What's next? No Santa Claus?
I was over at Steve Shatsky's blog and saw his post "Building Good Credit: Getting the Word Out." The video above was produced by the Ad Council and attempts to help people learn a bit about credit and get them to visit www.creditfairy.org. Good information on credit can sometimes be hard to find - not because it's not out there, but it because it's drowned out by bad and often misleading information. This site is chock full of quality information on credit basics, understanding your credit report, how to dispute your credit report, bankruptcy, and improving your credit score.
Credit scores are often the most misunderstood thing in our lives. I've had someone with a 800 credit score tell me they had bad credit and they thought no one would give them a loan. I've had people with 440 scores tell me they had excellent credit. As you can guess, both parties were wrong. Credit scores control everything in our lives - housing, cars, insurance, loans, credit cards...you get the picture. Having good credit will make it easier for you to get better deals on the credit you do need (many loans are based off of risk assessment - the worse your credit score, the higher you are as a risk to the lender...and therefore the higher your interest rates or down payments will be).
If you haven't seen your credit report lately, don't wait for the Credit Fairy to bring it to you - you are entitled to one from each of three main credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) once a year. I suggest you request one every four months from a different bureau on a rotating basis - this will keep you updated over time to any inconsistencies on your report.
Visit www.annualcreditreport.com to get your free credit report. Don't pay for them.
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Matt Stigliano, Realtor® Becker Properties | (210) 646-HOME | www.RErockstar.com
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