All of us have probably been informed that our credit report is a very important document. Its importance will increase if we have been denied credit and realize that we must repair poor credit.

You need to know that there are actually three major credit reporting agencies. These are: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. It is possible to receive a free copy of the report from each agency once a year. See freeannualcreditreport.com for information on how to obtain the three copies. You need all three because differences may be apparent.

The reports will have several sections. Know that there will not be personal private information about your race, worth, or salary included. There will be the usual identifying such as name, address, social security number in the first section.

Lines of credit will be included such as balances, monthly payments, and credit limits. This section addresses credit cards, department store credit cards, mortgages, automobile loans, department store cards, gas cards. This will also cite dates accounts were opened, payment history (with late payments), unpaid child support, and overdrawn bank accounts.

Credit reporting agencies also receive information from the court system. This section will have a listing of bankruptcies, liens, judgments, divorce.

Any time that you fill out a credit application ( credit card, loan ) there will be a credit inquiry to one of the bureaus. If you inquire for yourself, it will be on the report. These inquiries will remain for 2 years.

It is to your benefit if your credit report is positive. However, any negative information will remain on the report for 7 years. A bankruptcy is on your credit report for 10 years.

It is highly recommended that we obtain and seriously review our credit reports to be aware of differences on each report, locate any and all errors. It is up to each individual to monitor his/her own credit profile, fix errors, and repair personal credit.

If you considered repairing your credit yourself, but decided that this was not for you, a credit counseling agency may be your choice. Sometimes you may be feeling so guilty and emotional about your debt and poor money management that you have to get help from someone else.

If you choose to take the professional route, you also need to be very thorough in you investigations of the third party options available to you. The public is bombarded with paper media and online information about credit repair. Beware of a lot of this information. Many of these almost unbelievable claims are just that “unbelievable.”

This third party choice will require some sleuthing on your part before you can comfortably make a selection. Comparison shopping skills are in order for this venture. Before you make your choice you need to ask some questions.

Initially, you want to contact agencies to get an idea of what services are offered, time frames, rates and any other financial help available. Some of the agencies will ask for your financial information before they will provide agency information. Avoid these agencies. The basic information is a must.

You need to be able to get the basic information about a company such as its services and fees without being asked for any of your financial situation. If you are not provided with this information do not go further with such an agency.

When you find an agency that responds to your satisfaction during a first contact you can then ask further questions. You’re going to want to find out how the process may affect your credit report, debt management services, additional money management help. You also need to know how the agency will keep you informed about their activities.

A very important bit of information that you need to know will be fees for the agency service. There are agencies that ask for big sums of money to initiate the service in addition to a large monthly fee. If you can’t pay your debts now, how will you pay exorbitant fees? Beware of becoming involved with a process that is extended over a long time because of fees, even if the agency says it is nonprofit.

Using credit agencies requires effort on your part, but you should be able to find a reputable agency to partner with you, and have your interest at the forefront.

It is time for us to dig in and learn about how our credit scores affect us. Our credit score is a very important 3 digit number. Some of us actually have no idea what our score is. Sure we know that if our score is too “low,” it’s possible we will have difficulty getting a mortgage, automobile loan, credit card or any other kind of loan. These are the “biggies.” We must increase our understanding of our score and the possibly unknown effects of a poor score.

First of all, if your score is low, you are likely determined to be a “credit risk.” In this case, if you are able to secure a mortgage at all, you will be paying an interest rate for your home that will be significantly higher than what is the usual for a mortgage. The amount of interest will cost you thousands over the term of the loan.

We need to inform ourselves about other areas, in addition to the obvious ones, in which credit scores play a role. Currently the importance of a credit score can impact us in ways that we would have never imagined and might find hard to believe.

Car insurance companies will use credit profiles when you make application that may affect rates. Also Homeowner’s insurance agencies apparently have decided that, if you are a “credit risk,” it is probable that you are going to be making more claims. So, now there is another rate increase related to poor credit. By now, you can see that a credit profile is increasingly important and influences decisions made about us by more industries than the mortgage industry.

A very large concern is our health care and life insurance. Credit profile is again important. When people are unable to keep up the payments for these insurances, insurance company costs rise and so do our rates. Again, poor credit can be affecting these rates.

If you have been denied employment, it is very possible that the employer checked your credit rating. If that rating is poor, the employer may suspect that you would not be a good employee (being dishonest, stealing, taking bribes). So, a poor score might cost you a job.

With the current credit crisis, it will be most important for us to find out our credit score. If it’s low and we are a “credit risk,” we need to repair our credit. It is possible that some of us are in for a surprise and not a happy one.

Now is not the time to ignore our whole financial situation. Keeping in mind what our poor credit may be costing us, now is the time to fix it.

Perhaps it is time to seriously look into your personal financial situation. We should always be monitoring our credit because it needs to remain GOOD. However, if you have recently been denied credit or if you are in shock from looking at your credit card balances or bank statements and you don ‘t seem to have enough cash flow, you need credit repair.

Even if you feel paralyzed by fear about seeing your financial history in black and white, you are the only one who can deal with your financial situation. So, confront your fear and arrange to receive your credit report(s).

Most everyone knows that ability to get a mortgage, personal loan, credit card depends on a good credit rating. We also need to b e aware that there are other reasons that we may not know that raise negative issues resulting from poor credit. Credit score is affected most by credit cards and debt.

Negative effects of poor credit:

Life, health, and homeowner’s insurance may be denied Employment may be denied Credit cards & loans may be denied or offered with high interest rates Car loans may be denied Cell phone contracts may be denied You may not be able to start a business

Credit is what makes our personal financial world successful or plunges us into financial upheaval. So, if you are experiencing problems with cash flow, meeting financial obligations, large credit card balances, defaulting or ready to default on your obligations, you need credit repair.

There are 3 major credit reporting bureaus and you can research the way to secure your report(s). It is possible for you to fix your credit. Compare your reports, and dispute any errors that you find. The Fair Credit Act will be a helpful document for you. It addresses consumer rights.

Credit repair will be work for you but it is worth the effort. Explain your situation to your creditors. They will be more likely to work with you when they know you are serious about paying your debt. You will find a lot of public information to help you with this process.