If you are in the process of considering if you are ready to apply for a credit card, loan, mortgage or any other form of credit, then you might have sensibly decided that it is time to get a free credit report. With credit so difficult to come by at present, this certainly is a good and ideal move and could potentially avert the disaster of being turned down in error.

But do you know how to check credit reports the quick way and realise it is very easy and free? If you have been refused a credit application then the first step is to write to the credit reference agency that they used asking for a copy of your report. Then check the report and have any errors corrected.

It is far better though to do the check before applying for the credit – close the stable door before the horse bolts! Credit reference agencies help you to check your report online and there are many systems about that will give you regular updates as things change on your credit file. Usually there is a free trial, or so much of the information is free, followed by a paid membership or payments for extra facilities.

If you need to check you report in advance of taking out credit, then the free trials are usually enough. Quite quickly you can have access to your credit data and see the information that the lenders will be looking at as part of their decision calculation. Some reports will even give you an approximate indication of your credit status.

On top of the report, the potential lender will also take into account your income, which the credit report will not show. This means that it is only an approximation, but it will show you any nasty surprises, such as payments that you forgot you had missed last year.

Once you have viewed and checked your credit file, you might have found slight errors in the report. In this case you must write to the lender that provided the invalid data and tell them to amend their records. Once they have done this, they will then update your credit report.

It is also possible that there are searches recorded on your credit report you do not recognise. These are recorded every time a potential lender views your report in order to decide whether to lend you money. If a few of these are not familiar to you, it is worth checking them out. If there are a number of these, or for large quantities of money, then be very careful with your checking as it can be a sign of identity theft.

P.S. Learn also how to save money with the help of car finance calculator.