
[ad_1]
The cost of living and the cost of borrowing is rising, along with fears about unaffordable debt.
If you have any blemishes on your credit record, you could pay more to borrow or miss out entirely.
What’s more, there’s a lot of identity theft going around.
Fair Go is hearing from people who have discovered someone has opened accounts in their name with online finance companies like Laybuy or other Buy Now Pay Later schemes, or with store cards like Q Mastercard.
So, check carefully to make sure that hasn’t happened to you – your credit report may be the first you hear of this happening.
What most people don’t know is that you can check your credit history for free with one of the main companies: Centrix or illion.
:quality(70):focal(-5x-5:5x5)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/tvnz/5DARRVTAHRE2HK7SPBT3Z6FSO4.jpg)
If you can provide enough details to prove you are you, your report might even arrive immediately via email. But, in most cases, it will take no more than a day.
It should show you a score out of 1000 and list the major debts you have currently. It will also show how good – or not so good – you are at keeping up with repayments.
It should also show your recent addresses and any other companies who have checked your credit as well.
If anything looks suspicious, immediately get in touch with the credit agency that sent that report.
It will look into that and can freeze your record so nobody uses that info to misjudge you, until you can figure it out.
The main credit check agencies also co-operate on this and will tell each other to freeze records, saving you the bother.
Of course, there could also be debts and defaults on there that you know are legitimate, but they can be fixed.
The best way forward is to contact a financial mentor for some free advice.
MoneyTalks has advisors up and down the country who can help you start to repair that damaged credit history and avoid falling into a spiral of unaffordable debt.
They can be contacted on 0800 345 123 for free help with debts and budgets.
Enjoy this story? Follow Fair Go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
[ad_2]
Source link