Your credit report is your own personal financial history—it may say nothing about you as a person, but it’s the only thing about you lenders are going to see. It details your loans, mortgages, credits, debts and court judgments. A study revealed that only five percent of the public had taken a look at their credit report and most only did so after being rejected for a loan or credit. Why would you not want to see what your lenders are viewing when they decide whether to extend credit to you?

If you don’t check your credit history, you won’t ever know what your landlord and banks know about you when they check your report. You won’t know whether someone has hijacked your history to gain credit under your name, running up debts or lowering your score in the process. Therefore it’s vitally important that you check your own credit rating and score on a regular basis to keep it up-to-date and accurate.

By going to www.experian.com, you can order your credit report for a nominal fee. It’s worth having the piece of mind, especially if you have a large purchase such as a house or car on the horizon and will be needing an attractive report for lenders. You’ll need good and accurate credit. If you find any inaccuracies, the time to dispute them is not when you need credit immediately, but beforehand when there is still plenty of time to get things sorted.

Check to see if there are any enquiries on your report that you didn’t commission—this is a telltale sign of identity theft. Companies may only gain access to your report with your permission. Experian has a special fraud department for handling these sorts of cases.