Remain Vigilant of your Credit Report to Protect from Identity Theft

While there are many ways you can make sure that your identity is staying safe, one way that is both free and easy is to check your credit report each year. Since you receive a free credit report from each credit reporting agency each year, you can get a snapshot of your finances three times a year for free. This snapshot can also be an excellent chance to detect and rectify identity theft. The Equifax Finance Blog explains how to make the most of this in the new article, “The Facts About Credit Report Accuracy.”

When you search your credit report, there is a small chance that you may come across errors. Errors can come from many places, including mis-filings, incorrect data from lenders or credit card companies or from identity theft. Since the chances of mis-filing and incorrect data can be as low as 1.9 percent, if you order your credit report and find lots of errors, you may have caught an identity thief before too much damage gets done.

ID Monitoring and Better Credit for a New You

Just as in your regular life, it is important in your financial life to be healthy. Your creditworthiness is an important factor to becoming more financially healthy, but many people do not realize just how important it is until inopportune money moments arise.

Luckily, the experts at the Equifax Finance Blog are here to help! In their recent article, “Five Things to Boost your Creditworthiness in 2013,” they suggest five ways to improve your creditworthiness in the span of a year.

One tip consists of regularly checking your credit report. This point is frequently mentioned on the Equifax blog because so many people wait to check their credit reports only after one or more identity theft types have already occurred.

Are You Getting the Best Loan Rates on Your New Home?

Recent reforms allow you to find out what is lowering
your FICO Score so you can fix it and get better loans.

Are you getting the best rate when it comes time to secure financing for your new home or condo? While simply being able to get financing requires a good FICO score, your credit score being lower than optimal will carry additional cost in interest rates. The Equifax Finance Blog explains in the article, “Are You Receiving the Best Interest Rates on Your Loans?”

Until recently, your lender didn’t have to let you know why you weren’t receiving the best rates. Thankfully, recent financial law reforms have changed that. Lenders are required to give you notice as to why you didn’t qualify for better rates.