Your credit plays a much bigger role in your life than most people realize and you should not be afraid to question your credit score.

To begin with, the credit bureaus do make mistake, while it doesn't happen often, it does happen.

Also a bill that you paid to a big department store or local appliance store may still be reported by that store as 'unpaid'. You've heard it said 'the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing', and as you may already know, sometimes it doesn't.

By looking at your credit and questioning the problems, or presenting the 'paid' receipts, you can quickly, sometimes even in a week or less, get those 'black marks' on your credit cleaned up.

I am sure you have heard about identity theft and maybe a friend of yours, a relative or you have been a victim.

Identity theft has been going on for years, however it is becoming a much more common occurrence today and will continue to increase in occurrence.

While you probably can't stop it from occurring, you can decrease the risk by reviewing and question your credit score rating at least annually.

There are services that you can pay for to monitor your credit and if or when a new credit card is applied for, or a major purchase is made with your credit you are notified. These services are not cheap, but they come as close as possible from preventing it.

So you've used one of those 'free credit' places and you see some 'funny' things that shouldn't be on you credit. How do you go about questioning your credit score and taking care of those 'funny' things on your credit?

There are ways that you can get a copy of your credit report.

If you have recently applied for credit and have been denied for any reason, you will receive a letter providing you with a reason for the denial and instructions on how to get your credit report information.

You can also get a tri-merged credit report from the three main credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion and Equifax from a 'paid' online service. The 'free' ones just show one of the credit bureaus and is usually less readable than the ones you pay for.

In reviewing your credit you see that somebody has stolen your identity and has taken out new credit in your name or has made purchases in your name you need to contact the credit reporting agencies to dispute the reports also contact the creditor responsible regarding the inaccuracy.

To dispute inaccurate information directly with the credit reporting agencies, you must explain the inaccuracies in writing. Include copies of documents that support your position and you should also include a copy of your credit report, and mark the items in question.

In your letter, be sure to include:

1. Your full name

2. Your complete mailing address

3. Your date of birth

4. Your Social Security number

5. The name and account number of the creditor and item in question (Partial account numbers as listed on your credit report are accepted)

6. The reason for your disagreement with the disputed item - be specific

7. Your signature