
Credit Report Contents
Posted on January 27th, 2009 in Finance | No Comments »
If you have recently been denied credit or plan to apply for credit soon, it would be wise to obtain your credit report. You know that it is a document that is the foundation of a decision on whether you will receive credit.
You need to know that there are actually three major credit reporting agencies. These are: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. It is possible to receive a free copy of the report from each agency once a year. See freeannualcreditreport.com for information on how to obtain the three copies. You need all three because differences may be apparent.
The reports will all contain a section with the usual identifying information such as name, address, social security number, etc. The reports will not have information about you personally such as race, assets, salary.
Any of your credit lines will be included. Such items will include loans, mortgages, credit cards, department store and gas cards. This section will show when the account was opened, credit limits, monthly payments, payment history ( late payments also), unpaid child support and overdrawn bank accounts.
Credit reporting agencies also receive information from the court system. This section will have a listing of bankruptcies, liens, judgments, divorce.
Any time you apply for a loan or credit card there will be an inquiry made to a credit reporting agency. Your credit report will include not only these inquiries but inquiries by you. Credit inquiries remain for 2 years.
There is no problem if your credit report is positive. However, any true negative comments will stay on the report for 7 years. Bankruptcies stay on for 10 years.
It is highly recommended that we obtain and seriously review our credit reports to be aware of differences on each report, locate any and all errors. It is up to each individual to monitor his/her own credit profile, fix errors, and repair personal credit.

