Credit Score Myths

One of the most confusing things can be our credit scores. Let us address some every day myths that face consumers especially in today’s economy.

I cannot fix my credit score. This statement is so false yet widely believed. Credit scores can change on a daily basis as new things come on and others fall off. Just because your score was one number today does not mean that in a couple weeks it may not be different. However, this does work both ways, good and bad factors can come and go. Most of the changes come early in the month as this is when many creditors do their reporting.

If I pay a third party they can fix my credit. This is also false; most of these companies promising to repair your credit are scams. Credit cannot be repaired over night and spending money on it will not make a difference. Companies can help you dispute certain things on your credit like negative reports but they cannot do more for you that you cannot do for yourself without having to fork out money. An open dispute is not a guarantee that the negative report will disappear, how ever, your credit report will reflect that a particular report is under dispute.

Finally, the third and possibly most common myth is that you cannot, free of cost, pull your own credit report. Many people think they do not have access to it or that they have to pay money in exchange for their report. The truth is that there are many websites that allow you to pull your own credit report free of charge. Many websites will pull your first report free and you have to pay for a second use but many allow you to pull it for free annually. Also, many of these sites offer monthly credit report monitoring; this usually does come at a monthly cost