Why check your credit report?
If anything in your report is out of date or gives a misleading picture of your willingness or ability to repay a loan, mortgage or credit card, it can affect your chances of getting the best deals. It can even lead to outright rejection by lenders.
For example, you may have separated from a partner who has since run up debts but, because you have still got a joint account, his or her payment behaviour could be affecting you. You won't see their credit data on your report but you will find a note of any financial association.
Or you may have shopped around for the best offer, without realising your enquiries have been registered as multiple applications. These should show as quotation searches. If they are down as applications, lenders could think you are desperate for money, have over-extended yourself or even that a fraud is being planned.
You could even discover applications and credit accounts in your name that you did not ask for. In that case, your identity may have been used fraudulently.
The easy way to check your credit report is to log onto CreditExpert, the credit monitoring and identity protection service from Experian. If you find anything you disagree with or would like to clarify the circumstances surrounding an entry, CreditExpert will help you to put the record straight.
Click here for your FREE Experian credit report
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