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Credit Monitoring Basics
I know we have said this over and over again, but it is so important to know what your credit score is, and if it is low, to raise it to a good or great level. Credit monitoring will help you see your progress as you being to raise your scores. Keeping tabs on your credit is vital, and many of us just do not have the time to keep monitoring our credit scores. This is where credit monitoring services shine!
Here are some of the basics of our credit monitoring service.
We will provide you with all three of your credit scores.
We will track changes on all three of your credit reports, these can be changes you requested, or possible identity theft.
Having access to your three credit reports will allow you to find errors on your reports.
It can help you save money and time. By knowing what your credit scores are you will know exactly where you stand in the eyes of lenders. This will enable you to get the best deal possible, or decide to hold off until your credit score raises to the next bracket, which will save you money on anything you finance. And by being enrolled in our credit monitoring service you will constantly be updated on your credit score, that way you will know in advance if something is negatively effecting it, and you will be able to be proactive about fixing it to get your credit score back! This will indeed save time and make your life so much more simple.
Like most things in life, ignoring a problem such as a low credit score will not make it get any better. Credit monitoring will give you the tools you need to dig in and get your credit back on track!
Great Credit Score Now What?
You have managed to achieve a great credit score, something over 725 now what do you do with it? You have no plans to buy any large ticket items, your happy with your credit cards, your car is going to last you for 10 more years, and you recently bought your house. Things are looking great, but don’t rest to easy, you can use that great credit score to your advantage.
This is particular important to those of us who have been using the credit monitoring service to raise your credit score. Now that you have a fantastic score, its time to put it to use. You can use your score to get lower interest rates on purchases you have already made.
Say that you bought your car one or two years ago, and you had good credit at the time, or more importantly if you did not have good credit. Now that you have great credit you can call who ever holds your loan and ask them to lower you interest rate to reflect your new credit score. Many times they will tell you this can not be done, but don’t take no for an answer. Tell them that if they are not willing to work with you than you will just go elsewhere to refinance the loan. They will know that with your credit score that you will be able to do this easily and many times they will offer you a better rate on your current loan.
You can also use your credit score to your advantage when buying a new car. The dealership will make money on your financing, and often times they are locked into a certain rate which they just match your credit score too, and that is what you get. Many times this is not as good as a rate as you would get elsewhere if you secured your own financing. Use this to your advantage when negotiating. Print our your credit scores from your credit monitoring home page and bring them with you. How can you use this to get a better deal? Well the dealership will know that you will be able to get a better deal if you finance away from them, and they know that if you do this they will be losing out on some easy money. Use this fact to get them to take more off the bottom line of the car to make up for the difference you would get if you had a lower interest rate if you went elsewhere.
Some other easy places to save money every month with a great credit score is insurance. If your credit score has rising since you first signed up for your insurance then you can use that to lower your rates. Your credit score is a factor when it comes to insurance, and insurance companies will base your rates off of what your score was when you first enrolled. Call them up and ask them to lower your rates as your credit scores have raised and more often than not they will reduce your premium.
You should also negotiate with any credit cards that you have. If your rate is above 12% then it would be worth your time to call and ask for a significant rate reduction. With a credit score above 725 you should be looking at an interest rate of 6%-12%. Again at first they may be hesitant to lower your rates, but just know that you have the power in your hands, and that if worst case scenario they will not work with you move your business to a credit card that will give you the rates you deserve!
Keeping track of your credit scores with credit monitoring can really help you to save money, and to get your the best possible deals!
Is Credit Monitoring Worth It?
Well of course we think so, but we are the providers of the service, so let me take a more nonobjective look at it. Some of the pro’s. It will help your prevent ID theft, it will let you monitor your credit reports, it will keep tabs on your credit scores. And then the cons the biggest con is the cost per month. Many critics claim that it may not be worth the monthly fee, I disagree.
First lets look at the obvious pros. Unlimited access to your credit report. Ok yeah not to exciting really, but its important. When you first sign up for credit monitoring you will want to go over your reports with a fine tooth comb to ensure all the information that is on the reports is up to date, and more importantly accurate. If there is any information that is inaccurate you can quickly address it, and make sure it gets removed. After that you will not need to look at your reports very often, as the service will monitor all your reports and if there are any changes made to your reports you will be notified by email.
Next pro is access to your credit scores, and not just one credit score like many other credit monitoring services offer, you will have access to all three scores. This is very important because this is how lenders see you, and your credit scores will determine what interest rate you will get on loans. Knowing your credit scores, and knowing what is effecting them in a negative way will help you to resolve and fix those credit errors, and help to improve your credit score. Going from a good to a great credit score can save you thousands of dollars over the term of a car loan, or even more on a mortgage.
And then one of the best reasons to sign up is to help your stay safe from identity thieves. This is by far the most critically argued benefits by critics of credit monitoring. These experts claim that credit monitoring services can not prevent ID theft. And since these services can not prevent ID theft, then they are not worth the cost per month. I agree, a credit monitoring service can not prevent ID theft on its own, but that’s not what it is meant to do. Its meant to be used as a tool to help you prevent ID theft, and then to protect you in the event that your ID is stolen.
I like to think of credit monitoring like I think of an alarm system on your home. It will not prevent you from being a victim of theft, but will will certainly alert you of a theft, and help you to take care of it in the quickest manner possible. If for example you are on vacation and a thief came to your home, if they heard the alarm, or if the cops show up very quickly you have a chance to catch the thieves, or lessen the amount they get away with. If you did not have the alarm system, the thieves could clean you out, and you would not know anything about it until you were home, at by that time it may be to late.
