Why A Credit Report is Your Financial Resume

It is common knowledge that most companies today check your credit report before doing business with you or even hire you if you are seeking employment. This is why your credit report is your financial resume.

A credit report file lists all your personal information, all your trade accounts, and your past payment behavior or history.

It is vital that you maintain a healthy credit profile as this comes to play when you are applying for a credit card, a car loan, mortgage, insurance, mortgage, and in most cases when you are applying for a new job.

It is important that you establish and maintain good credit because it is a record of where you work, live, also how you pay your bills, and if you have any public records on you, such as arrest, foreclosures, bankruptcy, liens, etc.

Employers do have the legal right to look at your credit provided you give them permission to do so during your job application process. They use these data to assess your credit usage, your personal integrity, and financial responsibility.

Furthermore, all financial institutions, lenders, insurance companies, utility companies, and landlords look at your credit for the same reasons.

So you can see why your credit report represents your financial resume.

You might be wondering, how do you establish a great credit history?

Well, the process is quite simple but requires discipline and patience on your part.

Here are the basic steps anyone can take to accomplish this, please note that this assumes that you are new to the credit game or maybe you want to get back in the credit game.

Steps To Establishing A Great Credit History

1. Open a checking and savings account at a bank.
2. Apply for a credit card such as a bank credit card, retail store card, gasoline or oil company card, etc.
3. If you have no credit or bad credit, you can apply for a secured credit card whereby, you pledge collateral such as savings accounts in return for a credit card with limits equal to the amount of the savings deposited.
4. Another way is to be an added signer on someone's credit card account. This requires you to ask a friend or family member with a great credit history to help you out by adding you to their account. The advantage to you is that you get to benefit from their well-established credit profile as well.
5. Apply for a co-signed loan if you can't qualify by yourself. A relative with an established credit rating can be a co-signer on your loan and share the responsibility.

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