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Why do I Need to Check my Credit Score?

Positive credit scores are your ticket to favorable interest rates for homes, vehicles, credit cards, employment offers, insurance costs and more. A good score equals cash because it prevents incurring extra costs.

 

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Where Does Your Credit Score Rank?

 

Understanding Why Your Credit Score Matters

When it comes to securing a favorable interest rate on any type of loan, you will need a positive credit score. While many people don't give theirs a second thought, what they need to realize is that a low  score results in high interest rates, which leads to money being wasted that could have otherwise been saved or spent on something else.

Your Credit Score Is Your Responsibility

Lenders check  to determine how much of a risk you are in terms of not paying them back for any funds that they lend to you. The stakes tend to be higher when a loan is unsecured because in the event that you don't pay back the borrowed funds, there is no collateral to be gained by the lender. Still yet, whether you are in need of a secured or unsecured loan, your credit score is of the utmost importance. There are even some employers as well as insurance agencies that base their decisions on it.

Here at Check My Credit Score, we provide you with the ability to check your score instantly. And not only do we show you , but we break down your score so you can see what influences it. Many people find that there are several factors that they didn't know about that are significantly impacting their scores, such as their credit utilization.

What is it?

A credit score is a number, and almost everyone has one. The only reason that an adult in the United States wouldn't have one is because he or she has no credit history, meaning there is a complete lack of financial information being reported to credit bureaus.

Your credit score will be a number between 350 to 850, with the higher the number, the more highly you will be viewed by lenders in terms of being less risky to loan money to. The following is a glimpse at how lenders view it:

- 350-619: Poor credit rating
- 620-659: Fair credit rating
- 660-749: Good credit rating
- 750-850: Excellent credit rating

It is imperative that you understand that your credit score impacts both your current and future capability of securing loans, including home and auto loans. Your score is not only used to determine whether or not you can be approved for a loan but also what your interest rate will be.

With a poor credit rating, you won't likely qualify for a loan, and if you do, the interest rate will probably be outrageous. A fair credit rating will result in you qualifying for a loan, however, the interest rate will be high. A good credit rating will qualify you for just about any loan with an average interest rate. Lastly, an excellent credit rating means you will likely qualify for a loan with a very favorable interest rate, possibly saving you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan.

It's also important to note that there are several financial firms as well as several different formulas that are used to calculate it. The three main credit agencies are TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. The information inside your credit report is used by each credit firm according to their calculation formula to determine your credit score.

Lenders use different credit agencies to determine your credit worthiness, meaning it's important that you monitor your credit activity through each agency. All three credit agencies are autonomous of each other, and their information does not always match. We are able to help you monitor your credit score through each agency.

Entities that View Your Credit Score

Almost any type of lending agency will view your credit score to determine whether or not it wants to lend you money. This includes entities that provide home and auto loans as well as those that offer secured and unsecured loans.

Importance of Reviewing Your Credit Score

There are other various reasons in addition to being able to secure a favorable loan that you should monitor your credit score. The main reason is that you will want to verify that all information on your credit report is 100 percent accurate. Take for instance that you paid off a credit card, but when checking your credit score you notice that one of the credit agencies is not reflecting that you paid off the card balance. This is information that you would want to have updated as soon as possible.

Monitoring your credit report and credit score regularly is essential to maintaining sound financial health. And it also helps you identify identity theft issues promptly. Identity theft can happen to anyone, and it often takes a long period of time to recover from. However, the quicker you start the process to resolving identity theft issues, the sooner the recovery process can be completed.

Your Credit Report Explained

Your credit report is a file containing various pieces of information about your financial dealings. It might include information about your income, your history of addresses and your credit history itself. Contained in your credit report, you will see every credit card you own and the amount of available credit on each of them. You'll also see any mortgage and car loans that you have, open lines of credit, and your history on how often you paid them back on time. It will show positive items on your credit report, such as on time payments, as well as negative factors, such as defaulted loans, large debt amounts, and/or a history of late payments or bankruptcies.

Understanding How We Can Help

We provide constant credit monitoring through all three credit agencies, which keeps you aware of changes that might affect your credit score, like searches into your credit data and about new account creations. We provide various financial tools you can use to you see how your positive efforts are positively affecting your score.