Credit Reports

Did you ever think of your
credit report as ‘money in the
bank’? Well it can be, depending
on what it says in your credit
report. Your credit report can
make the difference between
getting a loan and not getting one
, buying the house you want or
not being able to, even getting
the job you applied for! More
and more often, your credit
report may be accessed by
creditors, potential employers,
insurance companies and others.

• What is a credit report? – It’s a
  collection of data about your
  credit transactions, who you have
  credit with, your payment history,
  how much your total debt load is, any judgments against you. It also has personal information on you such as your legal name or names you’ve used in the past, social security number, current and previous addresses, current and previous employers.

• Who keeps track of all this information? – The three largest credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Experian and Transunion. Their job is to link the information they receive from creditors into the proper person’s credit report.

[Pullout:

]Their job is not to verify all of the information they receive or to double-check its accuracy. It’s just to put the info in the report and to disburse the information to valid requesters.

How can I see what is in my report? – You can always buy a copy of your credit report. For a nominal fee each credit reporting agency will send you a copy once you verify who you are by phone or mail. But there are a couple of other ways you can get your credit report for free. If you have received a denial letter after applying for credit, you can receive a free copy of your credit report from the agency that was responsible for providing your credit report to the lender who turned you down. The denial letter will have instructions on how to get a copy of your free credit report.

Also, once every 12 months everyone can get a free copy of their credit report by going to annualcreditreport.com. You can get a free copy from each of the three major agencies named above. Be sure to go to their website and check it out!