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Big Brother Knows Whats in Your Credit Report - How About
You?
Whether you are aware of it or not, credit bureaus have been
keeping tabs on you and how you use credit. When it's time for
you to apply for a mortgage, credit card, or personal loan, your
credit report is what lenders look at to decide to approve you or
not.
Information about you is collected and stored in national
repositories. Every time you apply for credit, whether it's a
retail store charge account or an auto loan, the information you
provide gets sent to the credit bureaus. When you are late paying
a loan, it shows up on your report. If you have ever been in a
dispute with a merchant and you refused to pay them, the merchant
can report your non-payment to the credit bureaus for all lenders
to see.
Your credit history is an important part of getting a loan. By
getting a glimpse of how you handled debt obligations in the
past, lenders can estimate the likelihood that you will pay back
their loan in the future.
What's in your credit report?
Credit reports are chock full of goodies to keep your lender
busy. If you have never seen your report, you may be surprised at
how much information is actually gathered.
- Personal Information.
This section includes information that identifies you by name,
address, and Social Security number. It gives your date of
birth and employment history. Information in this section is
not used for scoring purposes.
- Credit Lines.
This is the meat and potatoes of the credit report. It shows
all of your credit accounts and lists the details of each.
These details include creditor's name, type of account (credit
card, auto loan, school loan...), account number, date the
account was opened, current balance, past due amounts, credit
limit, and payment history. It will list whether you usual pay
on time or are normally late 30, 60, or 90 days. The report
will also show any closed accounts that you have.
- Credit Inquiries.
An inquiry is an event where a company asks the bureau for a
copy of your credit report. Any company that has accessed your
credit report in the last two years will be listed.
- Public Record and Collection Items.
Any information about you that is public record from courts or
debts reported by collection agencies will be listed here.
Court information can include bankruptcies, foreclosures,
liens, and other judgements.
Who is Big Brother?
The three major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and
Transunion. The information that they have on you may not be
identical. One may have accurate records, but another might have
an error that can prevent you from getting a loan. Since you do
not know which bureau a lender will use to base their approval
decision, you should inspect your report from all three bureaus.
Equifax offers a 3 in 1 report where you can view your credit
report from all three bureaus in a single transaction.
Before you apply for any loan it is wise to review your credit
report. This way you can fix any errors before the loan process
begins, saving you time and frustration if you get rejected due
to a correctable problem caused by big brother and not you.
Jon Galanty is a financial writer for eMoneyCentral.com. Visit
http://www.emoneycentral.com
to find out more about credit, loans, banking, and to get other
great money tips.
MORE RESOURCES:
Credit - Google News
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