Posts Tagged Major Credit Reporting Agencies

The Importance of Checking Your Credit Report

Paul Hata asked:


Want to know your financial creditworthiness? Have a credit check and determine your personal credit score.Credit check is usually done to verify whether you are eligible for a loan or on any other forms of credit based on your past credit performances.

This will reveal your past as well as your previous credit transactions with different lenders and how you deal with it. Thus, a credit check is the reflection of your past credit performance. It works like a report card, which reveals whether you have pass or fail in a particular subject.

Credit checks are done by lending institutions such as credit card companies and banks on individuals who wish to apply for a loan or any form of credit. In addition, credit checks could also be done by a homeowner whether an individual would be a good tenant or not, as reflected by his or her past credit performance. Insurance firms also run credit checks on individuals who wish to avail of their insurance policies.

You can obtain your credit report containing credit-related information from any of the three major credit-reporting agencies. Furthermore, you can obtain your personal credit reports for free as stated in the FCRA or the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Under this Act, every individual is entitled to receive a free credit report from any of the three major credit-reporting companies in the United States once a year – Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union.

Your free credit report contain your personal information (such as your name and address), how you paid your past and previous bills, and any delinquencies you have committed such as late payments as well as if you have filed for bankruptcy.

To obtain your free credit report, you need to fill up the required form through a centralized credit report website on any of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. You will be required to provide some basic information, which includes your name, permanent address, your social security number, and your birth date.

Your credit report is important in securing yourself against any attempts of identity theft such as credit cards misuse and other forms of fraud. In addition, you must update your credit report regularly as lending institutions would be using such reports to determine if you are worthy enough to be awarded with the loan you have applied for.

After you received your free credit report, you should read each section carefully. All aspects must be included in computing your credit score. So make sure you have paid attention to all of them. Check your report for any discrepancies and make sure that you have not missed any payments at all. Your credit report also comes with the list of individuals or business entities that you have requested credit information from. You may also check to see if such names or entities are familiar with you.

Your free credit report would be used in running a credit check to you when applying for a loan or any other forms of credit. Thus, make sure that it is free of discrepancies or erroneous entries. Keep in mind that this report will reflect your credit performance – ensure that you do not stumble anywhere so that your loan application would always be a success.



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What Is A Credit Report

Geoff Hibbert asked:


A credit report is a history of your payments, not just a snapshot of where you are at the moment, says Maxine Sweet, vice president of public affairs for Experian, one of the three major credit reporting agencies.

A credit report is a crucial document that reflects your credit status. A credit report is a summary of your financial reliability for the most part, your history of paying debts and other bills. A credit report is a profile of your financial life that’s compiled by a credit reporting agency or credit bureau. A credit report is used by a lender to help determine whether a person qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service.

A credit score is like the numerical version of your credit report. Credit scoring is the process of using a proprietary mathematical algorithm to create a numerical value that describes an applicants overall creditworthiness. Credit score determines credit worthiness and with high credit worthiness borrowing capabilities increase.

Credit scores typically range from about 300 to 850. Scores above 700 are a sign of financial health and can earn you relatively low prime interest rates and favourable lending terms. Scores above 700 generally are considered to be good credit scores and scores above 775 are considered excellent by most lenders.

You can think of a high credit score as a merit badge, if you will. You will be able to obtain more credit much more easily and creditors and lenders will feel much more comfortable loaning you money, as you have obviously been a reliable borrower in the past. While you can obtain a free copy of your credit report each year, you will need to purchase your credit score.

With the adoption of risk-based pricing on almost all lending in the financial services industry, this report has become even more important since it is usually the sole element used to choose the annual percentage rate (APR), grace period and other contractual obligations of the credit card or loan.

Reports may contain information on accounts that have been long closed or paid off. A lender may perceive many inquiries over a short period of time on a person’s report as a signal that the person is in financial difficulty and is looking for loans and will possibly consider that person a poor credit risk.

When creditors report an excessive number of late payments, or trouble with collecting payments, the score suffers. Derogatory information can generally remain on your credit report for up to seven years, except for bankruptcy information, which may be reported for 10 years. Note that it is not the credit reporting agencies that decide whether a credit history is adverse, but depends on the individual lender.

What is not in my credit report? Your credit report typically does not contain information about your checking and savings account balances, brokerage accounts, medical history, race, sex, religion, national origin, or your driving record nor in most cases will it contain details of your rental agreement if you live in a tenanted property.

Building or re-building a credit report that has become bad does not have a quick-fix situation. The first step to improving and repairing a credit report is to ask for help. The only thing that can fix a credit report is time and a positive payment history.

A good debt management or credit repair company can show you the correct techniques to bring your finances under control. Once you have rebuilt your reputation your credit score will grow and you will find credit at good terms and interest rates much easier to come by.



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