Your credit report contains the history and current status of your
credit accounts. It details your creditworthiness based on how
you have paid credit accounts in the past. It is designed to
predict your capacity and likelihood for repaying current and
new accounts.Items in your Credit Report
Your credit report lists every
detail reported by your creditors. It includes the following
information:
-
Residential addresses
-
Employers
-
Marital status
-
Social security number and
date of birth
-
Credit checks (inquiries)
-
Payment history for most open
and closed lines of credit
-
Collection accounts,
judgments,
liens,
foreclosures,
repossessions,
bankruptcy
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Consumer credit score
-
Many smaller accounts such as
delinquent utility bills and unpaid parking tickets are
increasingly being reported.
Items Not in your Credit Report
Any account not reported by the
creditor will not appear on your credit report. This frequently
occurs with smaller creditors or credit union accounts. Some
creditors report to only one or two of the three major credit
bureaus.
Also absent from your credit
report is your income. It has no bearing on your credit score.
Obtaining your Credit Report
Each of the three main credit
bureaus markets a consumer credit report with and without a
credit score. These reports contain all of the information about
you that your lenders see when they pull your report. They
market these at a cost of around $15 each with a version of your
credit score included. Also featured are "free" copies of your
credit report, which are available only after you agree to
subscribe to a credit monitoring service at a substantial fee,
some as high as $12.95 per month.
In 2003, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions (FACT) Act. This law requires the credit
bureaus to provide you with a free copy of your credit report
every year upon your request. There is no score with this
report, which is available at an additional fee. There is only
one source for you to get your free credit report as mandated by
Congress:
www.annualcreditreport.com
Improving your Credit Report
Once you have obtained your credit report, you should examine
it to see what items appear on it. Any negative information that appears can
reduce your credit score. Therefore, you should dispute these items if they
contain inaccurate information. Additionally, look for accounts
that you are behind on. See what actions you can take to bring accounts current.
Finally, you should look for any outstanding debt that may be pulling your score
down. Take steps to eliminate debt so
that your credit score can begin to improve.
© 2004-2008 Vision Credit Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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