In the tough economic times we face, it is vitally important that we focus our attention on many things. From keeping our job, to maybe getting by on some bills, building an emergency fund, etc., one area where we need to maintain due diligence and vigilance is in the area of our credit reports. Now is not the time to be surprised to find out too late that your identity has been stolen or that you can’t get that mortgage because of negative marks that will affect your FICO scores.
One thing I’ve found to be true over the years is that credit reports are like eating healthy or flossing. We all know we should but we just don’t for one reason or another. My wake up call was about fifteen years ago when I went to get a loan and found out that someone I had sold a car to, who was going to pay off the last four months of the loan, didn’t. It didn’t show up on his credit report, it showed up on mine and I had to pay for the car too. Surprised and screwed… lesson learned. The other surprise was that I couldn’t get the loan. If I had what I have today, a monthly credit monitoring system, I would have quickly noticed the late car payment and been able to do something about it then and there instead of after I applied for a loan and was turned down.
Every month I get a report from my credit monitoring system that will tell me if anything has been added to my credit report that month. Keep surprises small and dealing with small surprises is much more manageable than dealing with having your identity stolen three months after the fact or applying for your first mortgage and finding out you can’t buy your home because of things on your credit report that you were unaware of. from.
Hey, the reality is that there is no excuse in today’s world for not being aware of your credit information. It is available with a click of the mouse on your computer. However, a good friend of mine in the mortgage industry tells me that even today more people come to his office looking for a mortgage who have no idea what’s on their credit reports than come prepared. That is the KEY word of the day, “Prepared”. Being prepared makes surprises, at least not-so-good ones, easier to handle.
The monitoring system I was talking about above? You can Google and find many such offers on the Internet related to monitoring your credit. Hello, until next time, I’ll leave you with something that Tony Robbins once said that seemed powerful to me; paraphrased version — These are the moments of decision where our destinies are shaped. Your destiny is shaped more than you know through your credit. Think about it.
