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I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty careful when it comes to my credit rating. I always make sure that my payments are in a couple of days before they’re due just to be on the safe side, and I even pay a little extra, when I get a bonus or overtime.

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You would think that would make me a pretty safe prospect for any bank wouldn’t you?

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Well, that’s what I thought.

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And as I’d never had any problems getting loans or mortgages in the past, I figured that was what the bank thought as well. I mean they were always sending letters telling me how much I could borrow so I figured they were happy to have my business.

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Anyway a couple of years ago things were going well at work, and we decided to buy a new SUV and that’s when I discovered what happens when you have bad credit.

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I’d call the bank and told them what we were planning and asked them to get the paperwork ready, so we could drop by and sign it. After all it was only 2 weeks before they had told me what a great customer I was and wanted to know what they could do to help.

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I was stunned when I got a call from them telling me that my credit rating wasn’t high enough for the loan I wanted.

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That was crazy. I’d never missed a payment, never defaulted on a loan, and I’d just had a raise – how could I not be good for the same money I’d borrowed 2 years before?

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That was when I discovered that clumsy typing can wreck your credit score!

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Long story short, someone at the bank had typed in the figures for my last loan as being $152 instead of $125 and the computer had decided I was a slow payer. For some reason, no one had spotted it and all the time my credit rating was sinking through the floor.

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It took a couple of weeks to sort it out but eventually the bank put things right and gave me the loan, but it showed me the importance of checking my credit report every year. You can get a copy of your credit report free from Experian as well as a free copy of your credit score. However, there’s something else that’s on offer and that’s a free trial of a credit monitoring service.

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I hadn’t heard about it before the bank mix up, but I’m glad I have now because it’s a service where the company keeps an eye on all the activity on your credit file each day and if anything changes, they email you within 24 hours to tell you about it.

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If I’d had it before I wouldn’t have had a couple of weeks delay in getting my new auto, and I certainly wouldn’t have had the stress that went with that delay. Even so, I just keep thinking what if had been fraud instead of a typo? I wouldn’t have known until too late and my credit rating would have been trashed for years!

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I suggest you get your free credit report and your credit score and check out the free credit monitoring trial to get yourself the peace of mind I’ve got now. You can get the details by clicking the link below.

How do you sit financially? Click Here to get your Free Credit Score.

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If you like what you see, why not support me with a $2 beer?

In these times of prolific Internet crimes, it is easy for a criminal to steal an identity.

Often the individual is victimized over an extended period of time before evidence of the identity left comes to light.

By that time, extensive damage has been done to the victim’s financial situation, some of which is nearly irreparable. Conscientious consumers pro-actively work to protect their credit by performing a free credit report check annually.

Consumers have long believed that the credit bureaus are like the Wizard of Oz, maintaining their information behind a curtain of privilege that only was open to the businesses who reported to them.

It never occurred to most to check their credit report for free, and they continued on their current path fearing what the secretive and sacred credit report would show.

That is no longer acceptable to consumers, and we have learned that running our own individual credit report check gives us reassurance and an easy path to follow to improve a struggling credit score, or maintain the outstanding credit we have worked hard to achieve.

In short, the wizard is unmasked, and immediately the intimidation that for years made the playing field uneven is leveled.

Check your credit report for free each year at about the same time. Just make it a part of your annual routine, like the dentist or doctor’s exam.

We need to understand the importance of credit maintenance and credit awareness. There is no reason to continue living with poor credit; a free credit report check performed annually is a minimal effort to improve your credit score.

Your individual credit score has replaced even your social security number as the most important number associated with you. Cash has become the anomaly, and credit is an everyday asset, not the luxury of only the elite as it was in the early days.

You need credit to easily exist in today’s financial climate. To get a home, car school loan, even just appliances, in today’s recession it is imperative to have an acceptable credit score.

By requesting and receiving your free online credit report, you have taken the first step to improving not just your financial situation, but in fact your entire life.

Financial disasters will always happen – cars need costly repairs, your child wants to attend a more expensive school, the furnace needs replaced two days before Christmas – but with a responsible financial background and a respectable credit score, you can handle these curve balls without the anxiety of coming up with a thousand dollars in the span of a day.

You still want to buy smart, within a budget of repayment in place. The difference is that there are options, and not as drastic as the steps you would have to take without the benefit of good credit.

The internet has opened many doors to everyday people. The most important way you can benefit from this amazing tool is to take control of the information available to others about you.

Request a free online credit report and set your own path of financial freedom.

If you like what you see, why not support me with a $2 beer?

There has been a real effort in recent years to help consumers become more aware of how to improve, maintain, and protect their credit rating and reputation. It has become essential to be aware of your credit rating. The best and easiest way to do this is to take advantage of your annual free credit report .

As in harmful aspects of life, early detection of fraudulent use, or errors in credit reporting is the most valuable tool in recovering any losses and restoring your good name.

All consumers should take advantage of their free once a year credit report in order to maintain or improve their credit rating.

Poor credit score can affect every aspect of your life, even your ability to get a job. Most employers now run background and credit checks, and a bad credit rating can eliminate you from job contention as quickly as a criminal record in some professions.

For those with poor, or no credit, a free credit report once a year is the easy and affordable way to rebuild credit or improve your credit rating.

Taking advantage of your annual free credit report is literally an opportunity to invest no money to get the only tool you need to improve your financial situation.

It will show which businesses reported negatively, and ways to contact those entities to resolve disputes or errors, which will result in a new, favorable reporting to the credit bureaus.
Each negative removed or resolved is one more step toward a financial freedom.

Consumers with established credit know the importance of closely monitoring their credit situation through a free annual credit report.

With identity theft, one of the most common crimes today, it is not difficult for an identity thief to finance a car, a vacation, or even a home with the credit that you have worked so hard to maintain.

Undoing the damage of identity theft can take years, not to mention the cost of restitution and/or court costs to prosecute for damages. It can easily drain you of retirement or savings, and the golden years you have been planning for are gone. Most tragically, a simple credit report available once a year could have alerted the situation in time to minimize damages and stop the hemorrhaging of your savings and credit.

When making your new year’s list, resolve to obtain your annual free credit report and start working to obtain or maintain the financial freedom that would allow a less stressful life.

Most important, work to achieve the more enjoyable and responsible lifestyle you deserve. Then maybe next year you can check your report on New Year’s Day…while on holiday in Paris!

If you like what you see, why not support me with a $2 beer?