You hear people talk about credit reports all the time but do you know what they are really all about? Well, if you have ever been turned down when applying for a credit card or a loan it is high time you learned all about your credit report and how you can get it working for you instead of against you.

Let's start off by explaining what your credit report actually is. Your credit report is a public record of all of the transactions concerning any money you may gave borrowed in the past. Any payments that you make on time or late, will show up on this report as well. Any tax liens or bankruptcies are on there as well. Your credit report even notes each time your report has been requested by someone or some company.

The reason that this report is so important is that this is how most lenders make their decision about whether you are a good credit risk or not. If you have a history of not paying your debts, they are obviously not going to want to give you any money because they know they will have a hard time getting it back from you. If you have poor credit you will find it difficult to get any credit cards or loans, even employers and landlords are accessing credit reports these days.

Everyone should request a copy of his or her report at least once a year. This is a simple task, all you need to do is contact one of the three major credit reporting agencies and ask them for a copy. This will not cost you anything but the copying expense and the stamp. You can contact these agencies online at:

Experian (located at www.experian.com)

Trans Union (located at www.transunion.com)

Equifax (located at www.equifax.com)

It is a good idea to get a report from all three of these agencies because they are not always the same. Once you get your report you will want to check it over for any errors or discrepancies. If you find any be sure to contact your creditors right away so that they can fix the problem.

According to the law you are entitles to receive one free copy of your credit report each and every year sot here is a chance that you will have to pay for the other two. But there is a chance that you will be eligible to get free reports if you meet certain criteria.

This criteria is as follows:

You have been the victim of identity theft

You are on welfare

You are unemployed

You have been denied credit recently

If your credit report is not a good-looking one at all there are some things that you can do to fix it up. First off, as I mentioned before if you see any errors report them right away, but if the black marks you see are all legitimate claims you will have to do some serious repair work. You cannot fix your credit overnight, no matter what anyone tells you, it is going to take some time and some effort.

If you just cannot seem to get things together enough to start making all of your payments on time each month you can contact a credit counseling service. They can help you to manage your debt successfully.

Having good credit is very important and the truth of the matter is that it is only going to get more important. Now is as good a time as any to get things under control don't you think?