Introduction

Maintaining a good credit score is crucial for financial health, even if you think you no longer need to borrow money. At O1ne Mortgage, we understand the importance of credit health and are here to help you navigate the complexities of credit management. Call us at 213-732-3074 for any mortgage service needs.

Can You Stop Caring About Your Credit Score?

It’s never a great idea to stop caring about your credit score entirely. Even if you have a good score and no plans to borrow money or apply for credit again, maintaining the habits that helped you achieve a good credit score is essential. This includes keeping credit balances low, making all payments on time, and preventing accounts from going to collections.

Why You Should Monitor Your Credit Regularly

Here are some reasons we recommend monitoring your credit even if you are not especially concerned about maintaining an excellent score:

• Identity theft and fraud: Staying on top of reported credit activity can let you know if someone has used your information to try to apply for credit in your name or has used your existing credit fraudulently.
• An unanticipated desire for credit: Life seldom goes exactly as planned. You may decide that the rewards on a new credit card are persuasive enough that you want to submit an application. Or perhaps you want to help your child or close relative by cosigning a car loan.
• Potentially better terms if you use credit: A decent credit score can be a little like car insurance in that it’s a good idea to have—even if you end up not needing it. Should you decide to take out a loan or want to take advantage of an intro 0% APR credit card offer, you will almost certainly need good credit to qualify.

5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Health

If you’re feeling like credit-building no longer needs to be a priority, here’s how to minimize the time you spend monitoring it:

1. Check Credit Reports Annually

Tie checking your credit to a birthday, summer equinox, or some other date that occurs every year. The idea is to have a date when you take care of the task—and put it on your calendar. You can see copies of your credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, and it’s smart to take a look. You can also get your credit report for free from Experian anytime. If you see information that’s inaccurate, you have the right to dispute it.

2. Make All Payments on Time

All you need to do here is avoid a stumble that could cause a drop in your credit score. A payment reported as 30 days late could cause a significant drop in your credit score. And scores tend to drop much more quickly than they rebound.

3. Set Up Transaction Alerts

If your bank or credit card issuer offers this feature, you can get a text or email that alerts you any time your card is used. If you see a transaction you didn’t expect or authorize, call your credit card issuer. You can cancel the compromised card or card number and have a new one issued.

4. Activate a Fraud Alert or Freeze Your Credit

If you don’t plan to open a new credit account or want to avoid potential fraud or identity theft, there are actions you can take. You have the right to add a fraud alert to your credit reports. Those last for a year and are renewable. They ask potential creditors to take extra steps to verify your identity before granting credit. If you request an alert from one of the three main credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax), the other bureaus will automatically be notified.

You also have the right to freeze your credit, a more severe measure that blocks potential new creditors from accessing your credit reports. You must add security freezes with each credit bureau, and they last until you lift them. Neither freezing your credit nor adding a fraud alert affects your score, and you can still use your existing credit cards and check your own credit. But these actions can keep a fraudster from being able to open an account using your data.

5. Monitor Your Credit

Free credit monitoring is available through Experian. With it, you’ll get notifications of activity in your credit reports that can tip you off quickly if someone uses information to try to open an account.

The Bottom Line

You may reach a point where you don’t need to build and maintain great credit the way you used to. Once you no longer have a need for credit, it’s OK to dial back the level of attention you give your credit score—to a certain point.

You’ll still want to keep your credit healthy and be sure that no one else is trying to use your good credit reputation. Low-effort ways to do this include checking your credit reports annually, freezing your credit, and setting up account alerts. You can also sign up for free credit monitoring from Experian that gives you real-time alerts about changes on your credit report, such as new inquiries and credit lines.

Contact O1ne Mortgage

At O1ne Mortgage, we are dedicated to helping you maintain and improve your credit health. For any mortgage service needs, call us at 213-732-3074. Our team of experts is here to assist you every step of the way.