Setting up Credit Report
Your credit report will not reflect the information that a particular creditor will be looking at. For example, if you have a credit card, you have always made the minimum payment that is not going to be reflected on an online credit report. Most credit reports are often sold to credit agencies. A credit agency will purchase the credit report from the 3 credit sub-credit providers Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. This credit report will hold your personal and professional information for 7 years.
First of all, you will need a credit report containing your personal information. This information will include your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security Number, as well as your previous addresses, if possible. In the example above, you would have a brother in Hawaii whose report would contain all of the information in your credit report to remind you when troubles in a personal relationship could arise.
The next area of common information will show the creditors to whom you owe money, including the address of your bank, your account numbers, the total amount of money owed, the terms of repayment and how well you made your payments, and any action that has been taken against you due to collection.
You will also be able to see what open credit lines you have and if you have ever been late on any of them. If any of your lines of credit are ever open and current, that will let you know how well your credit limits have held up. If you find an instance where you have been late on any of your open credit lines, you will see if you have any over the limit fees associated with those accounts.
If any of your lines of credit are past due, you will be able to see all of the open accounts you have and what your payment history is like. You will also be able to see if any of your creditors have levied any type of penalty against you for not paying your bill on time. If your creditors have levied any type of penalty you will also be able to see if any of your accounts create an over the limit look the account.
If you haven’t looked at your credit report for a while, you may receive a letter in the mail stating that the credit bureau looks forward to receiving your report within a specified period of time. If you haven’t ordered your report in a couple of years, you will likely have a letter in the mail, as well, letting you know what your current credit balances are and what your current status with your lenders is.
Your credit report will give you the summary of all of your open and active accounts and any collections against you if any. If at any time you have been turned down for any type of credit, won a lottery, been offered membership into some club you never joined, nor have any unusual activity on your credit report, all of the information on your report will be yours. You will be able to dispute any information contained within your credit report. This means that if you believe that the information was misleading or inaccurate, or if you believe that any information on your credit report has been altered in any way, you can contact the bureau and see if your case is valid.
How to get your credit report
Once you have a copy of your credit report for your record, what you need to do is check through it with a fine-tooth comb and try to see if there are any errors. Most people that check their credit reports do actually find at least one mistake, but if you are like most people who never look at their report, there is no way to know that the information contained is actually correct. You simply can’t let something like that go, so even if you are sure that the information is accurate and true, it is your responsibility to contact the credit bureau and check that the information is correct.
If you find any mistakes on your credit report, it is important to contact the credit bureau within the time that they have to either remove or verify the information. Most people wait until there is a problem or a judgment is made against them, which takes longer than approximately two weeks. This isn’t usually the case when you look for your credit report, as you may only find out whether there is an error once you are declined for any of the services.
One mistake may cost you hundreds, but several hundred dollars or even more could cost you a loss of reputation. If any of these inaccurate reports are found, you will then be entitled to a free credit report from that credit bureau.
