U Weekly. Serving The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio

Reasons to Check Your Credit Report

By Terreece Clarke

Most people don’t check their credit report until it is time to make a purchase that requires a degree of creditworthiness, i.e. buying a house or a car, opening up a credit card, etc. When students regularly check their credit report they are taking the first step in determining their financial future.

Reason #1 - Identity Theft

Identity theft is a very popular crime. Criminals can live high off your name and leave you holding the bag full of bills. While credit cards are the biggest segment of identity theft, crooks also steal identities to set up utility accounts and steal from bank accounts. Keeping track of your credit report may be your only tip off that someone has stolen your identity.

#2 – Errors

Humans make mistakes and those mistakes can show up on your credit report. A person with a similar name may end up having their information mixed up with your report or a company may report that a bill was paid late when you have proof either through cancelled check or bank records that the account was paid on time. Accessing your credit report allows you to keep track of errors, keeping them from harming your credit rating.

#3 – Responsibility

The big “R.” It is your responsibility to keep track of your financial future. Ignorance is no excuse, especially when it is free to obtain a yearly credit report. As much as they Twitter their friends, students can obtain a copy of their report just as easy at AnnualCreditReport.Com. This is the only Federal Trade Commission Authorized site to obtain a free report. Other sites may offer one, but then sign consumers up for costly monthly report monitoring services.

#4 – Awareness

Students move into apartments, buy cars and buy cell phone plans - and to do any of that students need decent credit. The lower their credit rating, meaning the more bad items listed including late payments, over-the-limit credit cards and deliquent accounts, the higher the interest rate students will pay. Credit that is too poor may prevent students from obtaining an apartment, phone plan, etc. The only way to know what shape your credit is in is to look.

#5 – The Future

Things happen - students get behind in their credit card payments, a library bill goes to collections, a bad roommate situation forces an eviction. Dings on a credit report can be addressed and fixed over time. One mistake doesn’t ruin your financial future and bad credit doesn’t make someone a bad person. Knowing the true nature of their financial situation will give students the opportunity to make plans on resolving any issues. Often, their reports aren’t as bad as they may believe.

A credit report isn’t this big scary thing that makes everyone live in fear. It is just one component of a broad range of information that determines the health of one’s financial situation. Checking your report is like checking under the bed for monsters – you never know how bad it is until you look.

Originally Published: July 9, 2008

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