Get to know credit score as Utah Saves Week kicks off

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Saves Week kicks off this morning at Capitol Hill as Gov. Gary Herbert signs SCR 2, the Financial Responsibility Concurrent Resolution.

It's a week dedicated to improving financial responsibility, complete with daily challenges. Sen. Pat Jones, D-Salt Lake, one of the resolution's sponsors, will introduce the first challenge, getting a free copy of your credit report. Check it over and report your results at www.imagineahappieryou.com for a chance to win one of the week's prizes.

A surprising number of people don't know what is in their credit report or credit score, Jones said."That is so critical. The higher the score, the better the deal they can get to save money as they buy a house or take out a loan for school. There are companies that check the credit score when someone applies for work," she said.

Adults are entitled to one free credit report each year from each of the three national credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to ask for a report online, by mail or by phone.

You can get all your credit reports at once, or stagger them throughout the year, which some call a good strategy to spot identity theft and credit errors.

The first day's challenge is sponsored by Republic Mortgage, which on its website offer this advice: "Ideally, you should avoid maxing out your credit lines and strive instead to maintain low balances. This will improve your score over time.... By carefully managing your credit, it's possible to add as much as 50 points in a year to your score. There is nothing that you can do to your credit from which you can't recover."

Republic Mortgage is offering its own competition and "Drive to 850" workshops, designed to encourage people to raise their credit scores, including a cash prize to the person who most improves a credit score between now and May 1.

For more information on those and other workshops and the Utah Saves Week challenges and prizes, visit www.imagineahappieryou.com.

Today's challenge

Order your free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. Did anything on your report surprise you? Did you find any errors? Share your reaction on the daily poll at imagineahappieryou.com and you could win a prize.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com