Getting a Copy of Your Credit Report before Becoming a First Time Home Buyer
Contributed by Lisa Marie
Getting your credit report before becoming a homeowner, should you or shouldn't you?
For most first time home buyers, it can be kind of tricky to figure out what he first step should be. My advice to you is to get a copy of your credit report.
There are three major credit bureau's out there. They are Experian, Trans Union and Equifax, and they all have accessible websites. They will charge you a fee to get a copy, but there are ways around that. First, if you're lucky enough to live in a state where there is a law mandating a free annual report (such as Massachusetts), you can use that. Another way is to apply for credit in which you will be denied. The creditor who denied you is legally obligated to tell you why.
They will then send you a letter with the name, address and phone number of the credit bureau which furnished the information which they based their decision on, and sometimes it will be all three.
You can also websites which offer free credit reports. For most of these, however, you will need a major credit card. You are then signed up for some sort of credit monitoring system and they charge your credit card on a monthly basis. This is not that bad of an idea as long as you remember to cancel the service after the initial trial, otherwise you will keep getting billed.
After getting a copy of your credit report, here's the next step.
Look over your credit report very carefully, scanning for mistakes. Such mistakes can be in addresses and closed accounts. Another point is that if you have the same name as someone else in your family, ie. Jr., III, etc.), it's very possible that some items on your report should actually be on theirs.
