Have you seen your credit report recently? Chances are you haven’t. You may not even know the relevance or significance this report has, well here’s to opening your eyes.

Your credit report is your financial history in regards to lending and spending habits. You may not be looking at your credit report but others have and probably will in the near future. You may not know it but everyone from new employers, insurance providers and banks all look at it, and you need to know what they’re looking at!

Why Should I Care About My Credit Report?

The impact a clean or tarnished credit report can have is more wide spread than you would think. It can affect anything from car insurance rates, to interest rates on loans or standard Lines of Credit to something as trivial as a denial on services such as cell phone coverage. The worst part of all of this, inaccuracies on a credit report are not as rare as you’d think.

In 2004 a survey by U.S. PIRG, (Public Interest Research Groups) Found that 1 in 4 credit reports found errors serious enough to result in denial of credit. 1 in 4! How can you fix your report if you haven’t seen it. Your report includes information regarding from credit cards, balances and anything financial. Sometimes mix ups occur with people with similar names or addresses, and since lenders have no obligation to share information, reports can be missing information all together.

It’s been estimated that 60% of those looking for a loan have not seen their report, and many have errors. This could be a threat to a possible mortgage.

How Can I Obtain My Own Credit Report

Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are three companies that work in credit reports, they gather information and then sell it back to you for a price. However, you are entitled to one free credit report per year per company. With some exceptions if you are; victim of identity theft or denied for insurance or loan app.

AnnualCreditReport.com is the easiest way to gain access to your reports. There are other sites, but this one is proven safe and why wander into unsafe territory, especially since to receive your report you must enter sensitive information such as your Social Security Number along with birth date and any other information they choose to ask to verify your identity.

Once you’ve been accepted you choose the company you wish to receive your report from, Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. You verify more information to confirm your identity. Once verified you’ll be taken to your report. If you aren’t computer savvy you can call 877-322-8228 instead to get your report, this could take up to 15 days however.

Anything Else I should Be Aware Of?

Beware, each company will be trying to up sell you along the way. They are a business after all. It does cost about $10 for each report after the first one. Another thing you may be interested in is your credit score. This is a number that ranges from 300-850 based on your credit report. It basically is an interpretation of what your credit reports means to a company, this is an important piece of information to know as numbers are easy to relate to. Keep the number high and you know you’re credit is good. Here’s to keeping that number up.