A credit report is the sum of information gathered on your credit
history, by a credit reporting agency. This information is then
sold to credit grantors, such as banks, lending institutions and
credit card companies.
Your credit report will include such information as:
Your address, present and past
Outstanding debts
Record of payments (e.g. regular, late, missed)
Public record information such as liens, or court judgments
against you
Your employer's name and address
General information such as your Social Security number, and
marital status
Keeping track of your credit history is a very wise move. Sending
for your credit report twice a year, will keep you current on
what has been recorded about your credit transactions. It will
also show you if there has been activity in any of the following
areas:
Credit fraud: Where
someone uses your credit card numbers to run up large bills.
While the law protects you with a maximum payable of $50 for
each card that has been stolen, the unusual credit activity
may red flag your file for some lenders.
Identity theft: When
someone takes an account number and/or personal information,
and begins opening other accounts and running up bills you did
not authorize.
Inquiries made: Every
time you apply for any kind of loan or credit, the potential
lender makes an inquiry, which is noted on your credit history.
If you apply repeatedly, or to several institutions at a time,
it can make lenders wary of your credit history. You need to
be sure that all inquiries were legitimate results of your own
requests, and not unauthorized, which may mean the inquirer
broke the law.
Inaccurate entries:
The human error factor has not been eliminated by the use of
computerized records. Data can be entered incorrectly, or information
from another file may be posted to yours. Payments made, may
not be recorded. Checking the credit reporting agency records
against your own, will point out any inconsistencies.
Payment record: If
you are regularly mailing payments, you may be unaware that
there are problems in the mail delivery system. Repeated late
payments, and possibly even missed ones, may be lowering your
credit status. Make sure all payments are present and accounted
for.
The three large credit reporting agencies, charge differing fees
for reports. And while they are all in the same business, their
reports are not always the same. Each company uses a special formula
to calculate your credit score. They will give you that score,
but they will not tell you how it is arrived at. So when checking
your credit history, order a report from the three largest credit
reporting agencies:
Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA
30374-0241
(800) 685-1111
|
Experian
P.O. Box 949
Allen, TX 75013
(800) 682-7654
|
Trans
Union
760 West Sproul Road
P.O. Box 390
Springfield,
PA 19064-0390
(800) 916-8800
|
Before you pay
for a single or merged credit report (from all three credit reporting
agency), see if you qualify for a free report. Under certain circumstances,
you are entitled to one free report in a given period. These would
include:
Residents of the following states by law, may receive one free
report per year: Massachusetts, Colorado, New Jersey, Vermont,
Maryland. In Georgia you may request two.
If you are denied credit by an institution which bases its decision
on the report of a credit reporting agency, you may request
a free copy of the report from the credit reporting agency named,
within 60 days of the notice of refusal.
If you are unemployed and looking for work.
If you receive social assistance.
If you believe that you are a victim of fraud
