It is important to make sure your credit report is accurate because every time you apply for credit to buy something (house, car, store credit card) the creditor will take a look at your score and decide how much to loan you. Therefore, you don’t want any inaccurate, negative items effecting your score.

As chapter 9 of Debt Cures explains, getting your credit report is easy. U.S. law says that every citizen is entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the major credit agencies (TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian). One of the fastest and easiest ways to get your reports from all of the credit bureaus is to order them online from FreeCreditReports360.com. One of the advantages of ordering your report from this site is that you get access to all your information immediately. Other methods of ordering require that your report be mailed to your home and that takes much longer.

The purpose of reviewing your credit report is to look for inaccurate and fradulent items on the report. Identity theft is a serious problem in America and it’s important to make sure that everything on your credit score looks familiar to you. If anything doesn’t look right, don’t be afraid to initiate a dispute. However, if you see something on your credit report that looks funny, don’t immediately assume that your identity has been stolen, it is also possible that there was a simple human error. Either way, it’s important to get it fixed.

Don’t be lazy! This is one of the easiest things that you can do to take control of your financial situation.

>>Click Here For Your Free Credit Report<<

Kevin Trudeau writes that 90% of credit reports have errors so make sure to review your report closely and dispute any errors you might find. You owe it to yourself and your family.

Remember that the Debt Cures techniques are a two step process. You get out of bad debt first, after reading the book you now know how to beat the big banks and credit card companies. You know their system and you now know how to beat it. Once it is beaten, you are now ready for the second step of building your wealth.

You are out of debt and you are learning to stay out of debt. But that doesn’t mean you do not need credit. You still need it and in fact you will use good credit to build wealth. That’s why you need to stay on top of your credit at all times. Don’t just eliminate your debt, but continue to follow Trudeau’s steps. Keep your financial statements up to date, don’t close out you credit cards – keep them to show that you can pay creditors over a long period of time. Continue to pay on time and to pay your minimum payment or more. Good credit now can mean more good credit in the future, along with the benefits that good credit will bring.

You want to stay away from high interest rates and penalties but good credit will help you obtain the funds you need for the lifestyle you want to live. Trudeau gives more tips in Chapter 21 to improving your credit score, including getting a co-signer for a loan and piggybacking with someone else for credit. He provides greater detail in the book, but remember when you were a teenager and wanted a car? You might have had your parents co-sign the loan in order for you to get the car. If you have someone with good credit co-sign a loan for you, that will improve your credit score. With piggybacking, you have someone with good credit add you to their credit card. You don’t use the card but you benefit from their better credit score. Make sure you know the rules before doing so, and make sure you make any payments you are obligated to because you do not want to ruin any friendships. But you improve your credit score by working with others.

Also, consider an installment loan to help pay down bills. Go to your bank or credit union and get a small loan with a one or two year repayment period. Make all your payments, this will show up on your credit report as a positive and improve your score. A secured credit card is also a good idea, especially if you have children going to college. With a secured credit card, the user cannot spend over a set amount. It is another way to create a new good mark on your credit. Debt Cures encourages you to keep up the good work you have been doing and take the steps on the way to wealth.

Your credit score is calculated using an algorithm, a fancy word for complex mathematical formula. After all your information is thrown into a computer your score will come out between 300 and 850 points. In the past the banks wanted to lend only to people with high scores, because they represent the lowest risk. Now they want to lend to people with average or below average scores, because the profits are in the penalties, fees and additional interest they earn when you get behind in payments.

Remember your credit score is nothing personal. The credit reporting companies do not take into consideration your weight, race, religion or nationality. They don’t care if you root for the New York Yankees or the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a cold hard look at your financial numbers. They are looking at how your financial numbers are painting your life. Not only do creditors look at your credit score, but many employers will check your credit score as part of the hiring process.

With three credit reporting companies a good question is how will banks determine my score if all three scores are different? Trudeau explains that they will take the middle score. If you have scores of 680, 710, and 750, then your credit score will reflect the middle 710. It is not based on your average. Each company uses a slightly different formula to compile your score so it is not uncommon to have three different scores. Also, there is a difference between your credit score and your credit report. The score is simply your number, the report provides details such as how much you owe and who you owe it to.

In general, there are five areas that go into your score:

1. Payment history
2. Amounts you owe
3. Length of your credit history
4. Types of credit used
5. New credit.

Trudeau provides details on each of these areas along with their importance.

Banks will almost always use credit reports from all three companies while department stores may only use one. So it is important that you get and clean up all three credit reports. Remember the companies have to provide you with a free credit report annually thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It may also be advantageous to pay a small fee to get an updated credit report a few months after your review, to see if the corrections have been made and to see how much your score has improved. With an improved credit score, you can now save hundreds or thousands of dollars by improving the interest rate on current and future credit. You’ve started down the right path to curing the debt, now Kevin Trudeau wants to keep you moving down that path in future chapters of Debt Cures.