What is a Credit Report?
When you apply for credit, the creditor checks with a credit bureau to learn about your credit history. A credit history, also known as a credit report, shows how you have handled credit. It is a record of all of your credit cards, loans, and other credit obligations that you have had over a period of time. It also contains personal information. The report gives the creditor information about how you have paid bills, your current unpaid bills, and available credit you have. It contains if you have been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. It also indicates your work record and where you have lived. The information is collected all the time from many sources that give you credit. There are three national credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. They collect information about you and then sell the data in your report to banks, mortgage lenders, credit unions, credit card companies, retail stores, insurance companies, landlords, and employers.
A credit report is a collection of data pertaining to your credit history – including credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc. It lets creditors know how much you use credit and how well you repay your credit. There are three major credit bureaus for consumer (Equifax, TransUnion, Experian). Each time you apply for credit (car loan, credit card, mortgage), the person you want to borrow from call one or more of these credit bureaus and gets a print out of your credit history (your credit bureau report). Decisions to extend credit are based upon this history. In addition, each of the credit bureaus reports a credit score. This is a number which takes into account various aspects of your life and credit history. The higher the score, the better risk you are and the more likely you are to be extended credit or get a better interest rate. The average score is somewhere around 680 (this varies based upon the credit bureau, since each one has their own methodology for computing the score).
A credit report is a record of how you pay the money you owe to your creditors. It includes the names of companies that have lent you money, your current account balances, and the timeliness of your payments. The information on your report can impact your ability to get credit cards, mortgages, loans, car or apartment leases, even a job.
A Consumer Credit Report is a report of information maintained by a credit bureau. The report will have information such as your name, address, social security number, and credit payment history. Credit grantors, such as banks, may report positive or negative credit payment information to the credit bureau. Utilities, such as the telephone and power companies, may also report your payment history. Credit grantors may review this information any time you apply for a loan, including a credit card, to help them decide whether they will lend you money.
