Credit Card Score / How to Improve Bad Credit? – Philip Tirone

In today’s world, good credit is becoming increasingly important, and the best credit monitoring advice we can give you is to review your credit report regularly.

Many banks no longer offer loan programs for people unless they have pristine credit. And credit card companies are tightening the reins on borrowers with excellent credit. Having a poor credit score can be debilitating. Yet too many people are in the dark when it comes to their credit score and credit report. They do not know what their score is, much less what derogatory information might appear on the report. What if the credit bureaus made a mistake? What if someone stole your identity?

Without the best credit monitoring system—either on your own or through a reputable company—you might not know if either of these happens.

According to one survey by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, about 80 percent of people have errors on their credit reports. The best credit monitoring helps a person keep an eye for these errors, which could be caused by a credit card company that misreports your information, or a database worker who makes a typo when entering your payment details.

Add to this the increasing sophistication of identity thieves, and you simply must take more and more safeguards to make sure your credit score is protected. The best credit monitoring of your credit report means that you can stop an identity theft from accessing your information to fraudulently obtain credit cards in your name or empty out your bank account. By keeping track of your credit report, you can minimize the bogus charges and ensuing damage to your credit report.

Credit monitoring allows you to keep track of your credit score and shows you any issues as soon as they arise. Credit monitoring can come in the form of a company hired to keep a watchful eye on your credit report and alert you of any potential breaches of security. Such companies look for:

• New credit inquiries,
• New accounts,
• Changes to your account information (such as an address change),
• New derogatory information (such as late payments or public records), or
• Any other substantial changes to your credit file.

These services usually charge a fee, but the fee might be well worth it. One mistake on your credit report could cost you a loan or a job. And identity theft could cause an even bigger problem. According to one study, victims of identity theft spend about 25 hours resolving the issues caused by identity theft. Some spend hundreds of hours. And the average victim loses almost $6,000 to identity theft. Some people have lost tens of thousands of dollars. Without the best credit monitoring systems in place, you might not know you are a victim of identity theft for months, at which time resolving the issues caused by identity theft might be compounded.

Though hiring a credit monitoring company is an option, you can also monitor your own credit report by pulling your credit report frequently. Contrary to popular belief, if you pull your own credit report, your credit score will not be hurt. While it is true that having too many requests into your credit score by creditors and lenders will hurt your score, credit bureaus know that you need to monitor your credit report. In fact, doing so has no negative impact on your score whatsoever.

When monitoring your own credit score, check for:

• Incorrect credit limits.
• Account numbers that do not match your records.
• Mistakes in your payment history.
• Mistakes in your personal information (name, Social Security Number).
• Collection accounts listed more than once.
• Delinquencies older than seven years.
• Collection notices that do not belong to you.
• Any new derogatory information that has been added to your credit report.
• Any previously corrected errors on your credit report that might have resurfaced.

The best credit monitoring system should include a plan to pull your credit report at least quarterly.