments and black marks on your credit file. We have a number of different credit repair solutions, depending on your needs. Take 30 seconds to get in touch here.