In the harsh economic times that we face it is vitally important that we focus our attentions on many things.
From maintaining our employment, to maybe getting ahead on some bills, building an emergency fund, etc.
, one area that we must maintain due diligence and vigilance is in the area of our credit reports.
Now is not the time to be surprised by finding out too late that your identity has been stolen or you can't get that mortgage because of negative marks that will affect your FICO scores.
One thing that I have found to be true over the years is that credit reports are like eating healthy or flossing our teeth.
We all know we should do it but we just don't for one reason or another.
My wake-up call was around fifteen years ago when I went to get a loan and found out that someone who I had sold a car to, who was going to pay off the last four months of the loan didn't.
It didn't go on his credit report it landed on mine and I had to pay the car off too.
Surprised and screwed...
lesson learned.
The other surprise was I couldn't get the loan.
If I had what I have today, a credit monitoring system monthly, I would have been aware of the missed car payment quickly and could have done something about it then rather than after I had applied for a loan and was turned down.
Each month I receive a report from my credit monitoring system that will inform me if anything had been added to my credit report that month.
It keeps the surprises small and dealing with small surprises is much more manageable than dealing with your identity stolen three months after the fact or going for your first mortgage and finding out you can't buy your home because of things on your credit report you were unaware of.
Hey, the reality is there is no excuse in today's world of being unaware of your credit information.
It is readily available at the click of the mouse on your computer.
Yet, a good friend of mine in the mortgage industry tells me that even today more people come into his office seeking a mortgage who have no clue as to what is in their credit reports than come in prepared.
That is the KEY word of the day, "Prepared".
Being prepared makes the surprises, at least the not-so-good-ones, easier to deal with.
The monitoring system that I was talking about above? You can Google Search and find many such offers on the internet dealing with monitoring your credit.
Hey until next time I leave you with something that Tony Robbins once said that I thought was powerful; paraphrased version -- It is the moments of decision where our destinies are shaped.
Your destiny is shaped more than you know it through your credit.
Think about it.