| Somehow over the course of time you discover that | | | | your credit report recently to check it over carefully to |
| you have a poor credit score. Maybe you got busy | | | | see if that might be the case? Identity theft is one of |
| with your job, maybe there were some major family | | | | the fastest growing high-tech crimes of this century, |
| emergencies, maybe you got caught up with being out | | | | and people need to be much more careful about |
| of town, the reasons this can happen are numerous. | | | | safeguarding their person information today than they |
| But a bad credit score does not happen overnight, and | | | | ever needed to in the past. You may want to get |
| it will not get resolved overnight either. The key point to | | | | some more information about identity theft and your |
| note is that you need to start NOW, because every | | | | options if you are a victim at Identity Theft Information |
| day that you delay taking positive action towards | | | | and Resources. |
| getting your credit score delayed is yet another day | | | | The first thing you need to do is get a copy of your |
| that these negative reflections of you appear on the | | | | credit report and start going over it thoroughly and in |
| records of the credit bureaus. | | | | detail. If there is something on there that you don't |
| What if you don't do anything about managing your | | | | understand, it is your right to call the credit bureau and |
| credit score? Is it really going to hurt you? The very | | | | ask for clarification. The reason this is the first place to |
| honest answer is a resounding YES. If you change | | | | start is because it is a known fact that the |
| jobs or go to interview for a new job, many | | | | MAJORITY of credit reports on consumers have |
| employers are now running a credit check on potential | | | | errors. Those errors do not get fixed automatically, but |
| new employees before extending a job offer to them, | | | | ONLY if you dispute the information and it cannot be |
| and if your credit report is poor, there is a great | | | | proven. |
| chance that that job offer will not be offered to you. | | | | Another thing you need to do is make sure, absolutely |
| What about that car loan for your next new car, or | | | | sure that you pay your existing bills on time. Some |
| even a used car? With a poor credit score, your | | | | studies show that you get additional credit if you pay |
| interest rate will be much higher than it needs to be. As | | | | more than just the minimum amount due, but in any |
| for a mortgage, if you have a poor credit score, you | | | | event, make sure you pay it on time. If you are mailing |
| might want to stake out land under the park bench, | | | | a payment, mail it at least a week before the due date |
| because you will have an extremely hard time getting | | | | to ensure that it gets posted to your account on or |
| approved for a mortgage. | | | | before the actual due date. |
| In other words, having a bad credit score and not doing | | | | This is a starting point but there are many other things |
| anything about it is going to cost you money in the long | | | | you can do to improve a bad credit score. It is clearly |
| run. And that is money that you don't need to pay, if | | | | in your best interests to take the necessary steps to |
| you take steps today to improve your credit score. | | | | improve your credit score as quickly as possible. It |
| Perhaps your credit score is poor because you were | | | | does not happen fast but you need to start taking the |
| the victim of identity theft. Have you gotten a copy of | | | | actions that will eventually get your credit score raised. |