Credit FAQ

As you know, your credit score is important. It is a summary of your credit report information expressed as a single number. This important single number is calculated by an equation that evaluates the many data points --- what is called score factors -- from a credit report at all the credit-reporting agencies. There are score factors that have positive and negative effects on your score. Some of the factors that are used for this purpose are listed below by how much they affect your score negatively, which means that factors on the list first are what lower your score the most. A few examples of these factors can include:

• Credit inquiries (this is how often you submit an application for credit)
• Serious credit delinquencies (this is how timely account payments are)
• Recently opened new lines of credit (too much activity is not good)
• The average balance of you revolving credit accounts is too high
• Not enough mortgage accounts

Your credit score gets used in a lot of ways. Please remember that credit scores can be one of the most-used tools by creditors, employers, insurance and finance companies. These kinds of companies all rely on credit scores when they determine creditworthiness. A personal credit score is considered a credit snapshot that is used when companies make quick credit decisions. Of course, creditors may also choose to get your full credit report as well, in order to assess a more complete and detailed set of information that helps them decide on your level of risk.

Each of the credit reporting agencies in the US – weather is it Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion – will also offer industry-specific scores when checking a person’s credit. Such industry-specific credit reports will allow lenders in these specific industries to get themselves a better assessment of the certain factors that are often in a person’s credit file. For example, a lender that is working in the automotive industry might request a score model that will more closely evaluate an individual’s auto loan payment history. This score would be based on the data available with that agency, and might be different from one agency to another agency. Please remember that your credit score rating can also be different, depending on the score model that has been requested, such as auto, mortgage, etc.

Yes! To get your free credit report (that you are entitled to by federal law) just visit www.annualcreditreport.com. At that web address, you can request your credit report from all 3 credit reporting agencies. And you can do this one time every 12 months. But if you would instead prefer monitoring daily of your credit report from all three of the credit reporting agencies, you can use smartwatson.com. This service will let you to get your personal report online 24 hours each day. If smartwatson.com detects suspicious or irregular account activity, we'll contact you right away.

It is usual for creditors to forward information to the credit reporting agencies every month. Of course, that day of the month the creditors forward the information can vary. So the agencies might receive updates from one creditor on the third of every month and from a different creditor on the twentieth of every month. That’s why it is always important to have access to your own credit report each and every day.

It easy to understand - credit monitoring is a service that continuously monitors your credit report for changes and updates. Change and updates to your report may include brand new inquiries, or missed payments, or new accounts. If you are a smartwatson.com member, we will contact you if any new alerts appear on your credit file. Credit monitoring is also be an important tool for fighting identity theft, since one is updated immediately when someone attempts to open an account in your name. Without credit monitoring a person could be at risk that someone will steal their identity or create debt in their name.

A credit inquiry is when a primarily financial company requests information that will help them better understand a person’s credit worthiness. These types of primarily financial companies use the elements of your credit report to help them decide how much credit they should issue to you. One of the most common types of inquiry is when you are applying for an auto loan, a home loan, and auto loan, or even when you want to rent an apartment. Remember, inquiries are only made with your permission.

When you become a smartwatson.com member, you will receive unlimited access to your credit reports and scores. You will also get 24 hour credit monitoring, as well as credit alerts.

Once you have completed the enrollment process, you will be automatically directed to our member dashboard. From the member dashboard, you can easily navigate between the different benefits by using the tabs near the top of the page.

It is easy. When you log into our member dashboard, you can take a look at the top of the page where you will see a 3-credit alerts tab. When you click on that tab you will see that it will display the alert that you have received, and a notice that you should review the information.

What you need to do depends on the topic and specifics of the alert. For example, if you receive an alert that there is a new inquiry on your report, you will need to review a few data points before taking action. For instance, if you have recently applied for credit, then the notice could possibly be explained by this action. But if the inquiry was cause by you, then you should call the company that is listed on the inquiry. These steps would be the same for any new accounts that you notice that are opened in your name.