The fact is, you never realize the importance of the information contained in your credit report until that information comes back to bite you. That is certainly true in my case, and I once watched the car loan I needed slip away, and with it my dream car, all because of a mistake in my credit report.

As a young person, I paid little heed to that mysterious thing known as a credit report. After all, I had always paid my bills on time, and I just assumed I had perfect credit. That is until I applied for a car loan and was turned down cold. I could not imagine what the problem was, and I asked the loan officer at my bank for an explanation. He explained that my credit report showed negative entries and that was why they could not approve the loan.

Luckily, he also told me how to get a copy of my credit report so I could find the problem. So I trudged down to my local credit reporting bureau. This was in the pre-internet days, when things were still handled with paper and pencil. I pulled a copy of my credit report, and to my surprise I saw a bunch of negative entries from collection attempts by one of those record club things. I had cancelled the membership, but apparently the club had not processed the cancellation. For all I know, there is a pile of records sitting on the doorstep of my former apartment.

I did finally get the issue cleared up, and the record club of the month no longer haunts my credit. But I did learn the value of keeping tabs on your credit report on a regular basis. The information in your credit report, whether accurate or not, can cause you problems. It is best to take the bull by the horns and review your own credit report from time to time.