Keeping Track of Your Credit Score

As most people know, a credit score is a measure of how credit-worthy credit bureaus deem you to be based on your income, debt, financial accounts, and other metrics. Individuals with student loans are often very curious to see how their credit score is performing because student loans can have an impact on your credit. I am old enough to remember when it was relatively difficult to ascertain your credit score, and it typically cost a pretty penny to discover this figure. In any case, keeping track of your credit score is extremely easy in the present, and in many instances, individuals should be able to obtain their credit scores free of charge.

Credit Card Companies

One of the easiest ways of keeping track of your credit score is to view your credit information through your credit card company. Not only will credit card companies tell you your credit score at regularly intervals, but they may convey other important financial information as well. This includes how your credit score has performed over time and any factors that are impacting the current status of your credit score.

Credit card companies may provide additional services beyond keeping track of your credit score. Some credit card companies inform you when there is suspicious activity on your credit file so that you can take appropriate action if there is an issue. In addition, some credit card companies tell you about derogatory information on your credit file, such as public records, so that you can take corrective measures if this is warranted. As a result of all of these benefits, individuals wishing to open credit cards should not just look for the best credit offers, but which companies provide ancillary benefits related to keeping track of their credit.

Mortgage Companies

Another easy strategy of keeping track of your credit score is to use the resources offered by mortgage companies. Mortgage companies, including lenders, refinancing businesses, and similar concerns have a vested interest in keeping track of a borrower’s credit. This is because they want to make sure that a borrower has the resources needed to pay off their debt. In addition, such businesses may use credit scores to make offers to borrowers, modify the terms of a mortgage, or make other deals.

Some of these companies provide the information they have about a borrower’s credit history to individuals free of charge. Indeed, my mortgage company provides this information free of charge to me. It seems as if my mortgage company only pulls my credit score on a monthly basis, because I only have information on a month-to-month basis, but the company provides me with valuable information. Other mortgage companies may provide different valuable information about your financial health. Of course, not everyone has a mortgage, but if you do, you might be able to acquire important information about your financial situation.

Annual Credit Reports

Each of the three credit bureaus is required by law to provide consumers with their credit report free of charge on an annual basis. This is a great way to uncover all of the raw data that is used when calculating your credit score. If anyone is interested in obtaining their free annual credit report, they can do so by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com and answering some simple questions concerning their personal information.

Keeping track of your credit score is possible through the annual credit report process. The credit bureaus often allow individuals to see their credit score and more detailed information about their credit history if they pay a nominal fee. Of course, it may not make financial sense to pay to learn about your financial information on a regular basis, but it might be wise to pay the fee once in a while to have a more accurate picture of your financial history.

Credit-Monitoring Companies

Individuals who wish to take keeping track of your credit score to another level may want to sign up for a subscriber-based service that continuously monitors their credit score. Such companies provide notices if there is suspicious activity, which can be helpful since it is difficult to spend time to constantly review materials in your credit report. In addition, some of these services also help customers restore their credit if they have been subjected to an attack, and such assistance can be vital if your credit has been damaged.

These services also provide on-demand information about your credit history. The platforms contain information about who is pulling your credit report, what your credit score has been over the years, and what factors may be impacting your credit score. One of my brothers who likes to take control of his credit history has happily subscribed to one such service for years and he is very satisfied with the value he gets from this platform. Since I do not personally have experience with any of the credit-monitoring platforms, I don’t want to suggest using any one in particular, but student debt borrowers and others should consider using such a service when keeping track of your credit score.

All told, keeping track of your credit score is important for student debt borrowers and others since this may have an impact in the amount of credit an individual is allowed to borrow. So long as you use a few discreet strategies, it is easy to keep track of your credit score for a nominal fee or at no cost at all.