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LESSON 12: CHECKING YOUR CREDIT & CREDIT SCORES
Once you've figured out where you might want to get
a loan, you'll want to check your credit
history. Lenders take a close look at both credit
reports and credit
scores when evaluating borrowers. Depending on what they find,
they may not be willing to take on the risk of lending you money.
By checking your credit history before calling a broker or logging
onto a lender's Web site, you can see if it contains any mistakes
and correct them. That will keep your credit score from being artificially
low. See
Tip 1
In case you aren't familiar with credit reports, they
are computerized records of the loans, credit cards, mortgages,
bankruptcy filings and other financial things lurking in your past.
If you missed a mortgage payment by 35 days two years ago, for example,
lenders will see that in your credit
report. See
Tip 2
 As
many as 80 percent of all credit reports have some kind of misinformation.
Pull your credit report from all three agencies. The information
is not necessarily the same on all of them. |
Your credit report can cost up
to $8.50, but it can be free in some cases.
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