The Scenario is as follows: You belong to a credit service and get your monthly credit report from one agency.
You have been following it for years and your credit score is sitting in the high 700s.
You have little outstanding debt, but for some reason were turned down for a loan.
The declination letter stated you had a low credit score on one of the three agencies.
What should you do?
While monitoring your credit report is always advised, monitoring only one report can leave you with a false sense of stability.
Credit reporting agencies do share information, but it is not unheard of for one agency to have a black mark while the other two do not. When this happens, it needs to be immediately addressed before it affects the other two scores.
This does not necessarily mean you have an identity theft problem. It could just be a mistake by the credit agency.
However, you do need to contact them right away to bring it to their attention so they can remove it from your file, but also address it if it is actually a case of identity theft.
It might also be prudent to alert the other two agencies about this situation so that if it does show up on their reports, it can be addressed before it affects your credit rating.
Your credit report is your financial ID and must be protected at all costs. If you are going to monitor it, make sure you check all three scores, not just one of them.
It is the only way you can truly find out what is out there concerning your credit. If you find something that does not belong, contact the agency immediately to ensure your report is fixed as soon as possible.
