A credit report is a record of your credit history which includes information such as:

-Your identity: name, address, date of birth, Social Security Number, and potentially employment information.

-Your existing credit: information pertaining to your credit history including revolving (credit cards) and installment accounts (student loans, car loans, mortgages…), how much you owe, and your payment history.

-Public records: Information regarding any judgments, tax liens, or bankruptcy in your credit history.

-Credit inquiries: List of companies or parties that recently requested a copy of your credit report for the purpose of lending.

Your credit report is used by lenders, insurers, employers, and others to assess your management of financial responsibilities.

-Lenders will use your reports to determine whether you will qualify for a loan, and what interest rate you will receive.

-Insurers can use them to approve or deny you for insurance coverage and to set your rates.

-Utility companies may use your credit report to determine whether they should provide you with their services.

-Employers, if given permission, may use credit reports in their hiring decision.

-Landlords may use the information on your credit report to determine whether they will rent to you or someone else.

Your information is collected by three major credit bureaus; Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. They gather the information that is contained in your credit reports, then provide the information to companies that request it to make the decision on whether to do business with you.

The credit bureaus have to manage all of this information on millions of Americans, so how accurate do you think all of the information is? Credit bureaus are not responsible for the accuracy of the information that they supply to lenders, that is your job!

Check your credit reports if you haven’t in awhile to make sure they are accurate, if they aren’t, contact us and we can get you started on the right path to achieve your goals.