If one of life’s little emergencies decided to happen to you right now, could you meet the challenge? I use the term challenge because that is what life throws at us, challenges. If you were to need 5000 dollars now, would you be able to walk into a bank and qualify for that loan? The funny thing is that a lot of people would not know how to answer that question. Keeping tabs on your credit report and personal information have never been more important. The state of the world economy is the worst it has been in many years. If you are keeping track of your credit score, and paying your bills on time; you are one step ahead of the pack.

The ability to qualify for 5000 dollars now is not as easy as it was two or three years ago. Reckless investors on Wall Street gambled with the world economy and almost lost, if not for the bail outs, who knows what the state of the world would be today. These lenders approved loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars to basically anyone that walked in their front doors, without taking the proper precautions. Lenders are supposed to verify a potential borrower’s income, employment and credit history before taking that risk. The days of No Document Loans are over, and in have come the days of having to prove why you have every penny in your account. For those of you who are self employed qualifying for 5000 now will be ten times harder than it is for the average Joe. Little do the people with nine to five jobs know, owning your own business is not nearly as glamorous as one would believe. Small business owners have taken a beating in this economy, especially those whose businesses are based on luxury, for instance the owner of a pool company. Nobody is buying new pools or hot tubs right now, and many of these businesses have had to close, leaving the owners in a financial bind.

The positives and the negatives that appear on your credit card are based on you, and how you have paid your bills in the past, making sure your credit report is accurate has never been easier. There are three major credit reporting companies, and you are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report once a year. If you are comfortable with your current banking institution, you could call them and ask what type of credit score and income you would need to qualify, just in case you might need 5000 dollars now. You never know what life might throw at you next, and if you are prepared for it the challenge might not seem so challenging.