Why an Annual Credit Report is Good

Asking for an annual credit report is definitely worth considering. There are many benefits to looking at your own credit report and definitely advantages to checking it every year. Not only will this help you to better your credit report but it will also help you to see any problems that are on your credit and dispute anything that you do not think should be on there.

The main benefit of seeing an annual credit report is to check whether you have the chance of gaining credit from any lenders and seeing whether you can improve your report. There are many ways to do this and the main one is to pay off all of your debts.

Seeing an annual credit report will keep you up to date with your debts and any extra payments that are being added to your account. The report will detail all loans, cards and money that you owe; you will see the total amount that you owe or can borrow and also the amount that you pay per month and the last time that you paid. This will give you a realistic look on whether you are overstretching your budget and how long it will take to pay off the full amount.

You will see your defaulted payments, which is something that you may have a reason for. If you do have a change in your circumstances, such as you have just found a job after a period of being unemployed, this is something that you can add onto your credit report. By gaining an annual credit report, you will be able to stay on top of this but you should not constantly add notes to your report. Make a note about your defaulted payments and then wait for them to leave your credit report, which will usually take two years.

Seeing your annual credit report will also help you if you have been a victim of identity theft. If there is something on there that is not your fault, you can have it disputed. You will need to give all details and proof that this is due to something else before it will be completely removed from your credit report. Another reason why something may not be your fault will be due to a company that is at fault. Again, you will need to have documents to support this but it could mean that it is completely removed from your report and will help you gain credit.

There is nothing wrong with looking at your own credit report and it will not affect your from gaining credit. It is advisable to keep track and looking at an annual credit report will definitely be worthwhile to see how you are doing with your debt.

You should print out and keep your credit report so that you can see changes. This will help you find when debts have been cleared and whether there is anything majorly different that has happened over the year; this will also help with anything that may need to be disputed.