Have you checked your credit report lately? If you have, good for you. If you haven’t, you should. Today. Right now. Just go to annualcreditreport.com. It’s free! And if you need help understanding your report, you can contact Accel, Catholic Federal's financial counseling partner. They’ll explain your report and how to fix it, for free.

It’s an important document. Your credit report contains a history of how you’ve handled the money you’ve borrowed, either through loans or credit cards. You’re also assigned a credit score  - a number between 300-850 - that reflects how well you’ve handled the money you’ve borrowed. The more responsible you’ve been, the better your score.