There are many ways to check your credit score. Most people only ever get around to having a credit check whenever they are considering taking out a mortgage to buy a home or to get a loan on a new car. That credit card you use every day or every month brings with it the direct impact to your credit rating and your ability to get a loan at a good interest rate. Your credit rating is even affected by how you pay your bills such as your phone bill and utility bills. Your credit history can all of a sudden become very important when you are shopping around for the best rates on a mortgage for your new dream home.
There is a new way to check your credit rating online now. There is a joint initiative by the peer-to-peer lending group SocietyOne and the credit bureau Veda which is launching in order to give away one million free credit scores. Now, you might be asking why it would have to be a free credit score to be special. You might also be wondering about how secure is this credit checking process. In general anyone should be skeptical about anything that delves into your personal history and especially if the promotion to do so is free. First you should consider that checking your credit score often can actually negatively affect your credit score.
Free Credit Score
Research shows that 85 percent of Australians do not know their credit score. This might sound like a shockingly high amount but it makes sense when you consider that knowing your free credit score on a daily basis will not benefit you. Most people will only have their credit checked when they are shopping around for loans and that probably does not happen that often. Proof of that comes in the research that shows that only 60 percent of people have asked for a better deal on a loan or a credit card in the last 18 months. Checking your credit score and shopping around for new loan deals and credit cards can put your information at risk. Before you type your personal information onto a website that offers a free check you might want to consider what you will actually do with the information you get back.
Consumers generally do not know what their credit score is and if they did then they could possible get better rates on loans and credit cards but there is no guarantee. Before you get your free credit score, you should think about the risk you are taking by releasing your personal information but also consider why you even need your free credit score in the first place.