Free Credit Report - Stop! You Need to Know This

John Mcfadden offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print.
Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum.
-----------
PUBLICATION GUIDELINES
- You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety.
- Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity.
- Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only.
- If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links.
- Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to john@american-studentloan.com
- Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article.
-----------
Article Title: Free Credit Report - Stop! You Need to Know This
Author: John Mcfadden
Category: Personal Finance, Loans, Credit
Word Count: 474
Keywords: Bankruptcy Credit Report, Bureau Credit Report, Credit Report, Federal Credit Report
Author's Email Address: john@american-studentloan.com
Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com
------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------

Under federal law you are entitled to get a copy of your Free Credit Report once every 12 months, when you request it form the three main American Credit Report Bureaus. It's important to note that while you can get your Report for free you cannot get your actual Credit Score for free. You have to pay extra for this. Also be careful of the added products and services that these 3 bureaus will offer you.

About Your Free Report
If you have borrowed money for a car, house, maybe a stereo or some other purchase then these 3 big Bureaus will have your information on their file. It's important to note that each place you get the product from has to then pass your loan and credit information back to these bureaus, but in most cases they will pass it back to just one, therefore to get an accurate credit report and credit score it's essential that you get a credit report form all three of the main credit report bureaus, as their information will vary. When a creditor is trying to determine whether they will loan you the money they look at all 3 bureaus and make the middle score (not to be confused with the average).

How your Credit score is determined?
It's absolutely important to understand what your credit report is exactly made up of. Here is a list of the following ingredients:

Payment History 35%
Amount Owed 30%
Length of Credit History 15%
New Credit 10%
Types of Credit Used 10%

Improving your score:
Do Not open a number of new credit cards that you don't need just to increase available credit. Using these approaches could backfire and actually lower the score.
Try to keep balances low on credit cards and other revolving credit. Paying off debt rather than moving it around. Owing the same amount but having few open accounts may lower the score. Try not to close unused credit cards as a short term strategy to raise the score.

If you look at at your Credit Score and it's terrible, what to do?
There are many options open to you to prevent you having to file for bankruptcy and a huge number of options to put a plan into practice to get you on the path back to a good score.

Credit Counseling
These business will look at your economic profile and determine just what your position is, then they can go about fixing it. They will normally create a monthly plan and budget to get you out of debt. They will look at how much money you're spending and income you have coming in - then they will attack both areas to optimize you financial situation. Look for the following list of additional services:

Budget Counseling
Savings and Debt Management
They education materials should be for free
Work out what the fees are, including monthly and set up fees.

Check out more about a Credit Report visit: http://www.credit-reporter.net
------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------