The most important actor in the story of your credit is you. Lenders, employers, and insurers are watching your every move. They want to know more about you. They want to send you letters and offer you credit cards, and they want to make sure that things in your life are not getting out of hand.

Where do you fit in with the other major players? You interact with them all of the time. In some cases you are an information provider. When asked for information on an application, you provide information that may go into a database or a model. For example, you are often asked for your income or how long you have lived at a given residence. These answers get turned into data for a variety of models.

Now that you know whom you are dealing with, it should be easier to understand their actions and motivations. You should also have a better idea of how these actors might view your actions. Your job as a consumer is to present yourself in the most favorable light possible. Remember that credit is a tool that you can use and control, not an obscure thing that all of these companies control for you. By working within the system, you'll do better for yourself. If anybody should make the mistake of mistreating you, you also know your rights and can get things fixed.