There are three major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) that maintain records about you that reflect your financial history. Think about that for a moment they are maintaining records on millions of people, where each person has and has had multiple credit experiences in the past. All of this adds up to billions of records that they need to keep straight. And it gets worse some lenders report only to one credit bureau, some report to two of them, and some (like your mortgage company for example) report to all three of them.
Over the years, they change due to better pricing from one versus another. All of this adds up to the fact that while most consumers do not know it, but your credit report almost certainly contains errors. The even worse part is that if YOU do not initiate action to get those errors corrected, the errors remain on your file, year after year.
This massive gathering of financial data about your credit history is compiled to create a credit score for you. And yes, you have a different credit score at each credit bureau since they maintain different data on you. This score reflects your ability and willingness to meet your financial obligations. Why should you care? Because the better your credit score is, the better deal and more favorable terms you can get from a lender.
For example, I personally know some people who had errors in their credit report but did not worry about it for a long time. They were paying more than 8% for their mortgage loan. They decided to work on their credit score and discovered several errors in their credit report, which they got corrected. After doing that, they refinanced their mortgage and were approved for a loan just over 5%. This single account will save them several thousand dollars.
Many people want the easy way out, so they pay fees for a credit repair service. This is not necessary and you are throwing money out the window. A credit repair service will not do anything that you cannot do yourself, but you need to be motivated to follow up on the various requests that you will be sending in. You see, you can dispute negative information that appears on your credit report, even if it is accurate. If it is not accurate, your job is easier because the credit bureau must remove the negative information if it cannot be proved. But even for negative information that is accurate, perhaps a loan from your past, the original lender may not be in a position to verify that data, and if it cannot be proven after you have disputed it, it needs to be removed from your credit report.
You need to get a copy of your credit report from all three of the major credit bureaus. Since they are separate companies, the data they maintain on you is almost certainly different too. Then go over your credit report and look for anything that appears to be a negative comment. Look at it from the aspect of a lender who is looking to approve or deny a loan request or a new line of credit. When you find something (and you will), then your job starts as a campaign to start improving your credit score.
Jon is a computer engineer who maintains web sites on a variety of topics based on his knowledge and experience. You can read more about Improving Your Credit Score at his web site
Raise Your Credit Score For A Better Credit Rating.
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