A credit monitoring service works the same way. There is no way to prevent you from becoming a victim of ID theft, but it will notify you as soon as it starts to happen, and that can prevent any damage from being done. ID theft works by the victim not knowing that they are a victim until months or years later, this will not happen if you sign up for a credit monitoring service. For this reason alone, plus all the other benefits, I think it is will worth the monthly cost.
Credit Monitoring Can Help Our Credit Scores To Stay Healthy During The Holidays.
Thanksgiving is next week, and for many of us the last thing we want to think about is our credit scores. And to be honest I do not blame you, credit scores are just not that exciting, and most times you only think of them when you need them, like when you are looking to buy a large ticket item, or shopping for credit.
With the holidays approaching, many of us are looking forward to large meals, time with friends and family, and all the activities that come with the holiday season. And all this fun does come at an expense, I just read that the average person will gain 1.5 lbs the week of thanksgiving! And just like our food intake we often over indulge during the holidays financially. So if we think about our credit like we think about our weight, most of us will be packing on a few extra pounds. That in it self is not really all that bad, its what we do the weeks and months after that matters!
Just like with packing on a few pounds after the big turkey day meal, we have to work hard in the next few weeks after to get back to where we were before we had the great meal. Same with your credit, it is important to work hard in the upcoming weeks to get your credit to back to where it was before the holdiays.
The most important tip we can give is to make sure you pay your bills on time! This can get tricky as we get so busy from now until after the Christmas holidays. Forgetting to pay some of your bills is easy to do, but do not let that happen. Missing a payment can have a huge impact on your hard earned credit score. That simple mistake could take you months to fully recover from!
Try not to spend more than you can pay off in a timely fashion. Carrying a large balance on your credit cards will also hurt your credit scores.
And the last big tip is to be very diligent with your financial data. Around the holiday season there is often a large rise in ID theft. Many of us are so busy during this period that our normal defenses can slip a bit, and it can be easier for would be thieves to get a hold of our personal information.
With access to your credit monitoring account you will have all the tools you need to monitor your credit scores, and to see what is effecting them in a negative way. Think of it like your bathroom scale, just step on it a few times during the holidays, and make sure you are not gaining to much weight! (Lowering your credit scores). Then use our tips in tricks in our blog to find the best way to get your credit score back in check.
Credit Monitoring Quiz
For many stendents its close to mid terms. I thought it would be a good idea to quiz our readers on credit monitoring, credit reports and credit scores. Get your number 2 pencils out, take a seat, and no peeking off your neighbors!
1) How many credit bureaus are there?
- a) 1
- b) 2
- c) 3
- d) 3+
2) What is considered a “good” credit score? Anything over:
- a) 550
- b) 670
- c) 700
- d) 750
3) What impacts your credit score the most?
- a) Payment History
- b) Level of Debt
- c) Number of Open Accounts
4) Are creditors required by law to report your account information to the credit bureaus?
- a) Yes
- b) No
5) Does enrolling in a credit monitoring service hurt your credit score?
- a) Yes
- b) No
6) Canceling old credit cards will improve my score.
- a) True
- b) False
7) Can a potential employer use your credit score as a hiring factor?
- a) Yes
- b) No
Unsolicited credit card offers effect your credit score.
- a) True
- b) False
9) Your age, gender, and income effect your credit score.
- a) True
- b) False
Answers:
1) Answer is c) 3
Experian, Equifax, and Transunion. These 3 credit bureaus provide the United States will the credit data that is shown on your credit reports. It is important to check all 3 credit reports as they can show different information. Not all your creditors will choose to report to all 3 bureaus.
2) Answer is c) 700
Most lenders will consider anything over 700 to be a good credit score, this will give you access to very good credit rates. 700 and above is a great goal for all of us to maintain.
3) Answer is a) Payment History
Paying your debts on time will have the most impact on your credit score, positively and negatively. If you constantly pay your debts on or before the payment due date, your credit score will rise. Consequently if you pay past the due date your credit score will fall. The other factors will effect your scores, but your payment history has the largest impact.
4) Answer is b) No.
There is no law on the books that requires your creditors to report your accounts or payment history to the credit bureaus.
5) Answer is b) No.
Signing up for a credit monitoring service will not hurt your credit score. There are 2 types of credit inquiry’s hard and soft. A hard inquiry is what you get when you apply for credit, and yes this will hurt your credit score. A soft inquiry is when you pull your credit score these will not hurt your credit score. Learn more about hard and soft inquiry’s.
6) Answer b) False
When you close down a credit card, your available credit will decrease, and this in turn will lower your credit score. One of the factors used in calculating your credit score is your available credit limit. When you close an open account that amount decreases and this will effect your credit score.
7) Answer a) Yes
Yes potential employers can use your credit score as a factor in order to make a decision on whether to hire you or not to hire you. Keep up to date on this issue on our blog, we here at Best Credit Reports are against this, and will keep you up to date on lobbying efforts to get this removed as a factor in which you can be hired on.
Answer b) No
Those annoying unsolicited credit card offers we all get will not effect your credit score. The way they work is the company who wants you to sign up for the credit card will buy a list of names from the credit bureaus. Generally they will buy lists with a certain set of credit scores. And if you happen to fall within the range the credit card company is looking for, you will get mail!
9) b) No
Your age, gender and income have no effect on your credit scores!
To learn your credit scores to day, enroll in our free trial of credit monitoring.
