A credit report is basically a file about you kept by lenders and banks. As annoying as it may be, it's still perfectly legal for them to gather all sorts of details about you. In turn, you have right to check this file - and you should do so and inquire regularly about your credit report and your credit score, particularly when you plan a big financial change, for instance, before applying for a loan or a mortgage, you should always take time and review your credit report. This allows you not only to plan your moves accurately, but also to dispute any mistakes that might occur in report.

The credit report is an accurate record of your financial activities, including accounts you have, credits you may have taken so far, any late payments, and actions started against you for financial reasons. This report is used to determine your credit rating - which is a number indicating your financial risks.

The information typically included in a credit report refers to your personal identification data, credit information, public record information and a list of recent inquiries. The personal identification data, as you may expect, means your name, social security number, address (current and previous addresses), employer (also current and previous), your birth date, and so on. If applicable, your file may contain similar information about your spouse.

The credit information is your financial history - your accounts, loans and repayment records for past two years, from all banks, lenders, retailers, card issuers, other credit companies, and so on. The public record information records bankruptcy, monetary judgments and tax liens.

The list of recent inquiries contains names of those who obtained your credit report in past year. Various people and organizations may get access to your credit report, usually anybody who can prove a legitimate business interest, creditors, insurers, employers and governmental agencies. This list is kept for one year, while credit history information is kept for seven years, and, if you file for bankruptcy, that sticks for ten years.

Nowadays, shopping online is a very common thing. Making your purchases without leaving your house is an attractive option for many of us. Purchasing items over internet using your credit card can be quite an unpleasant experience if you don't make sure your payments are safe. Although many people consider that using a credit card for online transactions is not safe, they continue using this method but with increased caution measures. The greatest risk we expose ourselves to when shopping online is identity theft. But this is not only risk, and various studies reveal that people have also other concerns like: personal information will be sold to third parties, unauthorized recurring transactions, not receiving ordered products or even higher prices than advertised prices.

Many people think that shopping online is risky, but risk is not greater than others. Taking few precaution measures is best thing to do unless you want to quite shopping online. First of all, we should not shop from unknown websites. Always look for companies you know or ask someone to recommend you a site or a company that he/she uses. Still, if you're not sure of vendor's identity try to find his address and phone number and check them. Also check refund and return policies of company in case they don't ship you right products or you're not satisfied with their quality. Another thing to be careful about is browser that you're using, it has to be a secured browser. A secured browser should include Secure Sockets Layer that scramble information you are sending over internet, making transaction more secure. You can easily recognize a secured web site, because when you're filling in online orders or applications a closed padlock sign should appear at bottom of screen. Another way to make sure that web site is secure is to check URL; if it begins with "https" it means transaction is secure because "s" stands for secure.