Why checking your credit report is important

Certified financial planner Paul Roelofse examines the ins and outs of using your credit score as a financial tool.

South Africa has just escaped a junk rating from ratings agency Moodys, but its credit rating outlook has been downgraded from stable to negative.

Certified financial planner Paul Roelofse says the same principle should apply in our own households. Ask yourself, how close are you to your own personal downgrade and then follow up.

To check our own ratings we need to see how favourable or unfavourable we are in terms of our creditworthiness.

Paul Roelofse, Certified financial planner

Roelofse says this an important financial tool and accessing it is a simple process - just sign up with an agency on your smartphone to get a clear idea of your rating.

He lists some of the benefits of a credit check:

• verifies you with Department of Home Affairs

• detects if you are subject to possible ID fraud

• provides credit summary

The credit summary includes things like your accounts, enquiries made about you, your total balance exposure and what is overdue.

One a scale of 1-5 it's good to build a good conduct record.

Paul Roelofse, Certified financial planner

Examples of who would be looking into your credit score include business competitors and short-term insurers.

To hear more from Roelofse, click on the link below: