Happy New Year!  As we start 2009, many people are making resolutions, wanting to do things better and differently than they did in the past.  Surely with the current economic climate, personal finance will make its way into some of these decisions.  And better credit scores are playing a significant role in consumers’ finances.

Credit Report Monitoring is an important part of Personal Financial Fitness and it’s easy to do.  To get a copy of your credit report from one, two or all three of the credit bureaus, go to annualcreditreport.com.   This is the place to get the actual free reports that consumers are entitled to by law.  There is no charge and nothing to sign up for.   Our article on November 26, 2008 has more information on credit monitoring.

If you want to know your current FICO scores, you can obtain all three of them, along with all three credit reports with the FICO Credit Complete for about $48.  Click here and look for FICO Credit Complete on the upper right side. 

With both of these options your reports will be available to you for 30 days when you set up log-in information.  And checking your credit reports in either of these two ways does NOT count against your credit score as a Hard Inquiry.

When reviewing your credit report, look for unknown accounts, unusual or incorrect balances on your existing accounts, inquiries that you don’t recognize, extra social security numbers or names that don’t belong to you.  Contact all three credit bureaus to correct the errors, even if you only review one report.  By law, they must investigate the items you dispute and reply within 45 days.  Mark your planner for four months later to schedule your next credit report monitoring.

For your Professional Credit Analysis and Review, contact us today.