Every time you apply for a credit card, a mortgage loan, a loan from a car financing company, or for some other type of credit, it is likely to show up as an inquiry in your credit record. Therefore, only apply for the credit you really need and avoid the hassle of having to repair your credit.

For these reasons, therefore, it is becoming more and more likely that your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit reports will list the same credit accounts and public record information. On the other hand, it also means that if a subscriber provides inaccurate information about a consumer to one of the national credit bureaus, that same information may also turn up in the files of the other two so beware when learning how to repair your credit. Bottom line: if you want a complete picture of how you are being portrayed as a credit user, regularly review all your credit reports—from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

The inquiries section of your credit report provides the names of creditors and others who have reviewed your credit file for a legally permitted reason. Creditors with whom you have existing accounts may review that information to decide whether to change your terms of credit, increase your credit limit, and so on. Other creditors may review your credit file to decide whether to make you a firm offer of credit, and insurance companies may do the same to determine if they want to make you a fair offer of insurance.

Yet too many people know far too little about credit scores and how they work. What credit experts know is that ignorance about your credit score can cost you and fixing bad credit is costly and time consuming. Sometimes people with great scores get offered lousy loan deals but don’t realize they can qualify for better terms. More often, people with bad or mediocre credit get all the loans they want, but they don’t realize the high price they’re paying.