Credit Score ArticlesObtaining Your Credit Report Safely - Find Your Score Check Your RatingTip! Any new credit: How much credit have you recently applied for and been granted. They will also look at how many enquiries have been made concerning your credit score. Are you among the millions of Americans who owe money and are having difficulty paying off your debts? Well, the right place to start when you are looking to get out of debt and improve your credit rating is to get a current copy of your credit report. However, before you look for help online, there are a number of things you need to be aware of so that you do not get burned. You should be wary of agencies that offer to help by providing you with credit counseling. There are many scams on the internet involving companies that will promise you the moon and not deliver - or worse. There are three highly reputed agencies that offer credit reports. The two that I am familiar with are Equifax and Transunion, but it is a good idea to get copies of your credit report from all three when trying to repair your credit score. I am also aware of another one that is very well-known, but is one to stay away from. It's www.freecreditreport.com. I say that because McAfee Site Advisor warns this site may contain misleading information and should be approached cautiously. Whatever you do, avoid websites that you know nothing about when trying to get your credit report because you will need to give sensitive personal information you do not want ending up in the wrong hands. Stay away from those sites offering free reports, as they may fall into that category. It's well worth it to pay a nominal amount to an agency that you know you can trust. It is never worth the risk of compromising such important, private information. Should you happen to find yourself in a situation where either you or your spouse have been denied financial assistance or employment due to a poor credit rating, the same advice applies. Always make certain that you go through a reliable agency to obtain copies of your credit reports. Fortunately, in such situations, you legally have the right to review your reports to see what was on them that led to your rejection. However, you only have a limited time in which to do this, so be forewarned. In most cases, the letter of rejection contains this information, in addition to agency contacts where you can go to obtain the details of your credit scores. Getting your credit report is the first step on the road to mending your credit score, and having the knowledge of where to go to get it makes an often frustrating task that much easier. Tip! Closing unused accounts is a negative strategy to raising one's credit score. Factually, fewer open accounts with the same amount of debt ultimately reduces a credit score.
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