Friday, November 13, 2009

Where Do Credit Reports Come From

You may have a dream of buying a new house a car, a boat, or some other high value item. Most likely you don’t have the cash on hand to buy these high ticket items. Lines of credit, mortgages, loans, and credit cards are all available to help you fulfill these dreams. Your lender will want to have some information about your credit history before they decide that they will or will not loan you money for the things that you want. The information about your credit history is available through certain agencies that are responsible for gathering information about consumer credit. These agencies will rank you against other consumers who use credit. This ranking is called a credit score.

Your credit score can be the deciding factor in whether or not you are able to obtain a loan, credit card, or line of credit. When you ask someone to loan you money, they will want to make sure that you are worth the risk. In order to make a determination, they request a credit report. Credit reports reveal your history of borrowing money and paying it back. If there has ever been a judgment against you for defaulting on borrowed money or if you have a history of paying late it will show up on your credit report. The amount of debt you have and the number of open accounts as well as outstanding loans you have will show up on your credit report.

When you apply for credit or a loan, the prospective lender will ask for your personal information, such as your name and address social security number and employment history. They then give this information to a consumer reporting agency or CRA. The CRA gets paid to research your credit history and provide the business with your credit report. CRAs store consumer’s credit history on a database. Any time you use credit, the CRA adds it to their database.

The three most widely used CRAs in the United States are Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. Any time you get a credit report, it most likely came from one of these three companies. Over 500 million consumers around the world are part of these companies’ databases. Reporting on this many consumers is no small task.

It is wise to obtain a copy of your credit report. If you’ve ever had a credit card, a student loan, mortgage or any other type of loan, you have a credit score. Knowing what is on your credit report is important. If there are errors on your credit score you will want to take steps to correct them. Because there are so many records on this CRA’s database, it is entirely possible that there are mistakes. If you have a low credit rating there may be some steps that you can take to bring your score up. Under the fair credit reporting act of 1970 new were entitled to a copy of your credit report if you were never denied a loan.

View Credit Report

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Why Do I Need A Credit Report

If you’re sure that you have a great credit and consistently pay your bills on time, you may not see the reason for obtaining a credit report. The fact that you know that your credit is good doesn’t mean that everyone else knows about your good credit. There are, in fact, many reasons that you ought to have a copy of your credit report. At some point in your life, you may have an unforeseen emergency and need to borrow money. Perhaps a business opportunity comes your way. You may need a small business loan. You wouldn’t want to apply for a loan and be turned down because there is something on your credit report that would prevent a lending institution from loaning you money. It is best that there are no surprises when it comes to knowing your credit score. Taking steps to improve your credit score can help guarantee a financially secure future.

Banks and other lending institutions do their research before loaning money. A few reasons you might apply for a loan include buying a new car or purchasing a home. It is possible that businesses would request a credit report as a condition of employment. A low score on a credit report could prevent all of these things from happening.

Businesses may check with several credit reporting agencies to see if you are worthy of their credit. Records that will show up on your credit report include the number of loans you have outstanding, your loan balance, and that names of your creditors. If you have a history of late payments or defaulting on a loan, those will show up as well. All of these factors are part of a mathematical equation that measures your credit against the average person’s credit. There are other factors that have a positive or negative score on their own. If you have ever declared bankruptcy a lender will want to know. They will also look at how many credit accounts you have and how close you are to reaching the limits on your accounts. If you owe more money than you are capable of paying back based on your income, you may be denied a loan.

It is important to know exactly what is on your credit report. If you know that you’ve paid late in the past, defaulted, or have any other undesirable factors on your credit report, you may not want to look The truth is that it’s better to know what your credit report looks like in spite of what may be on it. If there is something negative you may be able to do something about it. If you are vigilant about using and applying for credit you can have a positive effect on your credit ranking. Another reason you will want to know what is on your credit report is that you’ll be able to correct any errors on it. If someone is using one of your accounts without your knowledge, you will be able to tell from your credit report as well. In the long run it pays to have a copy of your credit report.

View Credit Report

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

What is a Credit Report

You’ve probably heard the term “credit report” before, but unless you’ve applied for a bank loan, you may not know what a credit report is. Credit reports are like a history book. Your entire record for borrowing money is included in this book. From student loans to credit cards, auto loans, or any other type of loan from any financial institution, all of your credit activity is included in your credit report. Every time you make a payment, or a late payment, it is recorded. If you close an account, that is noted as well. Loan amounts and balances, late fees, and judgments against you are part of your credit history and are included in the credit report. This information can stay with you for seven years, so you’ll want to make an effort to make sure your credit report is good.

Why Do You Need a Credit Report?

The bottom line is that you need a credit report every time you borrow money. Sometimes insurance agencies, landlords, and government agencies will look at your credit report. If you apply for a mortgage loan, you’ll most likely go to a bank or other lending institution to borrow money. The organization who is loaning you the money certainly wants to see what kind of payment record you have. This will help them decide if they can trust you enough to loan the money. Someone who pays on time consistently has a better chance of getting a loan at a good interest rate than someone who defaulted or is constantly missing payments.

Who Writes Your Credit Report?

You may wonder who is responsible for putting together this information. After all, there is a lot of personal information about you in a credit report. Whenever you apply for a loan or credit card, the business you apply to contacts a consumer reporting agency (CRA). A CRA collects your credit information from the various lending institutions. They then organize and store this information in their database. There are three major CRAs in the United States.

About Credit Ranking

Your credit score, or credit ranking, is a score based on your borrowing and repayment history. Your history is ranked against that of the average borrower. If you have a good ranking, institutions are happy to loan you their money for a fee (interest rate). Conversely, if you have a poor ranking, it is much harder to get a loan a t a good rate, if at all.

Checking Your Credit

It is a good idea to get a copy of your credit report for your own records. You should look it over carefully. If there is anything that is incorrect or needs to be updated, you should notify the CRA right away. Submit the correct information as soon as possible, since it can take up to 45 days to make the correction. When you’re sure that the corrections have been made to your credit report, request another copy. This way, you can double check to make sure that the information is now correct.

View Credit Report