As we head straight into the challenging world of adulthood, it is absolutely crucial that we set ourselves up financially so that we are able to afford the necessities that will allow us to get a decent quality of life for ourselves and our families.
In the United States of America, at least, these things are tied closely to our credit scores. It seems like our credit scores are the ultimate arbiters of our financial future and it is very difficult to find a workaround for the pitfalls of having a bad credit score.
So how do you go about keeping track of your credit so that you can continuously make all of the necessary adjustments? Here are 3 important tips that you need to consider.
Check All Of Your Financial Institutions
The easiest way to find out what your credit score is would be to simply check with all of your financial institutions that you have applied for credit to. You have to understand that providing you with your credit score is something that works well with their business plan because if you are aware of your current credit level, you will be more emboldened to apply for more credit with them. They usually provide your score to you each and every month along with your billing statements.
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Credit Cards
One of the main providers of credit scores is of course the banks that issue your credit cards. It works in their best interest to constantly provide your credit score to you because it will allow you to constantly upgrade your credit cards. You can call your bank directly to see if this is a service that they offer and so that you can learn how to set this up so that you can be provided with your credit score on a monthly basis along with your statements.
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Student Loans
If you have ever taken out a student loan before, there is a good chance that you were given your credit score at the time of application whether or not your application was approved or rejected. If you are a recurring customer, it is very likely that your student loan company will also give you a free credit score report at the end of every billing cycle.
If you are not sure if your student loan company offers this, you can always check their website to see if this is part of their service or you can call their customer service number to ask.
Use Free Online Credit Services
Luckily, with new tech stacks being introduced to the world of credit reporting, there are a lot of credit score API implementations available for you to be able to check your credit whenever you want. This is something that will likely come with a monthly subscription, however, so you are going to want to make sure that the services of that company is something that you actually need.
Purchase Credit Scores Directly Online
If you do not have a loan company that offers free credit reports or if you do not exactly need the services of a credit building company that offers free credit scores, you can always just go to the FICO website and purchase your credit score immediately. This is something that you will be able to do with just a few steps and in some instances, you can even obtain a free report once a year. Make sure that you take advantage of this if it is still available to you.
Building credit is not easy, keep a close eye on your credit score however and you can make the right steps to keep your credit score sky high.