Personal Information

This information is first the information to identify who you are. Your credit report could things such as your name, drivers license, address, previous address’, birth date, who you are married to if your married, and social security number.

Also as a part of you personal information they could have your employers information and also your income. Many employers will check your credit before hiring you.

Credit

Of course your credit report will have a list of all of your creditors. What most people don’t know is that they will also have on there your line of credit. Lenders will check to see if you have maxed out all of your credit or not.

It is good to keep your available credit at fifty percent of your line of credit. This helps your credit score and it is a positive thing to the lenders to this on your credit report.

Negative Information

When a consumer files for bankruptcy or has a foreclosure on their home. This is also reported on their credit report. Things such as repossessions, unpaid tax liens, late payments, and unpaid medical bills are all considered to be negative information.

Having negative information or black marks on your credit report lowers your credit score. Lenders are least likely to lend you money if you have a lot of negative information on your credit report.

Positive Information

Creditors will also report when you have made your payments on time as agreed. This is known as positive information. This helps your credit score a lot. Lenders like to see that you are keeping your commitments that you have made with other lenders.

Inquiries made on your Credit

Every time a credit card company or any type of lender pulls your credit report it will show up on the report. This is important to keep track off. Every time they look your credit report up it also lowers your credit score. This is known as a hard inquiry.

When you or an employer requests a copy of your credit report it is known as a soft inquiry. This type of inquiry does not affect your credit score. They are not report on your credit report as potential lenders also.

Credit Score

It is important when you are looking at your credit report that you understand how the credit score system works. Study up on where the different scores affect what the lender is going to lend to you and what type of interest rate they would give you with that score.

The higher your credit score is the best interest rate you will receive. If a consumer has a really low credit score there is a chance that they will either receive a really high interest rate or not even be approved for the line of credit at all.

Summarize

The things that a consumer will find on their credit report is their personal information, line of credit, negative and positive information, inquiries made on their credit, and of course their credit score. This is just to name a few things to look for that is important.

Negatives on Credit Reports

Things that are considered negative on a credit report are bankruptcies, judgments, repossession, past due payments, public records, and unpaid tax liens.

Each negative report stays on your credit history for different amounts of time. Bankruptcies are on a credit report for 10 years, unpaid tax liens 15 years, every thing else is on a credit report for 7 years.

Positives on Credit Reports

One great thing about credit reports is when positive information is reported it stays on forever. There is one exception of this and that is when you have an account that you paid and closed it will only show for 10 years.

How to repair your credit

There are a lot of agencies that claim to be able to repair your credit over night. This is impossible. Repairing your credit score happens with time.

If you keep making your payments on time and keep the promises made to your creditors, eventually your credit score will get higher. Also as time goes by the negative information will fall off, also helping your credit score.

Removing Information on Credit Reports

To remove any information that you feel is incorrect you need to write to the consumer reporting company with proof of what is incorrect. They will evaluate it and then decide whether it is incorrect or correct.

Information for credit reports are gathered by many different consumers credit reporting companies. When sending in a letter to have information removed it has to be sent to the company that reported that particular information.

Laws behind Credit Reports

There have been laws passed to protect consumer’s credit reports. One of the laws is that you are entitled to a free copy of your credit report from the three following credit bureaus, Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. You can receive a free copy once every 12 months. This way you can make sure everything is correct.

To receive your free copy you can contact Experian at 888-EXPRIAN (397-3742) or www.experian.com, Trans Union at 800-916-8800 or www.transunion.com, and Equifax at 800-685-1111 or www.equifax.com.

Another law passed is called The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). This act helps to make sure that the consumer reporting companies are fair and accurate. It also helps in protecting the privacy of the information given to the consumer reporting companies.

There are amendments added to the FCRA to continue to set guide lines for the consumer credit reporting companies. These amendments also put responsibilities on the companies that gather the information and report it to the consumer reporting companies.

What is on a Credit Report

First of all they have all of your identification information, your employment and income, and all of the previous places that you have lived.

They will have a history of your payments to your creditors. Whether you have paid them on time or been delinquent. It also shows if some one as checked your credit when you apply for a loan or credit card.

When an employer or landlord checks your credit history it will also show up on your credit report. And you will also see when you have had a bankruptcy or unpaid tax liens reported.