What is a Credit Report?
A consumer credit report is a document that contains a record of an individual’s credit payment history. Credit grantors are permitted by law to review your credit report to objectively determine whether to grant you credit. A consumer credit report contains four types of information: identifying information, credit information, public record information, and inquiries. Identifying information includes your name, current and previous addresses, social security number, year of birth, current and previous employers, and your spouse’s name if you’re married. Credit information includes credit accounts or loans you have with banks, retailers, credit card issuers, and other lenders. Public record information includes any information that’s contained in state and county records such as bankruptcies, tax liens, and monetary judgments. Inquiries indicate to other credit grantors that you have applied for new credit that could result in additional debt. Positive credit information remains on yo
A consumer credit report is a record of an individual’s credit payment history. If you have always paid cash for everything, you may have no credit history. When lenders review your credit report, they evaluate how much you already owe, how much unused credit you have available, how prompt you are in paying your debts and whether you’ve recently applied for new credit. They may ask you to explain any late payments, recent inquiries on your credit report, or new accounts. If you have no credit accounts, they may ask you to show that you pay your rent, telephone bills or utility payments on time. To prevent past errors from haunting you forever, most negative information is erased after seven years. This includes late payments, accounts that the credit grantor turned over to a collection agency and judgments filed against you in court — even if you later paid the account in full. Credit reporting agencies use the date of original delinquency or, in the case of public records, the date
